Hamilton Beach 51101B Personal Blender with Travel Lid, Black

I purchased this Hamilton Beach Single Serve Blender for myself last year. I like it so much, I just bought one for my dad as a holiday gift.I actually think it is a generous size in that the markings on the plastic blender jar say 12 ounces, but I always fill it up more than that, so that I can have 2 servings, one to drink now, and one for the next day.So far I have bought smoothie mix, but have found I prefer to make my own smoothies with fruit juice and a banana, and a few ice cubes.I put about 12 ounces of juice in the blender jar, then add pieces of the banana, then add about 4 ice cubes, then I turn the blender on.The motor is quite powerful and has no problem crushing up the ice cubes. I would have preferred a glass blender jar, but for my dad this is great, as I don't want him cutting himself, so with this plastic blender jar no chance of that, plus I think they also made the jar plastic so that you can take the drink with you after you have made it. It also had a lid you can open and close, and to drink from that fits right on the blender jar. It's very easy.This single serve blender takes up very little room on the counter. I did let my dad know to pulse the blender, instead of letting it just run. Only one button, so very easy to use.My dad told me he will be making fruit drinks, and I also told him he can make milkshakes in it too, or vegetable drinks.I just rinse the jar and lid out after using, so cleanup is a breeze.I have had regular blenders but hardly ever used them, but this single serve blender I have been using quite alot. It does exactly what I want it to do, quickly and easily.I love this single serve blender, and I think my dad will too. The price is also quite reasonable. Makes a great gift, for yourself or for someone else.

I'm about to buy my 3rd one. I've got one at home, and one I take on the road with me. I'm buying a new one because the one I've had for a little over a year has finally gotten a small crack at the bottom and leaks slightly; I don't know if it's because I had stored it for a short time in sub-freezing temperatures, or just because I've used it until it cracked. Who cares? It's $12, that comes out to a buck a month. I use it anywhere from 2-10 times a week, depending on how warm it is and what I'm in the mood for.I was reading some of the other reviews complaining about several things, and I wanted to address my thoughts on those issues after having used one of these for about 2 years.Leaking around the lid: I just now filled it 3/4 full of water to test it out, since I usually make smoothies or shakes with it, and they are much too thick to leak. Yes, it will leak a bit around the slide cover of the travel lid, if you are blending thin liquids. It wasn't very bad, and if you hold your hand over the lid it won't get everywhere. All I can think of is that some of the reviewers aren't snapping the lid on completely and it's leaking around it. I've never had a smoothie leak through or around the lid.Not blending anything solid/only blending stuff on the bottom. People, if your mixture is too thick, it can't get down to the bottom to blend up correctly. A large kitchen blender will blend thicker stuff because (a) it's got a more powerful motor, and (b) a much larger blending container. When you are using this, it's better to put the liquids in first, and then the harder stuff up top; otherwise, you are going to have a very thick mixture on the bottom that can't rotate up and let the thinner stuff down. This isn't a design defect, it's just physics and the way things are. When I make smoothies, I put the ice in last, and it grinds up large chunks of ice very smoothly. If it's still a bit too thick to blend up, I add a bit more milk or juice or whatever so it will work properly. Once it gets going, it has a nice whirlpool effect and everything gets blended well.As far as the smoking motors, I have had no problem with either of mine. You can smell the motor bushings when you use it, but it's the same smell you get from every electric motor, just ask anyone who owned a model train as a kid. I only blend for less than 20 secs at a time, so maybe that's why I have never burned the motor up. You can't leave it going continuously like you might a large kitchen blender.People, this is a one serving blender, and for $12, you get more than what you pay for. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but not for even twice the price of this one; if I have to buy a new one every year, I can live with that. You can't compare it to a full sized kitchen blender and expect it to do everything the big one does. I thought about taking one star from it for a couple of things I would recommend changing about it (I think a blending lid would be a good idea, and it would make it easier to clean if you could separate the blades from the bottom), but in the end I decided that I couldn't expect those things from, once again, a $12 blender.In conclusion, it does what it professes to do (makes smoothies and shakes), does it very well if used properly, and does it for what I consider to be a bargain price. That should be the gold standard for 5 stars, in my humble opinion.

The single best thing about this product is it does what it's supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less. I only use it for making protein/glutamine blend shakes. Most of the powders I use are thin enough to mixed in a Blenderbottle, but I like adding a bit of casein protein to my whey, casein is harder to mix and likes to clump when blended in the Blenderbottle. I'm happy with the size, couldn't imagine having a huge blender on the counter just for mixing protein shakes. I have put ice in it as well to make the shakes colder and it does a good job shredding the ice up. I don't know enough about the engineering behind a blender blade, but I'm guessing that one (of four) notches on the blade that is curved upward, is for ice/harder substances. It's as easy to clean as a regular cup since it's pretty much a regular cup sitting on a motorized base. I've only had it for a month now, so I can't speak on the longevity of it, but considering how well it's working and the low price, if it lasts 6 months to a year of daily use, I won't mind buying another one to replace it. Where were you with this product back in the 90s when I had to use my mom's cake mixer to blend protein powders? Not only recommended here for those using it for a basic purpose like protein shakes, but have already let several friends try it out and recommended to them. The speed of it is plenty fast enough. For a standard whey, skim milk or water, with glutamine powder shake it takes 5-10 seconds. For a whey/casein blend with skim milk, glutamine it takes around 15 seconds. Add ice to either and it adds another 10-15 seconds depending on the consistency you want. Clean-up time is less than a minute. That's exactly what I wanted and got with this personal blender. Oh, one flaw, cannot drink out of the lid. This is probably a personal flaw since I never could drink out of coffee mugs with this style of travel lid, never really figured out why, but it's not a big deal.