Great for the occasional user!!!
Written: Apr 10 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small, easy cleanup, fast, great for smoothie type beverages!!!
Cons: expensive, over hyped, better alternatives at similar or less price- not for everyday use!
The Bottom Line: Good value @ $25-$30 for the occasional user. Forget the extras i.e. juicer - not functional. Typically sells for more- so not a recommended product!
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| graum's Full Review: Magic Bullet High Speed Blender Mixer System |
The machine does what it says, however as with many non dedicated devices the quality or capability of the additional functions is far less than a specific machine.
The Magic Bullet I purchased came with several clear cups (some with handles, others without) & several colored screw on rings. The Magic Bullet kit also included a blender attachment, juicer attachment, two blade bases (one for grinding, one for mixing, cutting, chopping) a few replacement "O" rings, and several covers.
The idea of the cups with handles are to use as personal creation cups mixing a beverage, soup, pudding or what have you for each person, then put a screw on colored ring for use from the container. This will save on dishes and make a bit of a conversation piece as each person can make their own creation. My friends and family didn't find this too amusing after the first couple of times, but the cups were useful for mixing as needed and continued to be used until the little plastic guides that are needed to start the motor when the cup is pushed downward break off.
We have "lost" one container every couple of months due to these tabs breaking off and to have the warranty cover the cup is cost prohibitive because the manufacturer wants the buyer to pay for shipping/handling.
The blender attachment is essentially a larger plastic container that the blade base screws into and will work to make most anything that a blender set on puree is capable of making. Keep in mind that this machine has only one speed and so if you need to run a slower speed such as grate or crumb this will not work well for your needs. Also the blender is not well suited for thicker food products (again due to the puree speed).
The fruit juicer attachment is probably the weakest "add-on" that has been marketed with the Magic Bullet. The idea is to use the blender container with the chopping blade and a special insert that holds in the pulp while the speed of the blade pulverizes the fruit and vegetables forcing the juice through the screen. This process works, however very ineffectively. The juice that is extracted is either very thick and full of pulp or very concentrated, leaving most of the juice in the pulverized waste. When I removed the waste material I could easily squeeze out more juice from the pulp than the machine had originally produced for me to enjoy.
I thought that I was doing something wrong and when checking the Magic Bullet website for FAQ's I came across some very condescending remarks about people's ability to use the machine and their expectations of juice production. I also went so far as to borrow a Juicer from a friend just to do a comparison. They had the very well known brand (due to weekly infomercials) and it produced several times more juice from the same quantity of fruit or vegetable than this attachment and the pulp was substantially drier. I would not recommend buying the Magic Bullet for it's "juicer" attachment, in fact if you buy the Bullet and receive this attachment, you may want to toss it out or recycle the plastic if possible rather than waste shelf space.
The blade bases work as intended, however the "O" ring that seats inside the base to prevent leaks has a tendency to slip out of it's groove when tightening the base to the cup. This will result in leaks or even get caught by the blade. If the rubber "O" ring gets caught by the blade the ring will be wrapped tightly around the blade itself and usually need to be cut free. I have lost two bands this past year due to the band getting caught. As for being dishwasher safe. The cups clean up well on the top shelf and so do the blade bases, however over the course of 14 months my chopper blade has shown considerable corrosion where the blade is press fitted to the gear and bearing assembly at the base.
I have not used the covers for sprinkling grated cheeses, spices, or storing ground coffee since I need the containers more for mixing in the machine. I did try the covers for what they were advertised i.e. storage or sifting and they function well enough, however there are much better choices such as the glass or plastic version of a sifter/shaker that sell for only a couple dollars at most big box stores, the same goes for storage.
The best use I have found for the Magic Bullet is making smoothies and frozen beverages. The speed of the machine makes ice into a slush consistency and the size is great for small batches, however at north of $50 the price is quite high for a small lightweight slush maker (unless space is a premium).
Overall the machine is a great mixer, blender, and smoothie maker- especially for those that are limited with space or need a smaller machine, however the motor is built for short high speed burst (1 minute max)only. Longer than 60seconds results in an overheating situation and the machine may shut down until the motor is cooled or worse- depending if your Bullet is equipped with a thermal overload (my first one was not).
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
graum
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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