Hamilton Beach 51101 Personal Blender

Hamilton Beach 51101 Personal Blender

Addicted to a blender
The other day I impulsivley went and bought a Hamilton Beach Juicer. When I got it home I hemmed and hawed, wondering if I should use it or not. Did I really want it? I started looking around the internet and realized what I really wanted was something to make smoothies or other fruit concoctions. I researched a few things like the Magic Bullet and Ultimate Chopper but both had mixed reviews. I was tempted to buy the Tribest blender because it had some good reviews here at Amazon but I could only find it online and it's listed at $60 - much more than what I really wanted to spend.

Instead, I went to my local Walmart and to see what they had. I saw the Hamilton Beach Personal Blender and it was priced for only $13.67 so I was interested. It's just me, so I don't need a huge and heavy unit taking up what little counter space I have. I also figured since that if I bought it at Walmart and that if I didn't like it I could easily return it.

I brought it home,...

Dumped my big blender, buying a second one of these.
This is probably the best $15 I ever spent for the kitchen.

I had a bigger standard blender, but never used it. Now, with this little blender, the little jar is always filled with something or in the dish drainer. It never gets a chance to be put away in the cabinet. The blender base is always on the counter - the only appliance of any sort that has that status.

It's simple and it works. It makes no more than two servings, and it does a real good job with single servings. I can make one kind of smoothie or shake and my son can make his own.

All of a sudden, we go to the store looking for "smoothie fodder" and we don't have to agree on what that is.

I am buying my second mostly for the second jar and lids. It is so inexpensive that they do not sell the replacement parts.

The hard life and times of a smoothie addict
[Update: Motor burned out in 5th month, but I may have become unrealistic in my expectations of the little machine, bullying it more than necessary. It easily outlasted a Blender Express, and unlike the bad design of the Blender Express, the elegant simplicity of this Hamilton Beach insures not only much quicker but spill-free, dripless smoothies. I've ordered another. Lessons learned: Make sure liquid gets to the bottom along with the ice; turn it off at first sign of heat or electric odor; keep a close watch on the 25c-piece-sized lid.]

If you're an experienced and regular smoothie maker, you know already that anything over a year's use from a non-professional machine is a bonus. I recently returned a lightweight Blender Express (by Back to the Basics) that failed after a single use! (The banana was too much for it.) This Hamilton Beach is the smallest, lightest blender I've seen yet, but it promises to perform for a while at least.

Ingeniously, the...

Take your drink to go. Convenient single-serving size. Great for fruit smoothies, icy drinks, shakes and more. Stainless steel blades. One-touch blending. Easy storage. Less cleaning.

• 175-watt personal blender for smoothies, shakes, and more
• Simple one-touch operation; durable stainless-steel blades
• 14-ounce blending jar doubles as a travel cup; less to clean
• Fits most car cup holders; recipe book included
• Measures 3-3/4 by 3-3/4 by 12-1/2 inches