Hamilton Beach Blender for Smoothies with 5 Functions Including Auto Smoothie Cycle, Wave Action System for Ultra Smooth Results, 850 Watts, 40oz BPA Free Glass Jar, Stainless Steel (56208)

I love my smoothie blender. It's perfect. I use it every morning that I go to work, throw everything in there and hit start and put my lunch together and then its ready. I never have a problem with it blending up everything smoothly and it works really fast. Just make sure there's enough liquid in it. It's also really easy to clean and comes a part to go in the dishwasher. So I rinse it out every day and run it through the dishwasher once a week.

I got the blender to make my morning protein shake which is powder, almond milk, and ice cubes. I've also used it a few times to make fruit smoothies with chunks of fruit and it had no issue. I think it's absolutely perfect for what I wanted. I had another well-known brand that started smelling like motor oil and not working well. I then started using my big KitchenAid blender but the problem with that is that when it would start up on any speed it would throw the powder of the shake up into the nooks and crannies of the lid and sides of jar, even when I tried to mix it up before with a whisk. So I was interested in something that had less space for that to happen, but still powerful. This smoothie blender is actually engineered not only to be the right size for smoothies, but it has the same function the previous "well known brand" does - a smoothie button that runs for about 45 seconds and does a great job.***Also important to note- this blender has a three year warranty which is 2 years longer than all of the other brands I've looked at including the very popular and expensive ones.I can tell you they stand behind their products, because initially the lid I received with the blender had a slight tear at the bottom of the spout part. There was a seam there, and apparently it can separate on the old lid style, which is what I must have received. I reached out to Hamilton Beach and they were great about sending out a new lid at no cost to me. The replacement lid is different, so I'm assuming they updated the style. Like other reviewers have said, the lid I now have is somewhat difficult to get off but what I usually do is place the blender in the sink and then hold it against the sink wall while simultaneously removing the lid. It's a harder plastic than the initial lid I received. I'm guessing they changed the design because of issues with the old style splitting? Anyway, yes the lid is a little hard to get off, but I would rather have a lid that's hard to get off then a lid that falls off when you're pouring out your smoothie :-). Bottom line, this is a great blender that does what it is intended to do, it has a great warranty in the company stands behind their product. I think it's a great value!

Works great!

I like having 2 Blenders. But prefer one to be plastic & the other Glass. Am older. Weaker muscles. For everyday use I use for my Smoothies for Breakfast I use a plastic Blender. Glass is heavier for me to hold in my older age. I use the Glass Hamilton Beach to "QUICK COMPOST" Banana Peels, egg shells, peppers, other table scrapes w. Lots of Water to use as DIY NON-TOXIC Fertilizer for my indoor & outdoor Plants. After Blending Food Scraps into a Smoothie mixture I decanter into larger Container & add More Water, then cover. When I'm ready I have DIY Non-Toxic Fertilizer for my outdoor Plants. Saves me money & I never have to be concerned about if Fertilizer is really Organic. My garden looks wonderful! But Hamilton Beach Blender is just fine for Smoothies, etc. I just don't want to use degraded foods into same Blender as for my own Food Preparation. Hamilton Beach is a Great Blender. It cuts up the hard Stems & Peels of Bananas Peppers, etc. EASILY! I have not used it on Ice. With the money to me!

I purchased this blender for several reasons. Primarily I needed a blender with the power and design to crush ice. Secondly was my familiarity with the Hamilton beach products. I should have paid more attention to the negative results I guess.The control panel "cover" is just a sticker and it was stuck to the other side of the base. I stuck it back on and tried to use it, thinking it was just an unusual coincidence.The description and the ads on the box suggest that this blender crushes ice. While it may "chop" ice when making a smoothie, it absolutely does NOT "crush" the ice. When you press the button to "Ice Crush" The ice in the pitcher was chopped once or twice and then stayed "stuck" to the glass and there were still nearly whole pieces of ice even after I physically moved the contents back down into the pitcher several times. Just as a side note, this was not regular sized ice cubes. They were small "bullet" style pieces.I did not feel that the pitcher was very stable on the base. It did not "lock" in place and wobbled when running unless I held it still.