What is nice about this shaker is simplicity. You can easily find Boston shakers at stores, but most of them (especially cheap ones) have recipes printed on the glass. That printing is nothing more than nuisance if you have your own recipe. (Ignoring them and finding graduated scale in semi-darkness is not easy!) This shaker has 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 fl. oz. marks and 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 ml marks. No confusing clutters.
The inner diameter of the glass part is 3-1/4" which is pretty much standard. You can check if your strainer fits the glass before you buy it. The Amazon review saying "strainer to fit the base" is misleading because Hawthorn strainers (spring coil padded strainer) are usually used with the glass part, which sits atop the stainless steel base while being shaken.
The construction and the material of the shaker is excellent. The fitting of the base and the glass is pretty good. The fit usually improves as you use them.
If you are looking for your first shaker, the decision you make first is whether to buy a standard, traditional shaker or a Boston shaker. The standard shaker is easier to use (little risk of fluid leak if you get a decent one) but they are not as quick operating as Boston shakers. The strainer built into the top part of standard shakers takes somre work to wash after making juice based drinks. Boston shakers, on the other hand, requires good practice in fitting the glass to minimize the fluid leak, but it is very easy to wash (simply rinse the pieces under the faucet and stir the strainer in a small bucket of water and then rinse). Also, most Boston shakers use graduated glass part while few standard shakers have fluid measure built in, meaning you have to measure the fluid before mixing in.
A good shaker can be used for purposes other than mixing drinks. For example, you can make salad dressings in them.
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I wrote this original review quite some time ago, but I thought to add that I still own this product, and I still use it. This shaker is totally awesome. STILL HIGHLY RECOMMENDED in 2010.
