REVIEW – My son and co-reviewer, Mason, is on a smoothie kick. I hate to discourage this healthy habit, but our old blender is loud enough to wake the dead (or at least his little brother). When I saw this opportunity to review The BlendJet 2 “next-gen blender” that’s lightweight, cordless, and came with both a single-serve bottle and an XL pitcher, it seemed like a great chance to upgrade.
What is it?
The BlendJet 2 is a portable, rechargeable blender that comes with a 16-ounce jar. We also tested the extra-large 32-ounce jar, which is available as an accessory.
What’s in the box?
- BlendJet 2 portable blender
- 16-oz jar and lid
- USB charging cable
- Instruction manual
- XL 32-oz jar and lid (extra purchase)
Hardware specs
- Modes: Blend, Pulse, Lock
- Blades: 6-point, stainless steel
- Charging: USB charger (wall plug not included)
- Charging time: 1.5 for a full charge; last 15+ blends
- Water-resistant
- Standard jar size: 16 oz
- Large jar size: 20 oz
- XL jar size: 32 oz
Design and features
The BlendJet 2 portable blender comes in 30+ colors and patterns, from plain black to Disney characters to Lisa Frank tie-dye. We picked galaxy metallic and were immediately impressed with how sharp it looked, right out of the box.
The standard BlendJet comes with a 16-oz jar. We also tested the extra-large jar (32 oz), which you buy separately for $29.29, and came in a custom foam container. There’s an in-between size, too: the large jar (20 oz) that retails for $15.95.
Setup
When you first get your BlendJet 2 portable blender, you need to charge it for one hour or until you see a solid blue circle.
Once charged, you screw in the base and make sure the arrows align. To clean it before your first use, blend with water and a drop of dish soap, and then rinse out the jar.
Then you’re all set!
Performance
To get a better blend, the instruction manual included a layering guide that’s really helpful:
- liquid’s first, so at the very bottom
- leafy greens second
- soft ingredients like yogurt or peanut butter next
- fruits, nuts and seeds after the soft ingredients
- powders
- ice at the top
- leave some room at the very top
When I use frozen fruit, I put that at the top, figuring it’s the same hardness as ice.
Then you screw on the lid and make sure the arrows are lined up on the bottom.
You press the power button once to start, and it blends for a 20-second cycle (unless you hit the button a second time to stop mid-cycle). For smoothie making, we have to cycle through 2 to 4 times to get it fully blended using the singe-serve jar, but it takes several more cycles with the XL jar.
With the XL jar, we’d get constant notifications (with the power button turning solid red) that the blades were blocked. So to use the big jar, which yields about two servings, there’s a lot of flipping, shaking and tilting before it’s fully blended.
Sometimes the jar would come a little loose when blending, so the flashing red light would let us know that we needed to screw in the base so the arrows were aligned again.
Be aware that if you’re in blend mode and the BlendJet 2 portable blender suddenly stops working, you may have accidentally locked it. I learned this the hard way. You can lock it by holding down the power button until the purple circle flashes three times, and then unlock it by holding down the button until the blue circle flashes three times.
It may also stop working if the power runs out. It should last for 15 blends or more, but note that it may take you several blends to make your smoothie, and then one or two to clean it with water and dish soap, so 15 blends does not mean 15 smoothies. With the small cup, I got 5 drinks and 19 blends out of it, but it died mid-way through the last smoothie, and I needed to stop and charge it up before I could finish making the fifth drink. In the XL jar, I got 19 blends that yielded three drinks.
My recommendation is to recharge your BlendJet 2 portable blender after every two smoothies so you don’t lose power mid-smoothie (like I did).
The only way to check your power level is to plug it in. The circle will flash red and then purple if there’s zero charge; it will be half-purple half-blue at 50% charge; and it’s solid blue at a full charge. Also note that it won’t blend while it’s being charged.
BlendJet offers a recipe book for $19.95, and they also have a lot of recipes on their website. We especially liked the sangria, as the frozen fruit gave it a great texture without diluting the taste. We made Oreo milkshakes, frozen coffee drinks, margaritas, and bourbon cocktails. Last night, we tried guacamole but decided we prefer the chunkier texture of just mashing it up with a fork (but it would make a nice, smooth hummus).
Overall, the BlendJet 2 portable blender has become my go-to smoothie maker, I just need to make sure it’s charged, layered properly, and not too full. It’s also quieter than my old blender, and it’s easy to clean.
What I like
- Nice looking
- Easily portable
What I’d change
- Better blending in XL jar
- A low-battery notification that’s visible when not charging
Final thoughts
The BlendJet 2 portable blender is lightweight and cordless, making it easily portable. It’s versatile and easy to clean. A low-battery notification would be a great addition.
Price: $49.95 for BlendJet 2; $15.95 for large jar (20 oz); $29.29 for extra-large jar (32 oz)
Where to buy: BlendJet website
Source: The sample of this product was provided by BlendJet.
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I purchased the items and I have since returned both of them, because it takes to long to blend and I like to use all frozen ingredients and it isn’t strong enough to blend it. My friend also purchased the items and his XL jar cracked and the blades broke off the blendjet. I will stick with my Ninja or Nutribullet. They blend all my frozen ingredients in 20 seconds.