Cuisinart CPB-300 350 Watt BPA-Free Blender Black 32 Ounce

This is an outstanding product. I've been using this product for at least seven or eight years essentially every day. I'm now on my third set (I'll explain why later - even the first one still works). For the price, flexibility, and quality, it's about as good as a consumer product gets. Some of the things I like: * It's small, so I can leave it on the counter. It's powerful for its size. Yes, it's a small blender, and if you want a large blender or a food processor this probably ain't gonna do the trick. But for me it's perfect. * It comes with a terrific assortment of cups, two blending blade/bases (which screw onto all the cups and the "large" blender jar), and several lids. I like the flexibility this provides. There's always a clean base and cup around when I want to blend. * It's reliable. I've bought three sets because some of the accessories get lost or wear out over time, and the set is so inexpensive it's just a better value to buy an entire set than to replace a single missing part (which would cost, with shipping, between a fifth and a half of the cost of the entire kit). The motor/base units from the first of these I bought still works great after many years. * The quality is good. The parts fit well. The gaskets seal (my experience is much different than some of the negative reviews on this point) and while they don't last forever, they have lasted years for me in daily use. The plastic seems to be a good, high quality grade. The only parts that have failed for me are the grinding bases - but that's my own fault. I just read the instructions upon receiving my third set, and the grinding blades aren't supposed to be used for liquids. Ooops -- I've been using them to make milkshakes for years. Now I know why two of them failed. But even using them improperly, they lasted for years. There's only one thing I don't like about this set, and it's just a personal preference. It comes with four "sippy" screw-on lids for drink-sized containers. Those have holes and don't seal, so they aren't good for leaving stuff in the fridge or traveling. The kit comes with one sealing lid (you can see it on the bottom of the small cup). I would prefer four sealing lids and one sippy lid. But problem solved - I just ordered four sealing lids from Cuisinart (not available on Amazon at this writing). Yes, with shipping the cost was almost $40 - near the price of the entire kit. But the kit is such a bargain, it's well worthwhile to be able to blend things and leave them in the fridge (especially now that I have more than ten blender cups!) And, best I can tell, the products I received with my latest (third) order are identical to the reliable ones I bought years ago. Read more

I was considering buying another magic bullet and left a long and detailed review of my use of that product over a nearly 5 year span, thankfully I chose this instead! I have now been using this a little over a month 1-2 times every day and love this thing. I am going to compare it directly to the MB as it is something I am very familiar with. Pros: -Actually chops frozen items and ice (mixed with liquids/solids anyway) I would not use this on ice alone but it might be able to handle it -- not going to risk it. Magic Bullet always left little chunks of ice/frozen food. -Works in a hurry, a couple pulses and then run 5 seconds or so and a THICK smoothie is to be had. -Quieter than the Magic Bullet (significantly so, especially with ice) -Easier to clean (but not by much), the threads and support ridges are easier to clean on the cups. -Seal works better on attachments - no leaks! And the O-ring is protected by deep ridges keeping that from getting torn up. -Comes with the blender cup without spending extra. -Portable cups with lids you can drink through like travel cups. -Looks nice and fairly classy sitting on the counter. There are no cons compared to the MB, but there are some "ties" and things that aren't perfect, this will address many of the negative comments I read while I was researching this product. -Hard to clean chopping/blending base: This is esentially the same problem with all the mini-blenders (MB) sorry folks, but the beauty of the design is also the achilles heal of the design, and you are going to have to pull the O-ring out and wash underneath it periodically. If you want to leave dirty stuff in the cup with the attachment sealed to it you will get some stank fromunda-cheese brewing in and around this thing. My recommendation is to try to rinse out the cup and shake or blend it with the base as soon as possible after using it, you will still have to pull the O-ring (use a dull knife to work it out of the slot) out every couple of weeks and rinse/wash both the O-ring and the base underneath. Bleach may help and may lengthen the amount of time you can go inbetween, but once you see the gunk that builds up it will be hard to enjoy your frozen latte afterwards. -Noise: Like I said, quieter than the MB and about the same or slightly less than a regular blender, but you are chopping frozen stuff -- it isn't going to be quiet. -Smell of electronics burning: I did experience this slightly with the first couple of uses, but it went away after that. Just gotta burn that new wire smell out of there. I think the manual mentions something about only running it for 6-8 seconds at a time which is probably a good idea with this much power in this small of a motor. It is possible that time will tell a truer tale and that many of the 1-star reviews were being 100% honest and I just have gotten lucky so far, but I have been extremely happy with this product and the quality of shakes/smoothies/frozen drinks it creates. Read more