Hamilton Beach 51101B Personal Blender with Travel Lid, Black
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Hamilton Beach 51101B Personal Blender with Travel Lid, Black
Customer Review: Perfect for Single Serve Smoothies and Protein Drinks
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE my Hamilton Beach blender! I use it to make my high protein meal replacement shakes. I add frozen fruit and ice cubes and it does an outstanding job of completely crushing the ice and fruit...even better than most regular blenders I've owned! No small pieces of ice are left in the cup, it makes the perfect smoothie consistency without the hassle of a regular size blender. No disassembling required so cleanup is easy to wash by hand or place in the dishwasher and it is so convenient to be able to drink right out of the blender cup - no need to dirty another dish, I just slide the opening and insert a staw.
I often use it 2-3 times a day and I just can't say enough about it. These can also be purchased at Wal-Mart for a little less than $20 I believe if you need it right away; otherwise you will pay about the same through Amazon once you add shipping to the cheaper price. Either way, you can't go wrong with this. I researched several different blenders before purchasing this one and I can tell you if you are looking for a personal blender for your smoothies/ shakes/ protein drinks...you will not be disappointed with this one! I'm going to buy another to have on hand since I use mine so much (I've had it for about 6 months of daily use and it is still working great!). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Customer Review: Great design, go easy on the motor, though
Summary: 3 Stars
I got this for my 17 year old son to make smoothies. He made the most delicious peach smoothie from ice and the Big Train Fruit Tea Smoothie Blast syrup also bought on Amazon. The consistency was smooth and perfect, just like a professional frozen drink. I asked him to make me one. On the second smoothie the motor died. We thought maybe it needed a little "rest" but sadly, it was the end of the road for that blender. When pressed for details, my son admitted that he noticed a burning smell before the motor stopped dead, and yet he kept pressing that button! Bottom line: great design, lightweight, nice personal cup size, easy storage and cleanup. The motor is just not very powerful, and can't take long blending times. Still, we are going to order a replacement and see if a bit more TLC while blending gives this blender better shelf life. Seems like it worked for some of the other reviewers.
Update: we got the new blender and it is working out great. You just have to be careful to pulse the blender as you go along, and stop for a few seconds (10?) if you start to smell the motor smell. Ice is blended into drinks very well, with no big chunks. The only downside is the no dishwasher requirement. I feel pretty tempted to try it, but as this is already the second blender I will resist.
Customer Review: Shame on you Hamilton Beach!
Summary: 1 Stars
This product is pathetic. It's a small appliance, especially next to the family of much larger and far more complex items Hamilton Beach sells, and you'd think it wouldn't take much genius for this 100-year old company to make a mini-blender free of the most fundamental of flaws. Yet HB badly sullies its brand name with a stupid defect that leaves you wondering whether they ever bother to sample their own wares. When it was barely fresh out of the box, I filled my blender to only about the 20% level, hit the 'on' button, and then watched with dismay and anger as the fluid began escaping through the small slidable piece on the plastic lid that should open only (in theory but not in fact) to allow you to drink through that cover. My drink was now flooding all over me through the ostensibly closed lid. If I had filled the blender to half or more of its capacity, I expect the leak would have been a gusher. I tried several more times, even holding the machine nearly horizontally with the closed lid hole facing straight up, and still the blender forced the fluids out onto my hand. Seeing that I'm not the only Amazon customer to have had to deal with this mess, I wonder why the company hasn't fixed its product. It virtually screams: "We at HB sell you junk and we couldn't care less."Customer Review: Horrible!
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a lovely little Signature Gourmet personal blender for $20 that I was using practically every day for the past year. When it stopped working I was unable to replace it because it's been recalled.. so I went to WalMart and started shopping around.
There I found this Hamilton Beach single serving blender. It was classy and elegant and looked like it held even more than my previous blender, so I was very happy to try it out.
But when I got home I dscovered that the "travel lid" it comes with is in fact the ONLY lid it has. You can slide a cover over the drinking hole, but do you think that actually holds the liquid in? Nope. Even when the blender is only half full, running it causes fluid to well up from beneath the drinking cover, and flood the top of the lid. I had to keep mopping it up to continue blending.
On top of that, the blender actually got stuck on. I was pulsing the button (exactly like I had to do for my Signature Gourmet) and when I took my finger off, the blender did NOT stop. Pressing the button again didn't turn it off either. I had to unplug it from the wall, and when I tried to plug it in again it started up immediately.
Needless to say, I am taking it back!
Customer Review: uhh...Yes Please!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best blender I have ever used...it actually blends smoothly. I generally only make smoothies and milkshakes, so other than that I don't know. But for those two things this is the best blender I have ever used. I think the reason it blends so well is the small size of it, nothing gets pushed out to the sides like in other blenders. You can also drink right out of the cup, which I wasn't planning on doing, but do it every time now.
The price is amazing, even if the blender was just OK the price would be amazing, but given the fact that this is the best blender I have ever used makes it unbelievably amazing.
I read the instructions so I never had any problems other people had. You have to remember to "pulse" it...as the button clearly reads "pulse". Its a small motor and I'm sure isn't meant to go full throttle for more than 7 sec at a time. Also, you have to remember to put the liquids in first, makes it easier.
I feel if anyone gives this a bad review its because they didn't read the 1 page instruction manual, which basically highlights the two points I just mentioned. Now if you excuse me, all this writing is making me want a smoothie. Buy this thing!