Others say...

"Disappointed, very poor performance, wonder how these others are happy with it..."
I bought this blender because I liked its retro design, and I thought it would function well. Well, every single time I've tried to use it has been a disaster. Even for very simple tasks, like blending soft avocado, the blender has not worked. The blades spit big chunks onto the sides of the glass jar and then spin around without blending anything... It's horrible. And I even threw away my old, ugly blender when I bought this one... and the other worked just fine. : (

"Blended by the light"
This powerful and sylish blender replaced an old 12 speed Oster which had me grumbling with every use. Two of the primary selection factors were the fact it was NOT an Oster and the wide-based glass pitcher.

I've used this blnder to date to whirr together protein breakfast smoothies, make soup, and mix seasoning rub. It worked well, evenly distributing the contents quickly, and pureeing squash soup to silky smoothness. I like the pulse feature on this model, and feel two speeds is all I need. I have not used this blender to chop ice, and I use fresh or partially thawed fruit for my smoothies, so I cannot speak to that feature.

I especially like the glass pitcher, which is wider near the blades, easing cleaning. This also seems to help distribute protein powder better than the old Oster, although that is sort of like saying a gasoline lawn mower is more effective than pruning shears to mow the lawn.

The plastic cover seems less wimpy than the Oster, and has yet to warp out of shape in the dishwasher. I also find the pitcher is MUCH easier to take apart and reassemble for cleaning. I like the pitcher's stability, and it is attractive enough to serve from. It is heavy, but that is the trade-off with glass. So far, I am very happy and only wish I had not waited so long.

"Just what I was looking for."
I internet shopped for a week, reading consumer reports and customer reviews of just about every blender made. I decided on this one based on my research and I am glad I did. I make my husband fruit and juice smoothies almost every day after work and with this machine it is a fast, easy job. Ice and frozen fruit are blended into the drink very quickly.

It is a little loud but it is worth the noise to have 500 watts of power. I also like the fact the base is heavy cast metal, the pitcher is thick, solid glass with a tight fitting lid and the blade is stainless. I like the easy to use control knob and the fact it has 2, yes just 2 speeds. I find most machines with 12 to 20 little buttons are fairly useless and all those speeds rarely used, they also take up more counter space because the bases have to be bigger for all the buttons.

The fact that the Hamilton Beach comes in 6 colors is just icing on the cake and the Moroccan Red is gorgeous.


"strong and attractive"
This blender is outstanding -- powerful and pretty. Should have been - however -- "dishwasher safe".

"A Nice Simple Design"
Nice, retro design- really great colors (I opted for the apple green). My only wish is that it were a bit more powerful. It is perfect for making smoothies, which was why I bought it.
...UPDATE...one person asked if this blender will crush ice by itself. It will not.