Have the power you need to create your favorite drinks, shakes, smoothies, salsas and dips with a 475-watt 4-speed blender. The easy-to-clean control panel features one-touch functions to mix, blend, chop and make smoothies, plus one-touch ice crush function and precise pulse control. The multi-level stainless steel blade system combined with a powerful 475-watt motor ensures great, smooth texture on a variety of foods and drinks. The 48-ounce heat-resistant glass blending jar features handy measurement markings, a 2-ounce lid insert for easy measuring and adding, plus a Perfect Pour spout that helps prevent drips and spills on the counter as you serve. The die-cast metal base looks great with any decor, with non-slip feet to keep the blender in place even on your toughest blending tasks. The easy-clean base plus a full range of dishwasher-safe parts make cleanup fast and easy.
Product Features
- Powerful 475-watt motor combined with a multi level stainless steel blade system powers through even your toughest blending tasks
- Easy-clean control panel features 4 speed settings (mix, blend, chop, smoothie) plus a one-touch ice crush function and pulse control
- 48-Ounce heat-resistant glass blending jar features handy measurement markings, a 2-ounce lid insert for easy measuring and adding, plus a perfect pour spout for no-mess serving
- Cleanup is a snap with an easy-clean base plus a full range of dishwasher-safe parts
- Measures 15-inch by 10.7-inch by 8.07-inch; 2-year limited warranty
Good choice if you want to spend less than $80 If you are looking for an inexpensive blender for smoothies, this is a good choice.Style: 5 stars – simple base and blending pitcher with black lettering on the base – nothing garish about the appearance. The power cord is 27 inches long, measured from where it exits the base to the end of the plastic plug (i.e. not counting the two metal prongs). There is a place under the base where you can easily wrap the cord. When you turn the base upside down to do this you can set it down (i.e. with the top of the base on the counter) and it will sit flat while you wrap the cord. If left out on the counter, this blender would look good in a kitchen with stainless steel appliances.Footprint: 5 stars – doesn’t take up a lot of room on the counter, and with the pitcher on is only about 15.5 inches tall, so it can be slid to the back of the counter, under the overhead cabinet, without my having to remove the pitcher from the base and store it separately (which is what I have to do with my Vitamix).Build: seems solid – a lot of blenders have plastic bases and plastic pitchers, whereas this has a metal base and glass pitcher. I can’t comment on reliability as I think that is something you can’t know until you have used an appliance on a regular basis, and for months.Performance: 3.0 to 4 stars – This score is hard for me as I haven’t used a lot of blenders so I don’t have enough experience with them to determine how this one compares with others in this price range. I’ll explain how I used it, and the results.I don’t cook a lot, and I don’t make blender drinks for guests in my home, so until several years ago I didn’t own a blender. I bought a Vitamix at one of those big discount stores after seeing it demonstrated and realizing that I’d eat healthier if I got a blender and used it to make fruit and vegetable smoothies. This review is not going to be a comparison of the two – you can’t expect the same level of performance from this blender as you would get with a more expensive model with a much more powerful motor, like one made by Vitamix or Blendtec.I tested this blender by making my typical smoothie. I start by putting some skim milk and flax seeds in the blender, and running it on high so that the flax seeds get broken up. In order to get the nutrients (Omega 3, and antioxidants) from flax seed, they need to be ground. I’ll admit to not having a lot of patience – I don’t want to get out my little electric coffee bean grinder and grind the flax seeds every time I make a smoothie, and I’m not sure how long ground flax will “keep”, so I want my blender to do that work for me when I make each smoothie.I put a tablespoon of flax seed and a cup and a half of skim milk in the blender. When I started the blender some of the flax seed was thrown up onto the sides of the pitcher, and the fluid level wasn’t high enough to bring them down so they could be processed. I ran it for several seconds, then stopped it, removed the lid, and used a spatula to push those seeds down into the fluid so that they wouldn’t be wasted. After running the blender on the smoothie setting, I slowly poured the liquid out into my hand over the sink so I could see if the flax seeds had been broken up – and they had been. If you use flax seed, you should start the blender on it’s slowest setting – “mix” and gradually increase the speed by changing it to “blend,” then “chop,” then “smoothie” to avoid having to stop the machine and push down the seeds. (Mix, blend, chop, smoothie and and “crush ice” are the only options, but given the price of this blender, that’s reasonable.)I rinsed the pitcher and started again with milk and flax seed. Then I added a handful of spinach leaves (I had rinsed them and torn the stems off) and ran it for 30 seconds. The machine processed the spinach fully – there were no pieces of leaves left. I think the things that might be difficult for the machine to chop up adequately – like nuts, seeds and leaves,should go in the blender first, with JUST liquid, to make it easier for the motor to process them. Only after these ingredients are well processed do I add lowfat yogurt, protein powder and frozen fruit. As with the flax seed, a significant amount of the protein powder was tossed up on the sides of the pitcher and had to be scraped down.Fully processing the frozen fruit, and in a reasonable amount of time, is what matters most to me in a blender. I followed the instructions that came with the machine and pulsed for several seconds, three or four times, before pressing the “smoothie” button and letting the blender run. Despite following these instructions, it sounded as if some of the chunks of frozen strawberries got stuck so I turned the machine off, removed the lid, and used a long handled spoon to dislodge them. Then I put the lid back on and ran it on the smoothie setting again.I ended…
Good, basic blender, makes a nice margarita! I snapped up this Black & Decker blender off of the Vine because we had been looking for a nice, basic blender so that we cold make smoothies, milkshakes, and frozen beverages. The first thing that I noticed about the unit was that it was heavy. I was impressed with the glass blending jar, which was a big “selling” point with me. From an aesthetic viewpoint, the blender looks very utilitarian and functional, profiling very much like the kitchen tool that it is.I have to admit that it’s worked great for the functions that I use it for. My first test was a simple strawberry smoothie, and it produced a creamy, cold concoction on the very first try. The fruit was evenly blended with the ice and milk, and it only took a few seconds to do the job.My second test was margaritas, and the unit once again performed well. The ice crush function takes a little getting used to, as it pulses every two seconds without any user intervention. The ice crush function did really well with small ice cubes, not as well with larger cubes. To my guest’s delight, it produced a wonderfully blended and very tasty batch of frozen margaritas.In short, I like this blender. It works fine for my very basic needs. It’s easy to clean, easy to use, and doesn’t take up a ton of counter space. It’s a bit noisy, and that plus the difficulty with larger ice cubes will cause me to drop the unit to 4 stars. Overall, though, it’s a win, and at this price point I think that you’d be getting a decent unit.