Magic Bullet Blender Reviews: Is the Blender Worth Buying?

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A single-serve, personal blender is usually the best option when you want to make a quick smoothie or small blends. And when you check the Magic Bullet blender reviews online, you’ll notice the brand is the overall bestseller in this category, featuring 80+K positive feedback on Amazon (alone). However, is the blending machine that good, or it’s just another exaggerated product on the market?

In my opinion, the Magic Bullet is worth it, considering the amount you pay. It’s a nice take when looking for a cheap blender for smoothies under $50. You can also blend ice and frozen fruits when used right, as we shall see later in the article.

Verdict: What I’ve Liked Best on the Magic Bullet Blender

  • The Magic Bullet blender is so cheap to get
  • The Magic Bullet comes with many accessories
  • The Magic Bullet blender can grind coffee and spices
  • The Magic Bullet blender delivers pleasurable smoothies
  • The Magic Bullet blender requires less space to use or store
  • The Magic Bullet blender has bottom suction cups for steady blending

Cons: What I’ve Not Liked on the Magic Bullet Blender

  • The Magic Bullet blender has no physical buttons
  • The Magic Bullet blender has only a single blending speed
  • The Magic Bullet blender has a plastic drive gear and coupling

Magic Bullet Blender Reviews: A Summary of the Personal Brand

FactsMagic Bullet
First Release Date2003
Available Colors2 Options [Silver Blend & Black]
Single-Serve Cups18-Ounce & 12-Ounce
Motor Size250 watts
Drive Gear SystemPlastic
Manual ControlSingle speed
Pre-set ProgramsNO
Pulse FunctionSorta
Control TypesBlending Cup
Total AccessoriesEleven (11)
Standard WarrantyOne (1) Limited Year
PriceCheck the New Deal
  
Table for Features

First, the Magic Bullet was the first personal blender in the consumer market. The first generation model launched in 2003, making it also pretty old in the category since others like Nutribullet and Nutri Ninja came in later.

Besides the super-low pricing, the Magic Bullet blender performs decently. The smoothies, yes, are not as glossy and velvety as with the high-end Vitamix machines. But the drinks are still pleasurable and with no chunks when you blend accordingly.

In the Bella Rocket Blender vs Magic Bullet, we saw you can use your mini blender to process mixtures with frozen fruits or ice cubes. Then again, you must set up and use your appliance right to make sure it pulverizes everything.

Magic Bullet Blender Reviews: Features & Capabilities You Should Know

Below are the most relevant details you should know about the Magic Bullet blender. The section covers  about power, performance, included accessories, durability, capacity, and ease of use.

Pricing

As was mentioned, the Magic Bullet is ideal if looking for a decent blender under $50. It has a regular price tag of about $40, which can come down to around $30 during limited-time deals and holiday offers.

Tip: the pricing of most products usually varies with where you’re shopping. For instance, Amazon and Walmart have the Magic Bullet blender at $40, whereas Best Buy and KOHL’S charge $50.

Accessories

Despite the low cost, the Magic Bullet blender comes with everything you need to make the most in your kitchen. It has an 11-piece set, with the motor base, two blending cups with their comfort lip rings and resealable lids, a drinking mug, a flip-top travel lid, a blade system, and a simple recipe guide.

I’m not all happy the Magic Bullet blender has only one (cross) blade system for all the blending tasks. The manufacturer should have sent both the cross blade (for wet blending) and the flat blade (for grinding/ milling). That way, you would have the wet blade edges sharp for long, which in turn maintains a decent smoothie quality.

Tip: Magic Bullet does sell the flat blade for milling separately if interested. It costs about $15, which is relatively expensive (almost half the blender cost), in my opinion.

Build & Durability

Like most kitchen appliances, the Magic Bullet blender assumes a polycarbonate (plastic) material for the housing. The plastic feels real solid, albeit you still must be careful not to drop it as it will just crack or shatter into pieces.

The blade of the personal blender is also sturdy stainless steel, with high resistance to rust or corrosion. You won’t need to worry about food poisoning issues.

When comparing Magic Bullet vs Vitamix, though, we saw the former utilizes a plastic drive gear and coupling to spin the blade. The plastic the engineering team feels sturdy, for sure. But the durability of this material is questionable, especially if you plan on grinding grains and crushing frozen ingredients regularly.

Blending Power

Unfortunately, the Magic Bullet blender is a bit lacking in blending power. It features a rather compact power base, with also a tiny motor that offers about 250-watt output.

Even though the motor is tiny, our blender works with a small container. The blending blade spins at a very fast speed, making sure every bit of the mixture breaks down completely.

However, this compilation of small components means your Magic Bullet can’t handle the large pieces of fruit you use with countertop blenders. And the worst part, the blender only supports a single blending speed, which makes it tricky to work on slow-speed-blending tasks, such as making meringue.

Blender Performance

As I’ve just mentioned, the tiny motor of Magic Bullet spins very fast. And when this meets the razor-sharp edges of the extractor blade, the personal blender can break down all ingredients until smooth.

Sadly, however, the smoothie Magic Bullet delivers isn’t the smoothest, even though drinkable. When you gulp it down, you will feel tiny grains in the mouth, something Vitamix doesn’t have. The smoothie quality even gets worse over time as the blades get duller and duller. Why so?

Unlike the Vitamix that pummels through the ingredients, Magic Bullet usually blends by chopping them at a super speed. And just like your kitchen knife, the blender blade won’t chop down the fruits or greens well when the edges are dull.

Besides smoothies and juicing, we saw the other day you can grind coffee in a Magic Bullet as well. It’s also possible to make icy cocktails (margaritas) and frozen desserts, such as ice cream, shaved ice, and slushies.

But grinding grains and crushing ice are some of the toughest blending tasks. They tend to make the blender blader lose sharpness faster than soft fruits like bananas or berries and greens. Hence, why having the extra flat (milling) blade can be handy.

Tip: when you use the Magic Bullet blender for ice and frozen fruits, go for mini size or pre-crushed kind. If you use large/ regular-size ice cubes, the personal blender tends to struggle to chop them down. Thus, you may notice some whole chunks left in your smoothie (or whatever recipe you’re making).

Blending Capacity

As a personal blender, the Magic Bullet is only enough to handle a small amount of blends. The short (12-ounce) blending cups deliver about one cup of smoothies after you leave a room of a few ounces for the ingredients to spin. Then the tall (18-ounce) container delivers about a cup and a half of blend, which is still barely enough for two people.

Note: the Magic Bullet blender does come with a 22-ounce bonus party mug. But the manufacturer only recommends it for drinking.

Ease of Use

Overall, the Magic Bullet blender is easy to operate once you get used to it. The setback is that there are no physical buttons, and you’ll have to rely on the cups to initiate blending.

Say you want to make smoothies, load the ingredients into the blending cup and screw on the blade unit. Next, mount the cup (while inverted) onto the motor base and press it down gently to engage the “start switch” tabs.

Since we’re talking about smoothies, you can put the Magic Bullet in a hands-free “Lock-on” mode to blend continuously. It’s as easy as pushing down the cup and turning clockwise to lock on the “start switch” tabs.

Alternatively, you can blend your mixtures on the “pulse” mode. The technique is most handy on tasks that don’t require total pulverization, such as making salsa or coleslaw. And it’s still easy to do, as you just need to press down on the cup while quickly releasing.

Tip: Remember, Magic Bullet blends by chopping down the ingredients. So, before you load the ingredients into the blending cups, chop them down into small cubes that the blade can chew with ease. Otherwise, you will risk ending up with chunks in the smoothie or, worse, burning out the motor.

Common Related Questions:

Are Magic Bullet Blender cups dishwasher safe?

Yes, the Magic Bullet blender cups are dishwasher-safe. However, the cups are in a (BPA-free) plastic material, which means you must place them on the top rack of the magic chore machine. Otherwise, placing plastic containers on the bottom rack, where the heating element sits, risks melting them.

What can you do with a Magic Bullet blender?

The tasks you can do with a Magic Bullet blender include both blending and food processing. In blending tasks, you can use the personal blender for smoothies, juicing, milkshakes, and frozen desserts. Then for the food processing tasks, you can use the Magic Bullet blender for chopping vegetables for salad/ salsa, grinding spices/ coffee, milling grains, and crushing ice.

How long does the Magic Bullet blender last?

In a nutshell, how long Magic Bullet last will depend on how you use and take care of it. If you use the personal blender for smoothies and juicing with just soft fruits, it could last several years while still running. However, the company recommends replacing the blade after six months, which I believe is the average period when the blade starts losing sharpness.

Can the Magic Bullet blend ice?

As mentioned earlier, the Magic Bullet can blend ice cubes for chilled smoothies, margaritas, slushies, ice cream, and other frozen desserts. However, you’ll want to use pre-crushed or mini ice cubes (from a mini ice tray) that are easy for the blade and motor to handle.

Take Good Care of your Magic Bullet

At forty bucks, the Magic Bullet blender is worth it. It has a compact design that you can use and store in tight spaces like that of student hostels with ease. And even when small, you can still use it for most culinary tasks, including making smoothies, juicing, chopping vegetables, grinding spices or coffee, and crushing ice.

However, the tiny blade and motor of the Magic Bullet blender aren’t something you’ll want to expose to tough tasks like blending frozen and dry ingredients every day. Don’t forget, the drive gear is also plastic, which often shreds much faster than the metallic option.

So, make sure you use your Magic Bullet right, i.e. with cubed ingredients and pre-crushed/ mini ice cubes. Then, also don’t be a lazy body. Get used to cleaning up your blender containers manually in the sink, as the dishwasher often degrades plastic material over time.

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