This blender is pretty good. It was the first one I bought when I moved into my own apartment. I decided to get it because it was fairly inexpensive and I liked the idea of the wand to help move items around to make sure everything is blended evenly. I also thought the spout on the front to pour your drinks was a good idea. However, now that the novelty of it all has worn off, I find that it's not as functional as it appeared to do. Even with the wand this blender does not crush or chop ice evenly. Unless tilted forward, the spout is extremely slow and you are better off just pouring the smoothie or drinks straight into the glass just like any other blender. Lastly, the blender is pretty big. If you have a small kitchen, like I did, it takes up a lot of room. I usually ended up putting it away and not letting it sit on the counter top, which in turn, I slowly started to use it less and less. Overall, not a bad beginner blended, but the fun features fell short and you are probably better off buying a more traditional style and skip the bells and whistles on this one. Versatility If it crushed ice it would have opened up a world of opportunity for making mixed drinks aka margaritas. However, since it failed to do this, the only things I could put in here to blend were juices and soft fruits. Ease of Cleaning The pouring spout does come off for cleaning, but is kind of a pain to deal with to make sure no missed juice or fruit dries on it. Durability I used it a bunch and it was still working like new. So even though it wasn't the best blender I owned, it did survive long enough for me to pass it along to someone else.

rexyb1213

USA

I really like smoothies and was using a small hand blender to make them. My sister found the Back to Basics Smoothie Splash on sale one day and decided to buy us both one. We both now make our smoothies every daily with our Smoothie Splash. It is so simple to use with just an on, off, and pulse button. There is an opening in the top where you can easily pour or drop your ingredients whether liquid or solid. There is also a nice, long plunger to help push items down into the machine or just help to stir if necessary. After blending, it has a very handy spout that has a handle that you can lift up or push down to dispense your smoothie. It also has the capacity to chop/crush up the ice if you like to put ice in your smoothies. Easy hand rinsing/washing is all that is needed for clean up. It cannot be put in the dishwasher. So simple to use and clean that my young niece can use it when she comes for a visit.

sghstarr

Flint, TX

Broke after making a few smoothies. The motor quick functioning. Blending Power Was not impressed by the blending power. I used frozen strawberries and had to keep moving the strawberries around in order to allow them to become blended. Versatility Only able to be used with soft fruits and liquid and even then I was more impressed with my food processor than with this blender for smoothies. Ease of Cleaning Seeds of berries continued to get stuck inside the spout. Ease of Use It was not complicated to learn how to turn it on. Design The spout would trap ingredients and would get clogged regularly that I would just resort to pouring the smoothie out from the top(like a pitcher). Durability Broke after a few uses.

love2save2

Rochester, MI