Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher Blender For Smoothies With 40 Oz Glass Jar and 14 Functions, Ice Sabre Blades & 700 Watts for Consistently Smooth Results, Black Stainless Steel (54221)

Reasonably good value and works well for most tasks BUTIt is not the best for frozen drinks.It lacks the power necessary to fold the frozen mass back down to the blades.It’s a delicate balance between being too liquid and too stiff.Requires that you be mindful to only use it for short periods and then run it without the blender on the base for a minute to allow the fan to cool the internals before leaving off. Otherwise you’ll notice the smell of overheated insulation.It’s also important to do this because the speed control uses an SCR component that will fail permanently if it overheats. This is true of all such speed contolled small appliances. Not a problem with this specific blender, just generally true of all similar appliances… Blenders, mixers, food processors all use SCRs and should all be run without a load for a minute to remove the heat from the motor and SCR before leaving them off.Underpowered appliances are particularly vulnerable because they are exposed to loads they can’t really handle, take longer to do the job and build up more heat because of this and this blender is slightly underpowered for demanding tasks like smoothies and frozen drinks.The worst failing of this blender though, isn’t being marginal on power.If you use it in bursts and cool it frequently, it will do the job eventually.The big problem is that the lid is very tight fitting and once the lid becomes cold, it doesn’t slip off easily. It can be a fight to get it off.I’ve broken pickle jars opening them by hand… This lid, once it gets cold and stiff is a SERIOUS fight to get it off.If you wanted to design a blender lid that was leak proof, it might be a strategy that could work, BUT the top of the lid has a little flap through which you can add ingredients that just lays there. It can’t deal, making the overly tight fitting lid, pointless. A simple quarter turn plug would have been less costly, easier to clean and would actually seal.Cleaning the base and blender body is very easy and very nicely designed for good base sealing, easy assembly and cleaning.The lid will require some small brushes and patience to clean it well.Reasonable value for the price.Slightly underpowered for frozen drinks but will eventually get it done.Base and blade, blade seal and sealing gland nut are excellently designed.The lid is horrible for the effort to remove it, to clean it, and it can’t possibly seal because it uses a flap rather than a plug for adding ingredients.