Blender Reviews

I was enticed by the great price to buy this blender. My disappointment started as soon as I assembled it. The blade and its plasic base screw onto the bottom of the pitcher. This is good, it makes cleaning easier. But it took me forever to get the base to screw on. Instead of having actual threads (like a screw), it just has a few bumps in the plastic that are supposed to engage the threads molded into the glass pitcher. They're very hard to align, and if you tighten it just a little too far, it pops off. Also, the pitcher does not lock onto the motor when in use. It just sits there. This made me immediately leery of accidentally knocking it off while running. Also the motor emitted a bad ozone odor while running. Maybe this will go away after some use, but it was downright annoying. My wife kept saying "is it getting too hot?". But those complaints seem pretty minor compared with the trouble we had getting it to blend. The first thing we made was a fruit "smoothy": basically just crushed ice and fruit with some milk. It absolutely would not blend this mixture. As soon as you started it, a "bubble" would form around the blade and it would just spin. I had to stop and punch the mixture down around the blade every few seconds. Bad blade design? I don't know, but it took forever to make one fruit smoothy. I was really disappointed in this blender. Everything about it makes me think "cheap". I am now looking to buy something else.

This is the best blender that I have ever had! It makes fabulous smoothies, crushes ice at the speed of lightning, and looks beautiful on my counter. My old Waring lasted 20 years, so I look forward to a long life for this one as well.

I bought this blender because it was supposed to be designed to make smoothies and iced drinks and that was all I wanted it for. It did blend fairly well and the spout is convenient when you're making drinks...BUT it broke down within a few months of occasional use and it was an extra hassle to clean. The liquid started leaking out of the bottom, and I haven't bothered to fix it because I have an excellent 12 speed Hamilton Beach blender with mini food processor attachment. That blender blends as well or better and it's dish washer safe. The big difference is that Hamilton Beach has hung on for a few years so far with no problems.

I received the Bosch blender but discovered that it was made for a German machine and not the US one that I own. I have never seen the machine that it fits and doubt that it is available in this country. I am surprised that this piece of equipment is not standardised for any Bosch kitchen machine. At any rate, I sent it back to you, but have not heard if you have received it. Please let me know.

I recieved this blender as a wedding gift and was so excited. But it has really not met my expectations.
Its first or second trip through the dishwasher turned my lid pink. Apparently there may have been a slight remnant of tomato sauce on a plate in the dishwasher, and that in turn stained my lid...forever. I called Cuisinart and they didn't seem to agree this was a problem. After some arm twisting they agreed to send me a new white lid, but warned me that it would happen again if I put it in the dishwasher with anything dirty again.
Lid problems aside, the blender works pretty well, but doesn't do a terribly fantastic job crushing ice really fine. I would probably suggest looking into Waring instead of Cuisinart for a good blender.

I couldn't tell any difference in power being that this one is a 450 watt. I had a 400 watt and it burned up and this one has a funny smell like it's going to burn up too. Also, mine was an open box item. I was hoping for better performance since I use my blender a lot. I hasn't chopped up all the ice cubes yet when making a frozen drink.

I bought the Pro 600 Smoothie Maker for my teenage daughter, who can live on smoothies during the summer. She loves the machine and made 2 or more delicious smoothies a day for about 4 months. Then catastrophe struck. The motor is quite powerful and there is a lot of action going on when it's running (noise too) and apparently the vibration of the machine caused 2 flanges in the bottom of the machine to break off. This caused the strawberry-banana smoothie to flow all over the countertop and floor. It was a huge mess to clean up and left my daughter heartbroken. I have ordered another smoothie maker--the Pro700 stainless, in the hope it can withstand its own vibrating action better than the first. It certainly crushes ice much better than a blender and it does make delicious drinks. My daughter uses frozen berries, bananas, whatever fruit juice is available and sometimes a dab of homemade ice cream in hers. If the new machine holds up, I will give it a 5-star rating. Otherwise, it's off my list forever.

saw the 3 models on sale this past weekend at a local department store (kohl's). decided to get the middle unit (the 600). i've spend quite a few bucks at a jamba juice on their smoothies. figured it was about time i make my own and save some money.

in the box you find the base, the body, lid, stirring stick (which, smartly, does not reach all the way down to the blades), a cap for the center hole in the lid, a small instruction booklet, a small recipe booklet, warranty card and a sample packet of smoothie pre-mix (mine was strawberry-banana, which i haven't tried yet).

of course i didn't read the directions. i just washed it all out, put it all together and threw some stuff in. blended it up and tried it. for my first attempt (some fresh strawberries, a banana, ice and a cup of plain yogurt) it wasn't bad. my later attempt for some family members (more fruit and a juice base) was "professional" quality.

some notes from the instruction manual that helped out. pay attention to the markings on the body. add liquids/fruit up to the designated marking and ice to the second. blend. then if needed add more ice or fruit. dispensing can be very slow if the unit is off. turn it on the low setting (mix) and it will pour out very quickly!

cleanup isn't that bad except for when you want to completely disassemble the body. i haven't tried it yet but instructions for taking the spout apart look like something will get lost. the blade is also screwed in VERY tight on mine. cleans up very easily though in the sink with warm soapy water (after all it is only fruit and ice). the documentation says not to put it in a dishwasher as it will ruin the plastic on the parts.

overall very happy with the unit so far. good value for the price i paid (on sale). can't comment on the durability. only had it a few days. all plastic construction (except for the blade). seems decent. don't think it's that loud compared to other blenders.

It is a great gadget to have, but it is really loud! I mean, SO loud I scare my husband when I use it if he is anywhere in the apartment. I have to warn him that I'm about to use it or he freaks out when he first hears it!

I have had my blender for quite a while and have used it almost daily for everything from soups to frozen smoothies. The glass jar is sturdy and easy to clean. The 14 speed thing is a joke - they all seem to generate the same amount of power. We had been noticing sparks coming from the underside of the blender about 2 months before it started making an odd humming noise, even when turned off. And then we'd see an sinister red glow in the motor chamber - we haven't used it since and are looking for a new one. What is the average lifespan of an average blender? 3 years? I have no idea, really. This one has been good for the time I have had it and was a nice price, but here I am looking for another one...

I received this blender as a gift almost 8 years ago, and it's still going strong. I have never had to sharpen the blades, it has never emitted sparks, the glass jar has never cracked or chipped, and I count it as one of the most dependable appliances I have! The lid is a little stained from years of constant use -- I make smoothies, blend soups, puree vegetables, and make milkshakes mostly -- but the base is still white (occasional scrubs with Soft Scrub work wonders!). The only problems are that the low speed settings are not much different from each other (the high speed ones are noticeably different) and that if you fill the blender jar too much and then turn on a high speed, the liquid might bubble up through the little add-in cap in the lid (messy and painful when it's a hot soup you're pureeing!). But I am very pleased with this product and would highly recommend it, despite what some of these other reviewers have said.

I have the plastic jar $25 version and I was going to buy another for my Boston apartment, but I thought I'd splurge the extra [money] (big spender, I know) and get this one instead. I'm glad I did, this blender is fantastic. I have plastic jar version in my apartment in Montreal, and it just plain sucks, the jar cracked three weeks into having it and it can hardly cut through my morning smoothy. But this blender is far more effective and does a great job of everything I put it through, i.e. pureéing parsnips and carrots (a great recipe off of canadianliving.com, I highly recommend trying it for thanksgiving). Definetly skip the plastic 10-speed and get this one. It's a far better product.

My husband and children make milkshakes daily so I decided this would be a neat gadget to buy. This didn't even have enough power to make a milkshake...it just put a hole in the middle of the ice cream. It's also made totally of plastic. I returned it back the next day. If you need to whip up breakfast drinks and chocolate milk, I bought a small hand held whisk from Pampered Chef for $3 and it works great.

Why bother paying money for something that only stirs drinks (spoons work!) or blends cocktails and milkshakes (that's what blenders are for!). I received this as a gift, and at first thought it was the neatest thing... a retro milkshake maker. But it doesn't have much power, you have to make sure the cup is securely on or a huge mess will splatter everywhere, and if your ingredients are hard (like ice or ice cream) you'll be waiting forever for the drink to be made. Stick with a regular blender for milkshakes and drinks, and save some money and counter space.

My son uses it for milkshakes, and I've made a few myself.
It works fine, and more importantly matches my sparcly furnished crome kitchen. (crome tea keatle, crome garbage, etc). It looks nice in the kitchen.

We've used it a dozen times.
I would agree, that it does not appear to be the best well made appliance in the world, since the spinny thing at the bottom is plastic, but it does work ok.

The kids have not complained yet, and it cleans up easy.

I can't deny that the blender was very good WHILE IT WORKED. However, after 4 months using it the motor burned!! Smoke came from the bottom of the blender. I send it straight to the trash. Not recommended.

I bought this blender because of the review it got in Consumers Reports Magazine, an unbiased point of view. We use it everyday to make smoothies and baby food and couldn't be happier with the product. I received the product without the lid when I ordered from Amazon so I contacted Braun as Amazon suggested and the lid was delivered that week.

I know there are others out there like me: when I want to buy something, I want to buy the best. Naturally, I go for the top of the line. That usually means paying more for better quality. My reasoning is to spend a little more and I won't have to buy another one for years to come.

I'd been meaning to buy a blender for sometime now. After some hunting through the most well-known "consumer reporting" magazine, I discovered that this $50 blender, mixed, chopped and crushed ice better than models that were EIGHT times as much. This model is the best I've ever used.

Ice crushing was the key factor in the purchase. This baby crushes it in a few quick pulses. Frozen drinks are ready in less than 30 seconds. I use mine for protein shakes and it's a snap to clean. The key is cleaning it immediately.

I must stress that you can't find a better value for your money. This blender is amazing!

From other reviews and my own experience, these blenders are DEFECTIVE. The teeth on the motor base that turn the blade STRIP and the blender is pretty much TRASH. I called for warranty service and they will fix it alright..AND REPLACE IT WITH ANOTHER STINKING PIECE WITH PLASTIC TEETH. I am telling you...just throw your $100 bill in the trash NOW and cut out the middle man if you insist on wasting your money! Better yet...the first homeless person you see...slip them the benji..they can use it more that GREEDY OLD CUISINART THAT KNOWS THEIR APPLIANCE IS DEFECTIVE AND STILL KEEPS SELLING THEM.

I recommend Oster, KitchenAid or any brand that makes them out of steel or rubber. I replaced my piece of junk Cuisinart after throwing it in the TRASH with a KitchenAid that is HARD RUBBER...and it has worked like a champ!!

I have now owned two identical versions of this particular blender. Unfortunately both broke after a year in exactly the same way. The black plastic gear that engages the blades cracked, and in both cases it broke on while blending either bag ice or most recently, frozen bananas. Considering that these ingredients are not that hard to blend, I am greatly disappointed.

If you buy a Cuisinart, it's because you demand quality. However if you buy this it should only be because you like the appearance, and not because you plan on making frozen drinks or smoothies. As said I've bough two, so obviously I've been patient; but no more.

I have owned the duet for approximatley one year. I use the blender mostly for milkshakes. The food processor is small, which is ok with me, except I do not like the feed tube. With a processor this small, it's unlikely one would use it to slice or shred, so why bother with the slicing disk and therefore the feed tube? Also, the feed tube makes it too tall to work with right under kitchen cabinets--you must pull it out to use. The motor is loud for both appliances. And the biggest problem is that mine broke this morning while I attempted to make a milkshake rendering both applicances unusable, since now the blade will not rotate. There is a small black plastic disk that fits between the base and the jar that has shattered all on its own. After reading your other reviews, I see I am not the first person to experience this. Buy this item with caution.