Customer Reviews

Oster 6844 12-Speed Blender, Metallic Red

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is my first review of any sort of kitchen product. I bought the Oster 12 speed blender (in red--my favorite!) mostly to make smoothies. I make them about 4-5 times per week. I usually use frozen fruit, yogurt, and some form of juice or liquid. I use crushed ice probably less than 25% of the time--so if you are planning on using this blender to crush a lot of ice you may need to look for additional reviews of how it performs that function. For me and the limited amount of ice I use it has worked perfectly.

The glass jar is excellent and I've had no problems with cracking or breaking. All of the pieces fit well together and I really like how the "seat" of the jar in the blender does not include a lot of strangely shaped electronic pieces that are hard to clean. This one works by having the blender sit on a piece of metal. My last blender had weird plastic and rubbery items that covered the "seat" and it was very tough to clean.

I am exceptionally happy with this blender. It has given me 5 star service for the last 8 months (which I feel is long enough to have used it to give a fair review). Enjoy!

Wow! It crushes ice in seconds, has lots of features / speeds, was reduced to $29.99, and it's red. What's not to like!

I was quite pleased that the pitcher is made of thick, sturdy glass. But the base is an entirely different matter. In fact, it feels like this base belong with an entirely different Oster pitcher. While this pitcher feels heavy and solid, in contrast the base feels light, flimsy and plasticky. When the blender is on, the base vibrates and rattles in a loud, harsh way that is beyond what I'd expect for normal operation -- especially considering that the hardest thing I've put in the blender is pieces of frozen bananas for smoothies. It's as if the blender vibrates so wildly because it's so top-heavy -- the base just doesn't have the weight or sturdiness to properly absorb the vibrations from the heavy pitcher.

This blender has made a couple of dozen frozen banana smoothies for me without a problem, but it is disappointing that the base -- which looked to me like it would be heavy and sturdy -- is actually mostly plastic and vibrates wildly. I make a smoothie at least once a day, so I wouldn't be surprised if the base cracks or fails before very long. I guess I've learned my lesson; next time I will pay more for all-around solid construction.

Oster warehouse-priced blenders in the $25 to $35 range seem to share the same basic motor and drive assemblies and come with Oster's new 6-cup, round glass jar and an ice crusher blade. This particular 12-speed model also has a department store counterpart which sells in the $40 to $60 price range. The only difference is that the higher priced models have Oster's clover leaf shaped glass jar, to give them more style and dignity, I guess.

The main difference between Oster's mid-level 8, 10 and 12-speed blenders is the layout of their control panels. After checking out various Oster display models in the $25 to $35 price range, I found this 12-speed model to have the best control panel. The push buttons are widely spaced and intuitively arranged in the order of their speed levels. Unlike some of the other Oster models, the push buttons on this blender click into place easily and require very little force. This is not the case with several of the other Oster models. Even though this is a 12-speed blender, I usually leave the high-low switch in the high position, essentially making this a 6-speed blender. It is my opinion that a few well-placed blender speeds are really all anyone needs.

After two weeks, this blender has delivered the performance I would expect from a $30 blender. I mostly use this blender for smoothies. The key to minimizing air pockets while blending is to keep the contents of the blender jar from becoming too thick. But this might not deliver the results some people want. For those wanting thicker mixtures, a food processor may be the way to go.

My main complaint about this blender, and all other Oster blenders, is the thin, lightweight blender jar base. Oster's official name for this part is "jar bottom cap." However, if you don't over-tighten the base ring and you don't set the blender jar down too hard, or drop it, there should be no problem. I have posted a picture of the old, thick, heavy Oster blender jar base next to the new, thin, lightweight model. If you think that this thin, flimsy jar base will be a problem, then an Oster blender will probably not be your best choice.

My other complaint is the amount of noise that this blender makes. At a distance of 18 inches, with its jar filled with water, this blender reads on a sound level meter, 80 dB on low and 97 dB on high. The noise level reaches 102 dB when crushing ice. This falls in the range of yard and garden power equipment which operates in the 80 dB to 105 dB levels. While these noise levels are probably typical of blenders in this price range, they are no big deal for me since I have always kept a pair of low cost industrial ear muffs in the kitchen to wear when using a blender.

All things considered, this Oster blender works well for me, but it is definitely not a high-end unit.

Got this blender at Target. It seriously sucks. Avoid this blender and get a different one. The blades get stuck every five seconds, you have to continually stop the machine and stick a butter knife down into the blender to free up whatever has been caught in it because this thing has the strength of a five year old girl. I would love to take this thing and put it into a different blender just to watch it die.

I use this blender to make smoothies every morning. I don't use ice, just frozen & fresh fruit and oj and soy milk. It becomes rather frustrating because the blades freeze up if the frozen fruit gets under them, rather than chopping them up, and I have to keep adding more and more liquid and stir it to get the blades to move again. This occurs even on the highest setting.

The bottom of the bowl began to leak after 10 months moderate use. Now the black seat is totally cracked. Very unreliable.

Product came in on a big box, but the actual product box came with dents and did not look in a good condition. Overall the prize was okay since it does come in on a metallic red color.

the Oster blender that I just purchased from amazon.com is GREAT! it's just the right size
for my needs; the pretty red metallic base is plastic, but is built sturdy enough and is
heavy enough to stay in place on the counter - I use it every morning for my protein shake,
using ice cubes and the blender crushes the ice very, very nicely - much better than my
last $79 B & D blender........... good product - I highly recommend it.
Oster 6844 12-Speed Blender, Metallic Red

I have broken two bases on this blender within 6 months of ownership.
The plastic base is the "achilles heel" of this device and do not recommend to anyone.
I had a really cheap Hamilton Beach blender before this one, lasted about 10 and spent $10 to acquire, but it
did the job. This one is just pretty but broken.