Blenders are handy for busy mornings. It’s really easy to throw a bunch of ingredients into your blender for a delicious, healthy smoothie, then hit the road. But sometimes hauling out the full-size blender seems like more trouble than it’s worth. The answer is a personal blender. I recently had the chance to get hands-on in my home with the Hamilton Beach personal smoothie blender with 14 ounce travel cup (model 51132). The premise of this blender is extremely simple; blend a smoothie for one and take it with you all in one device. In this review I’ll take a look at how well the Hamilton beach personal smoothie blender works, how effective it is at creating ultra smooth smoothies, I’ll check out any additional features and I’ll wrap things up by letting you know if I think I can recommend this personal blender for you.
Set up and operation
There’s really no set up required to use this blender. Plug in the base, and set the blending cup on top and lock it into place. One of the very convenient features of this blender is that the cup also doubles as a travel cup so once you’re done blending you can simply take it with you to go. The lid has a slider to keep from spilling anything both during blending and when you’re on the move. Just slide it open to take a drink.
The blending jar feels durable and BPA free, and it has measurement lines on the front meaning you don’t need extra measuring cups or to have to guess.
One button operation
Initially it might seem like this is a downside; many brands named blenders boast multiple speeds, but the truth is if you have a powerful motor and sharp blades you really don’t need that many different speeds. Even so, I was a little skeptical that the single button and single speed on this personal blender could truly be effective. How well does it work? We’ll find out in a moment.
How well does it work?
The most important feature in a blender, particularly one made for making smoothies or shakes, is it ability to completely power through ingredients like ice, frozen fruit, or leafy greens to give you smooth, chunk free results.
Can a Hamilton Beach blender make smoothies?
That’s the first test I put this personal blender through.
I used the blender for about a week and made smoothies every morning. I used frozen fruit, ice, as well as refrigerated fruit, yogurt and leafy greens.
On my frozen fruit smoothies I was surprised at how effective the Hamilton Beach blender was at completely pureeing even the chilliest chunks of fruit. While the blend time was definitely longer when using frozen fruit, it was extremely effective.
When it comes to leafy greens, I added spinach and chia seeds to a green smoothie again I was surprised at how well the blender worked.
With cold fruit from the fridge, the Hamilton Beach personal blender worked like magic.
Next up; a true milkshake with ice cream… and I got the creamiest results!
Can I put ice in my Hamilton Beach personal blender?
In short, yes! When making crushed ice, here the blender needed a bit of help. Simply crushing ice on its own wasn’t extremely effective (it got about half of it), but with even the smallest bit of liquid or water added it made it a much easier task.
I also used this blender for making marinade, salad dressing and even frozen dog treats.
Because of its compact size, this would be an ideal gadget to have in your RV or camper van.
One feature of this blender I will point out is that you do have to push and hold the power button when you’re blending. There’s no option here for turning it on and walking away… Not that you should really be doing that with any blender.
Portability
There are plenty of thermal mugs or portable travel cups, but the problem with many of them is that they won’t fit in a standard cupholder. Fortunately the Hamilton Beach personal smoothie blender has a narrow base that is perfectly made to fit even smaller cupholders.
Welcome to
Tech Gadgets Canada
Browse reviews from other technology gadget categories!
Cleanup: couldn’t be easier
Often cleanup is where even the most popular products can go awry. After all, if you must hand wash your blender, that’s going to make you less likely to want to use it. Fortunately, the Hamilton beach personal smoothie blender is dishwasher safe in the top rack. Of course you can also clean it quite easily by adding warm water and a tiny dash of soap into the blending cup when you’re finished and running it for a few seconds.
Can I get Replacement cups for Hamilton Beach Personal Blender?
Hamilton Beach has extra containers available and Amazon allows you to buy a version with two blending cups and one base so it’s easy to swap out cups for other family members.
Overall review: Hamilton Beach personal blender
Overall this is an outstanding blender. Given its small size and single button operation I wasn’t expecting much when it came to how effective it would be. Boy was I surprised! This blender is easily able to power through everything from ice, to frozen fruits, leafy greens and herbs, and pretty much anything else you want to put in here.
It’s quite lightweight yet feels durable, and the fact you can blend and take your smoothie to go all in one cup is very convenient. Clean up is easy too.
So what are the downsides? I’m really having a hard time finding anything negative to crack on here. Some users might not appreciate the fact you have to hold the button while you’re running it, but given the quick operation of this personal blender I didn’t find it was a big deal. Other folks may wish for something larger, but if that’s the case getting a regular size blender would be a better option for you. This device is meant to be a single serve machine and it executes its one job extremely well.
In short I can definitely recommend this blender for you if you’d like to enjoy smoothies or other drinks particularly on the go, or if you need to make quick work of dressings, dips and marinades.
It’s also extremely affordable; selling for about $25 or $30 US on Amazon.
**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada & TechGadgetsInternational is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Hamilton Beach Personal Blender
Summary
Given its small size and single button operation I wasn’t expecting much when it came to how effective it would be. Boy was I surprised! This blender is easily able to power through everything from ice, to frozen fruits, leafy greens and herbs, and pretty much anything else you want to put in here.
Pros
- Powerful
- Compact size
- Purees everything
- Lightweight
- Blending cup also to-go cup
- Easy cleanup
- Great for shakes, smoothies, dressings, marinades
Cons
- Lid can be a touch hard to get on/off
- Must hold button to operate
