Customer Reviews

Waring Professional Bar Blenders

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

I bought it based on other reviews, after our previous blender broke. We use it to make smoothies with frozen fruit. Our last blender was a Black & Decker from Target for $40. Both the B&D and the Waring have glass bowls and stainless steel bases. But the B&D has a larger capacity and a heavier, larger base. The Waring is 300 watts and the cheaper B&D is rated at 500 watts. The next surprise was reading the instructions for the Waring. There is no mention of putting the container bowl in a dishwasher; instead one is supposed to 1) brush out with soapy water, 2) run for 2 minutes with more soapy water, 3) rinse for another 2 minutes, and finally 4) dry with a towel. Next surprise: according to the instructions, the blender should never be operated without holding one's hand on the top. There's a reason for this: the blender tends to "walk" around the countertop (something the B&D, with its larger base, never did). Fortunately, with a full load the Waring stays in place. We decided to ignore the instructions and place the blender bowl in the dishwasher. But the metal fitting under the glass bowl (looks like aluminum) seems to be reacting to the dishwasher detergent by breaking out in white dots. We're hopeful that this metal fitting will be a lot stronger than the plastic screw-on fitting on the B&D, which cracked after 9 months' daily use. Bottom line: the B&D's weak point is its plastic, screw-off base for the impeller. If the Waring with its metal, non-removable impeller fitting stands the test of time it will have been worth the higher price.
UPDATE ON APRIL 1, 2006: The Waring has worked flawlessly in daily use for over four months now. I would give it 4 stars now instead of 3 (but Amazon won't let me change the rating).
FURTHER UPDATE ON JANUARY 2007: It keeps plugging along, making daily smoothies without complaint. The bowl has survived hundreds of cycles in the dishwasher without problem. I'd change my rating to 5 stars if Amazon provided a way to do it.
SEVERAL MONTHS LATER: Now I know why they don't want you to use a dishwasher. Over time the dishwasher scrubs out the lubrication on the blade shaft. Ours starting binding. Fortunately I had the tools to remove the shaft and lubricate it. Now it's working fine again, but now we are careful just to rinse it with a brush and hot water and keep it out of the dishwasher.
NOVEMBER 2008 Update: Three years of nearly daily use now, and no further problems. (Where does the time go?)

I've owned a dozen blenders over the past 30 years. They all had their advantages and disadvantages, as does this one. When I tote up the pro's and con's, Waring still stands on top for me.

My first blender was an Osterizer in the early seventies when I was in college. It was a good machine for drink blending, but was frustrating for foods. If you look closely at the Oster container, the blades sit in an area recessed from the main container. No problem for liquids, but semisolid things such as peanut butter will jam down in there. I found that I constantly had to use a spatula to help dressings, dips, etc. blend.

When the Kitchen Aid blender was first introduced, I bought one. It was a real disappointment from the start. No matter how much I ran items, they never got uniformly smooth! I can remember running canned tomatoes, for instance, for several minutes and still they did not puree evenly. I kept it for about 6 months and gave it to one of my employees.

Roughly 10 years ago I bought my first Waring, a one-speed bar blender. Finally I had a blender that did all I wanted! I think that the trademark cloverleaf Waring design is more than hype. It truly does pull food and heavy mixtures into the blades better than competing designs. If you look at the heavy Waring glass container with its nonremovable blades, you'll see that the bottom of the container is flat and the blades stand up above the bottom. I think this is why it works so well. Incidentally, I've found no problem whatsoever in not being able to take the blades out. Because of the design, a drop of d/w liquid and hot water cleans out the bottom in a second or two. However, the limitation with this machine for kitchen use was its lack of a low speed.

I bought a Cuisinart blender, then recently introduced, as I love my DLC-X food processor. Big mistake. The blender was made in China and was mostly plastic, frame and all. I burned it up making dips one New Year's Eve. Not for heavy duty use.

I bought the Waring kitchen model, like this one but with a different design of container with removable blades. I liked the machine but it didn't blend as well as my bar blender. Again, this seemed apparent due to the different container design. I returned it after three weeks.

Finally, I bought a two speed Waring laboratory model with timer, basically the same machine as shown here with a little different front. It has the original style container, a heavy duty motor, and has worked flawlessly for several years. I purchased the stainless steel container as an accessory, but still use the glass one most of the time. As any blender enthusiast will tell you, you only really need a low and a high speed, all the rest is window dressing.

The Waring is not only classic retro design, but its simple cylindrical base affords excellent ventilation for the motor. It also makes cleanup from spills and overflows much simpler than more elaborate models. Incidentally, you can find the heavy glass containers all the time for a buck or two at local flea markets; order new blades and lid for a fraction of the purchase price of a new set!

This is a classic kitchen design that will remain in style for many, many more years to come.

This is the same blender that my friend bought for his smoothie business and it does the job very well. It liquifies practically everything that you ask it to including fruit pieces and ice chunks. Even the ice is chipped into a fine mix without some of the bigger chunks left over that you might find in the bottom of other less expensive brands. Bottom line is that its function is the best out there.

The Waring Professional Bar Blender is all the blender I will ever need. Smoothies are now easy to whip up and a snap to clean up. To top it off, the stainless steel model I purchased looks great on the countertop. The motor (390 watts) has plenty of power for crushing ice and making frothy drinks. Waring blenders exude high quality.

Certainly there are more powerful blenders. Vita-Mix and Waring's Mega Pro are two such examples. Nevertheless, one would be hard pressed to justify the added expense of either machines for the average home. Kitchen Aid puts out a slightly more powerful blender (500 watts). But I have used both and for my money, Waring produces more consistent results for a wide variety of blending applications.

The cloverleaf glass jar is sturdy and easy to clean. I had some reservations about buying glass with a stainless steel version available but to my surprise, I actually prefer it. It is often necessary to have the contents visable(not possible with the steel jar) while blending to ensure a consistently smooth texture or to prevent overblending.

I recommend this product highly.

I had a Kitchenaid blender quit on me(second time with the same problem) and found out that they have changed the style and don't make replacement parts for my model. I would have had to buy an entire new blender. From the looks of it, they didn't make the new ones any more robust so I decided to look at other brands. Stumbled across Waring and did a little research. Found out that Waring sells every part for every blender that it has made in the last 60 years. That level of support combined with the favorable reviews led me to take the plunge. After eleven weeks with my new blender, here are my observations:

Noise - I think this one is slightly quieter than my Kitchenaid and definitely quieter than my parents old Oster. Even so, don't plan on trying to watch TV or carry on a conversation with the thing running. Luckily it does it's job pretty quick.

Cleanup - FAR better than the kitchenaid. No disassembly required; just put some hot water and a little dish soap in and run it a few seconds. Rinse and you're done. Dishwasher safe if you feel like it too. Kitchenaid has the jar, lid, jar base, blade assembly, and gasket to fool with. Lots of crevices for food to get stuck in.

Performance - Simply a better performing blender. Blends drinks to a much smoother consistency with no big ice chunks left behind. With the Kitchenaid I frequently had to pop the lid off and give things a stir to get them mixed up and worked down to the blades. I rarely have to do that with the Waring. I don't have anything scientific to back this up, but I think it is a matter of geometry. The Kitchenaid is a wide, squat jar where the contents seem to be able to find refuge from the whirling blades. The Waring is taller & skinnier and it seems that nothing gets away from the blades. The Waring has only two speeds while the Kitchenaid had five, but I don't really miss them at all. I haven't found anything the Kitchenaid could do that the Waring can't do at least equally well.

Durability - The problem I had with the Kitchenaid was the blade assembly. The metal "gear" on the bottom is a press fit onto the shaft that connects to the blade. When this loosens up (such as when an ice cube jams up the blade) there is no way to repair it. New assembly costs about $15. If the Waring had a similar failure, the thing does come apart, the replacement part is about $4, and it is widely available. Other than this, they both seem to be durable and rugged. The glass jars on both are thick and sturdy, and they really give the blender some mass.

So far I've had my blender 11 weeks and have been using it mostly to make frozen drinks and milkshakes. The Waring is by far superior to the blender it replaced. It looks great, performs nearly perfect, and comes from a company with an excellent reputation and parts support. Can't ask for much more than that.

Don't expect any blender to blend large ice cubes (from trays) starting out sitting on the blades. Always put the soft stuff (fruit, etc.) on the bottom, and the ice on top. When blending ice only, you MUST start the blender BEFORE placing the ice, or you will break them (and it will be YOUR FAULT, not the blender's). Read and follow the directions!

I've made more than 1600 smoothies with mine in four years and couldn't be happier. Update 01/03/08: The blade finally broke after some 3,000 smoothies. It takes a socket set with an extension to change, but it's worth it!

I'm the kind of person that likes to spend a little more, and get stuff that lasts a long, long time. I was thinking that this was one of those purchases. I hear stories about how "Grandma had her Waring for 40 years and it stills runs like a champ!" I swallowed this hook, line, and sinker.

First off, this blender makes a fantastic smoothie. The Jar shape and position of the blade make this a Smoothie dream. Most blenders have the typical cone with a small cup shaped blending area at the bottom, which makes for an air pocket disaster. With the Waring Pro you still get an air pocket or 2 on a really thick smoothie, but not like the 20 airpockets I used to get with the Osterizer 1985 edition sold today for $40.

Now the reality check.
The team that built your grandmother's Waring in the 40's? They retired in 1978!

This blender is a façade.
It's a 14 lb shell of steel around a motor the size of an RC car, The reviewer that stated that the target $40 blender has a bigger motor wasn't exaggerating. It's a shame to say that I know this, because the way that I know the motor is because I've had to disassemble the thing three times now.

I bought this blender 3 years ago. After 1 year, the mechanical switch went out, had to order a new one and replace it myself. The alternative was to send it back to Waring for 3 months to have them do it. Oh! And I'd have to cover shipping on this 14 lb brick both ways. So I opted for the $20 part.

1 year later, the blade assembly on the jar started leaking, new jar $50 plus shipping.

1 year later (last week)
I loaded up the jar with frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, blackberries, bananas, the works. I turned on the blender, The blade jammed on a strawberry... Blue arc of electricity from under the base unit, a poof of smoke, and my $150 plus $20 PLUS $50 blender passed on to blender heaven.

What irritates me is that every other device of this type has a protection against this. Take an in-sink garbage disposal for instance. You drop in a few cherry pits to see what happens (don't ask), and it jams up and it shuts down, you press the red reset button on the bottom of the disposal and you're back in business. That 5HP motor with a reset button cost me $50, So where does Waring get off charging $150 for their blender.

So 3 years and 3 service issues. Not the Honda Accord of blenders if you know what I mean. Prepare to get your hands dirty and have a trashcan nearby.

But great smoothies!

I just bought the Kitchen aid Proline bar blender with stainless jar, on sale for $229 on Amazon. It has a 1 HP motor and also (drumroll) has a motor bind protection mechanism.

I'll let you know what I think.

The simple design and function of this unit is why Waring does not need to change. The overall form is a clear derivative of the industrial function. The heavy duty and weighted base and motor allows for no-worry loading. The all glass pitcher is a cinch to clean and is extremely durable. The lack of a multi-part base that detaches like many other blender designs eliminates inevitable liquid seeping and cleanup hassle. The simple gear cog on the base mating with the pitcher bottom, allows natural set-up and the transfer of 390 watts of power to crush all unlucky items inside. The wonderful stainless toggle switch provides clear and positive feedback on the 2 speed settings. Personally the stainless steel base finish is more of a pewter with low gloss; a definite plus when trying to keep things clean in the kitchen.

I haven't had any blending disappointments; I think understanding that placing the items in a certain order helps the blending. This may be common sense - but seems to be lost in today's world of assuming the machine will do everything + read my mind. The only current difficulty is removal of the pitcher's blade; a wrench is needed. But fortunately I haven't had any need to do this with the wonderful performance and power of the Waring - rock on!

I purchased the Waring blender this summer...so I may once again make frothy frozen margaritas for myself and my friends! Unlike other blenders, you won't find any settings like "frappe", "whip", "stir" or anything besides "on" and "off". This is a serious blender made for serious blending and ice-crushing. The housing is solid and sturdy and, unlike most other consumer-grade blenders, doesn't feel like it's going to come apart every time it needs to blend something stronger than a banana. Yes, it's a little more expensive, but it's completely worth it.

After reading the reviews here, I purchased a Waring professional bar blender back in March. The blender has been wonderful, and we use it for protein shakes every morning. We always use frozen fruit in the shakes, in addition to at least 12 oz liquid. One morning, much to our surprise, one of the 4 prongs of the metal blade broke off in the shake and fortunately my husband detected it before ingesting the blade!!

I called Waring and asked why that would have happened so soon. The woman on the phone told me that frozen fruit, due to it's fibrous nature, breaks down the blade and that is a known problem, even though it is not listed in the manual. I'm debating whether I should get a new blade, or investigate another blender, such as the Kitchen Aid. Has anyone else make frozen fruit shakes consistently with a Warning or other blender?