This machine is good for smoothies, but not much else. They also have to be pretty thin smoothies because once it gets thick, it stops grinding ice effectively and just bounces it around instead. What I like about it: 1. The stir stick is awesome! it allows you to stir the contents for a better blend without the danger of hitting the blades. What a great idea. I wish every blender came with that option. 2. This blender is simple, stores without taking much counter space and is good at the one job it professes to do. What I don't like about it: 1. The pour spout is so low you have to hang half the blender off the edge of the counter to get a decent size cup under it. It's also incredibly hard to clean out once it gets fruit and stuff inside of it. 2. It doesn't work at all for dry ingredients. We've tried to use it to crush oreos or grind oatmeal and it does a TERRIBLE job. Mostly stuff just bounces around in there and never grinds. My Bosch blender is so much better for jobs like that. All in all, I would recommend people to just get one high end regular blender for both smoothies and other jobs you may want a blender for, because with this one, you'll probably need two.

kendrlynne

Tooele, UT

I love this smoothie maker and have used it a lot.  I had ordered a high priced one from fitness expert and it smelled like it was burning up when turned on and it ground the rubber up where you set it into base so I sent it back for refund before I burned the house down.  Back to Basics is reasonably priced and so simple with only one purpose so it will last a long time.  I love to dream up all kinds of different recipes during summer time and they are filling enough so you can use them as a meal.  I always keep frozen fruit in freezer for when I crave them.  I am very health conscious but do not feel I deprive myself of anything and I easily get my required daily fruit in diet.  I used it for protein shakes but went back to fresh fruit as this is what I prefer.  Grocery stores carry the smoothie powder but I have only been able to find the strawberry flavor thus far which is disadvantage when you live in a small town.  

typingterror

Fond Du Lac, WI

Oh my goodness I love this thing. It is so much fun and makes such good smoothies and mixed party drinks. It is so easy to use as well. My husband and I were having several parties last year during the summer and I wanted something that we could make drinks for botht the adults and kids. For the kids I was able to maker them some fruit smoothies using bananas, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, vanilla ice cream, orange juice, and seira mist. what I let them do was to tell me what they wanted to put into them. Of course for the adults I was using margarita mix, vodka, tequilla, and other alcohol. The cool thing was my husband made a Jack and Coke smoothie. One easy thing was being able to clean-up between mixings, if you like to have parties get one.

ShannaNP

Louisville, KY

If you love smoothies and make them frequently this is a good item to own. I was given this as a gift at my wedding reception and have enjoyed using it at home. I like trying the different recipes which come with the machine. It is a really easy to use smoothie maker. It is like a little blender specifially for the use of smoothies. The nozzle is a fun addition to the blender making it easy to pour the smoothie out, but it is a little more challenging cleaning it then a simple blender, but not enough hassle to not buy the smoothie maker. I probably would have bought just a simple blender because I don't make smoothies as often, but it is fun to use and has a lot of useful features. It even comes with a stirrer which is useful to get some of the bigger chunks moved to where they can be blended. Overall I am pleased with the smoothie maker.

LeilaKnowles

Anchorage, AK

**Back to Basics Smoothie Blast** machine is a great appliance to have in your kitchen if you love making smoothies.  The base is pretty simple with the pitcher sitting right on top of the base instead of screwing in.  Although it doesn't screw into the base, the pitcher is still secure and not wobbly.  On the base of the **Back to Basics Smoothie Blast** is a simple on/off/pulse toggle (the pulse toggle you must hold down. The pitcher on the **Back to Basics Smoothie Blast** has cup markings (4 cups in cup increments), and ounce markings (32 oz in 8 oz increments).  There are also markings for where to fill up the liquid ingredients and where to fill up the frozen ingredients (safe to say fresh ingredients also). The lid for the pitcher is secure and has a pump type stirrer in the top so you can stir it without taking the lid off.  The **Back to Basics Smoothie Blast** also has a spiget to pour the smoothie out without having to pour it out the top of the pitcher.  Instead of pushing down on the spiget lever you pull it up so you won't accidentally hit it and spill the smoothie. The **Back to Basics Smoothie Blast** is pretty easy to clean.  The spiget would create the biggest problem, but if you run water threw it right after use, nothing will get hard inside of it.  Sometimes the ice gets stuck and you have to turn it off and push it around, but again the stirrer works well for this.

jazzybean01

Downieville, CA

We registered for the Smoothie blender when my husband and I were getting married and didn't crack it out of its box until 6 years later.  Once we did, the smoothies it made were excellent!  It does a great job of chopping up the pieces in a short amount of time and didn't leave any chunks.  Just be careful the first time you use it because my husband didn't have it on completely, even though it seemed like he did and a bunch of "smoothie" started leaking out the bottom, into the blender part of the machine.  Other than that, my only real complaint is that the nozzle is hard to clean.  We don't have a regular blender either and I wish there were a way to sometimes have the nozzle and sometims not.  With our limited counter space, it's silly to buy a separate blender for non-smoothie/non-drink blending.  And since the nozzle is so hard to clean, it seems like it could be gross after a while.  I do like the fact that it comes with it's own stirrer, since most of my spoons wouldn't do as good of a job.

lkimura

Wheeling, IL

I make smoothies ALL the time.  Fresh whole fruit is healthier than a smoothie, but still, as long as I'm getting some fruits and veggies in my diet, I'm happy!  And what EASIER way is there to do that than...A SMOOTHIE MAKER!!!  I would use our old blender and throw everything in under the sun!  And they always turned out delicious (except for the apple & cranberry mixed with cinnamon and orange juice!!!)  We saw this one not long ago and knowing the other blender might be going out soon, we got this one!  I've been wanting a smoothie maker!  It works as a normal blender but crushes ice and has a spicket to pour the delicious smoothie from!  The only problem is you have to make sure that the bottom is on right, and the spicket is CLOSED!  Or there'll be a MESS!  So here's what you do...get two glasses (I love cheap little fancy ones!), orange juice (I prefer this kind cos it's thicker and has a better consistency), and a little yogurt if you like.  Put a few ice cubes (8 is good) in the smoothie maker, then the juice and yogurt, and chuck in some berries, grapes, a banana or two, maybe a piece of lemon, and get CREATIVE!  Pour some to taste (which is now easier for me because of the spicket!  I don't have to take the container off to pour it to taste-test it) and just add a little more juice, more berry, whatever.  BE CAREFUL WITH BANANAS!  Two small ones should work, but it might get too thick.  To many oranges gets pulpy.  Too many apples is like apple sauce.  So if you want it thinner add more juice, thicker add some banana, maybe more ice.  They really do take the place of a meal, even in a small glass - I make them to have with lunch and forget I was ever hungry once I start sipping them.  You can try to freeze them, too!  AND DON'T FORGET THE COLOURFUL STRAWS!  They make EVERYTHING look yummier!  This is a great product for fellow smoothie enthusiasts!  It also has this thing that fits into the center, it's like a stick-thing that you stir ice and make sure everything is crushed up!  VERY handy!  Especially because ice doesn't always crush well in a blender so this helps it get crushed.

GothicGenie

Schertz, TX