You may have seen people in YouTube videos using a hand blender to prepare a smoothie before going for a run. They get the consistency correct with minimum fuss of cleaning up. The machine you may have seen is the BlendJet 2, which is now available in India.

The popular brand markets its portable blender as designed in California and it’s being used to prepare smoothies, juices, dips, salad dressings, frozen lattes and milkshakes. If you think Stanley Cup is a craze in the US, try searching for BlendJet. We had a chance to review the product and here is what we think of it.

Easy to use

To make watermelon juice we needed to blend twice and then added a couple of ice cubes, after which we blended once again

If you have picked up an earlier version of the Blendjet (the company is HQ-ed in the San Francisco Bay Area) while travelling, you will notice that the container has been bounced up to 475ml, a substantial increase. To make things easy for those who want to measure out smoothies and drinks, there are measurements on the side of the jar.

For every hour of charge you get 15 blends. This is a feature that’s interesting in case you like to take it on road trips. The machine doesn’t need to be hooked to a power source for you to make a smoothie. There is a self-cleaning feature that involves adding water and soap and then hitting blend.

There are a few modes you need to be aware of. Blend mode involves a 20-second blend cycle (you can press the button once again to stop the churn midway). Pulse mode is perfect to make salsa dips and chutneys. Double-press power button to switch to this mode. Lock mode stops the blender from activating while you are drinking from the container.

A few things that matter

We want the blending to be not-so-loud. Instead of being a dentist’s drill, it does offer some noise but not as much as most other smoothie makers.

Second, there is a 5V electric motor that spins 275 times per second, which is very fast for a battery operated device. Be it carrot or watermelon juice or smoothie, it shouldn’t take more than 20-40 seconds to prepare a drink. We tried to make a pineapple smoothie and watermelon juice, both came out fine. Later, we tried a salsa dip to be had with tacos and for this we used the pulse mode, which gave a chunky sauce. Did the fruit juice have chunks in it? There were some small pieces at the bottom of the jar but it’s acceptable.

Also available on the official website is a larger jar and insulated sleeve

The machine is not very light for a reason: Some kind of weight ensures that the device doesn’t topple over when it blends. You don’t need to hold on to it while the motor spins. To make the juicing process challenging, we threw in a couple of ice cubes and the blades cut through it easily. What you get is a nice slushy glass of fruit juice. At times you have to give fruit pieces a couple of spins to puree. Summer is obviously not the season you would go on a picnic but the hand blender will be handy during winter outings.

Here’s another question: How does it stack up against traditional juicers? The juicer has more power and space, so you can easily make big portions and add a lot of fruits while making a smoothie. With the hand blender if two or three types of fruits need to be added, you need to add it in parts because the motor has to make the blade cut through fruits of varying texture.

Should you buy it?

A few things to remember. Before crushing ice, add some liquid. Look closely and you will notice that the blades are offset from the centre. It’s a design element that helps blast ingredients in a spin cycle. In the few days we have used the blades didn’t rattle. Most importantly, remember this is not a replacement for a traditional juicer.

What we didn’t like about the packaging is the USB-A to USB-C cable for two reasons. First, the cable is quite short. Second, most of us have moved to USB-C to USB-C charging and so very few old power bricks are lying around the house that accommodate USB-A. You may have read about the recall of certain BlendJet 2 portable blenders in the US last year but we haven’t had issues with the review unit. Models that are currently being sold are not affected by the recall.

What we think you may like: On the website, you can order the XL Jar which can handle up to 945ml juice. You can also buy an insulated sleeve to retain some of the coolness while you power through in the gym. Very importantly, replacement base gasket is available to ensure the machine remains relevant for a long time. What about long-term usage? You will have to wait a month or so to find out. Meanwhile, BlendJet 2 is turning out to be a smooth operator.

You can make smoothies and fruit juices using the battery-operated BlendJet 2 without worrying about leaving behind a mess

At a glance

Device: BlendJet 2

Price: ₹2,999 to ₹3,999 on Blendjet.in

High notes

Blends fruit pieces smoothly

There is a pulse option

Accessories are easily available

Easy to clean

Muffled notes

USB-A to USB-C wire is going out of fashion

Not a replacement for a fruit juicer