I got a chance to use this blender when one of my college going cousins came to live with me and brought this blender along. As the name suggests, this blender is mainly good for smoothies but it works for pureeing and other mixing/blending jobs as well. The problem with the one I used was that it smelled like it had some rubber parts burning whenever I turned it on. Often I had to stop it for sometime just to make sure nothing was actually burning. In my opinion, it is kind of cheaply made and looks the same. My cousin told me she bought it for a discounted price and did not want to spend too much during her college years. Also, the valve leaked all over the place many times. This product was very difficult to clean because of the way it was designed. Even though this blender is comparatively cheap but I would say it is much better to put in some more money and get a better equipment that works well and does not become a burden. I would not recommend this product.

RICHAKAUL

Undisclosed

We bought this smoothie maker about a year ago.  We haven't had any problems with it.  The motor is strong and durable.  The dispenser is a nice added feature, that makes for easy 'no mess' dispensing.  Price wise, it couldn't be beat!  The part that spins the blade is made of rubber, which is an added bonus, because if the pourer isn't secure it doesn't strip the gear that turns the blade. I had a problem with this on my last smoothie maker from a different maker.  It doesn't seem to have any problems crushing ice, or frozen fruits.  I have found however, that you need to use a lot of liquid when blending frozen fruit and ice. This unit is very easy to clean, which is a big deal to me.  The blade and gasket can be removed easily and cleaned by hand. It doesn't take up much counter space and it's aesthetically pleasing and goes well with most of my other appliances. I would highly recommend this item.

taylormom07

Ogden, UT

One day, I decided I wanted to try making nutritious smoothies for breakfast. The Back to Basics Smoothie Elite blender seemed to have everything going for it.  Unfortunately, the promises didn't live up to my experience with the product. Blending Power The blades are supposed to crush and blend the ingredients into a smooth mixture, but it did a poor job overall.  It seemed that no matter how much I blended and pulsed, there was always a big glop at the bottom of the pitcher. Versatility If i had it to do again, I'd pass up the Back to Basics Smoothie Elite Blender in favor of a quality, all-purpose blender with more versatility. The features that are supposed to make this blender perfect for making smoothies actually don't work all that well. Ease of Cleaning The spout tends to clog, making it difficult to clean the spout thoroughly. I ended up not using the spout at all and simply pouring my drink from the glass pitcher. The blades and the pitcher itself are easy enough to clean. Ease of Use The plastic stir stick fits on top of the blender. It's supposed to help you scrape anything stuck on the sides of the pitcher and stir them into the blend.  Unfortunately, it really doesn't work that well.  Most of the glop tends to be at the bottom where the stir stick can't even reach. Design I thought the dispensing spout would be one of the best design features of the Smoothie Elite, but it turned out to be the most problematic.  Because the contents didn't always get fully blended, the spout suffered from frequent clogs with pieces of fruit stuck in the opening.  Basically, the spout feature turned out to be useless. Durability The 500-watt, pulse-power motor did seem to have plenty of "juice" in it, but for some reason the results were sporadic.  Sometimes the ice would crush without a problem, and other times the motor was whirring away without any real blending happening in the pitcher. This was not a dependable product for me.

LoveisJoy

Chicagoland, IL

The Smoothie Elite, in my opinion, has a specific function. She's a girl made to hang around the bar. If you're looking for a powerful, no-nonsense, mix-a-lot, blender/smoothie maker, then the Smoothie Elite isn't the girl for the job. You'd be better off with someone else. But, if you're having a few girlfriends over, mixing up some fruity, slushy drinks, and you need a girl who'll do the job and get the drinks mixed, the Smoothie Elite is for you! She might not have the power to make something magnificent, but she can mix a beautiful daiquiri. The spout on the front sometimes gets a little bogged down, and slow to pour, but hey, at some point in the night, you just may be drinking right from the container, right?! In all seriousness, my kids have tried to make various conconctions with the smoothie maker. It is not a blender, and despite me telling them not to try to use it as such, they do, and the smoothie maker is just not up to the job. It can handle mixing liquids with ice, and even makes a decent regulare smoothie, as long as you aren't trying to put too many chunky things in it (bananas-okay, a few strawberries-okay...an entire bag of frozen mixed berries-not okay) but if you are considering this to be a daily "blender", you may be disappointed. It is more of a summer drink mixer, in my opinion.

Maddiecay

Howell, MI

I had purchased the basic, cheaper - and lower quality blender - from Back to Basics and after the spout broke twice, said "never again"... When I got this model as a gift, I was hesitant. It's been in use for about 6 months, and the spout hasn't broken. Overall, this model mixes well, and I like the fact that it has markings on the outside of the container that tell you how much ice, water, fruit, etc. to put in. However, these mixing guidelines are small, clear raised letters on the container's sides, so they're sometimes difficult to read. The next model should have the larger letters in a contrasting color. The main problem is that the spout easily gets clogged, especially if there are any small lumps of pureed fruit in your smoothie. It's also very difficult to clean, and I have to do that by hand to reach all the crevices in the spout.

Dyngus

New York, NY

I really like this smoothie maker (when I decide to actually use it). I seem to go in spurts. The maker is better than a blender because it has the little stick to help get the ice moving around and not get stuck during the blending process. Like I said, it is a great smoothie maker if you need one. I think I don't use it enough because the down side is the cleaning process. There are a lot of parts and I noticed that if you don't take it completely apart to clean it then it will get a funk built up around the bottom pieces. My kids like when I make them milkshakes and smoothies in this and they encourage me to use it more than I would for just myself. It's not that I don't drink them either...I make a blended protein shake almost daily when I get home from the gym but I use my handheld blender because it is much easier. We have used this to make adult frozen beverages and it works well for that as well.

Icrad

Edmond, OK

My husband and I are avid cyclists, health nuts and prefer to drink many of the calories we consume so having a viable and durable smoothie maker is a necessity in our home. My husband chose this one and it has been really a great purchase with the exception of one small detail that I will get to in a moment. THe power of the motor is great for our mixing needs and it never has a problem blending frozen fruits or ice when added to liquid. The swivel stick that coursed through the center is great for keeping dry products off the sides during the mixing process and that is a plus. There are three speeds but we find that we always use the "high" setting for mixing and dispenseing. The portions that it holds are excellent and can fill two 32 oz water bottles of product without issue. As for the one small detail that is a bit of a problem, it tends to drip at the nozzle once we have dispensed some smoothie so we have to keep a napkin or plate underneath it or we will have a mess. I guess it's from years of service and the rubber gasket is getting dry. Bottom line...excellent smoothie maker. Sandy

mangomiata2

Whitewright, TX

I LOVED this unit, if you are getting a smoothie maker, getting one with a spout is important. No blender is perfect so there will always be little chunks of ice, but the spout does not let them fall in the glass so what you end up drinking is a nice smooth smoothie with no chunks. The stir stick is also really useful for getting the ice to actually get chopped up. In normal blenders the ice often rises to the top and sorta floats above the part getting blended, but with the stick you can shove it around until it gets blended.  I also found the markings on the side of the blender to be useful, they tell you how much ice to liquid you should add for a perfect ratio for a good smoothie.  All of these features made this item much neater than my old blender. So all in all I was a huge fan of this product.  Then it broke. I had it for about 3 months, I maybe used it once a week when the plastic gears that make the blade spin snapped right off and now it is useless.  All of the cute innovative things make no difference if it is made of cheap materials.  I have since then bought the Montel Williams Living Well Blender and I am extremely happy with that.  

lunette008

San Diego, CA

I think this blender is pretty good for the price but there are some things for sure that I don't love about it. First would be that I had no idea the little tip thing unscrewed so for a long time I would always just throw it in the dishwasher and then one day I looked down in the tip and there was moldy stuff growing and thats how I finally realized that the tip unscrewed and man was it dirty in there. I do like how there is the mixing stick that goes down the middle so that you can make sure everything gets blended well, that makes it easy. But I wish that there was a way not to have to use that everytime like something to go on the top to seal if off so that you can just blend without it. I do wish it was glass though but for the price you pay I think that you could'nt really ask for much more. I would recommend this someone if they do alot of blending and don't want to pay a whole lot for a blender/ smoothie maker.

Cleat32

Spanish Fork, UT

My husband and I were given the Back to Basics Smoothie Elite Blender as a wedding gift over 4 years ago. We use it all the time especially in the summer. It makes really nice smoothies and blends very evenly. I love that it has markings on the sides to let you know how high to fill it with frozen ingredients and then with liquids. It has those marking for "serves two" and "serves four". We have found just using frozen fruit and milk makes for very creamy yummy smoothies. However, I do not like the smoothie pour function on the front. If your smoothie has any real consistency it won't pour out of the spout anyways, and since it is about an inch from the bottom of the blender you'd have to tip it to pour out the last of the smoothie anyways. It does have a little cap that you can switch out, which is what we did. All in all, I have been very happy with our smoothie blender and will continue to use it for a long time.

thebooshow

Las Vegas, NV