Magimix 11610 Le Blender, Black Finish

About three years ago, something embarrassing happened to me. I followed a trend.Yeah, yeah, I know - first world problems and all that. I was trying to have a bit of a health kick at the time and had read a bunch of things about the health benefits of smoothies, so I ended up buying an NutriNinja as bit of a knee-jerk reaction. It was a great little machine, but I quickly discovered that it had a few drawbacks. The worst of these problems for me was the noise it made - if I wanted to use it to make a smoothie in the evening (in preparation for taking it to work with me the next morning), I had to make sure I did so before 9pm because it sounded like I was using a frickin’ powertool! I also discovered that, as I got used to having a blender in the kitchen, I soon found that I wanted to blend larger quantities of stuff or hot soups, the Ninja just couldn’t do because it only had small plastic cups to blend things in.At some point between then and now, the ‘Ninja got sold and I decided to give my kitchen a more suitable and eminently more useful upgrade in the form of a Magimix food processor which, if you're in the know, is pretty much the ‘Rolls Royce’ of food processors (they did, after all, invent them) - and it is indeed a truly immense bit of kit, capable of turning onions and whatever you decide to feed into it into lots of tiny bits with zero effort and very little noise. It can knead dough, create nut butters, grate, slice and do all sorts of things and I use it daily but, ironically, it's not super great at blending or making smoothies, so I began to hanker for a proper blender.It would have been at around that point that I discovered that Magimix also made a blender, the and it immediately got the cogs in my brain turning. “What if”, I thought, “The Magimix Le Blender is as good as my Magimix food processor?”. Those cogs kept turning and turning and I procrastinated greatly over whether I should spend £150 on a blender, but as I kept reading articles on blenders I found that the general consensus on purchasing one was ‘buy the best one you can afford’. I procrastinated a little more and, as is my normal pre-purchasing ritual, I did some research to see what else was on the market at and around the same price bracket as ‘Le Blender’ and looked at the KitchenAid ones and the usual contenders such as the Kenwoods and Brevilles, but as I done my comparisons and read reviews I just couldn’t in all honesty see anything else that appealed as much or had as good a reputation as the Magimix. In the end, the final decision was an easy one and I grabbed a ‘Le Blender’ in red here on Amazon for the comparative bargain price of £142 and excitedly waited on it arriving.>>>WHAT'S IN THE BOX?The ‘Le Blender’ arrives in a plain looking cardboard box, which unveils a nice Magimix retail box once that’s opened, and inside that you'll find a hardbound instructions/recipe book, the blender itself in three parts (the jug, lid and base unit), and a tamper - a spatula thingy for scraping the edge of the jug.>>>FIRST IMPRESSIONS?In the process of removing the various components from the packaging, the first thing that struck me about ‘Le Blender’ was the weight of the thing. Very much like my Magimix food processor, which is so heavy that it almost feels capable of forming its own gravitational field, the ‘Le Blender’ is similarly hefty. I’m a true believer of the old adage that weight equates to quality - so this pleased me greatly, even though it was not unexpected. The borosilicate glass jug is chunky and seriously substantial and the base unit feels about the same weight as a red brick, so you’ll have to take care that you don’t drop them on your toes. The sheer quality of this blender is evident even before you turn it on and do anything with it.When it comes to the aesthetic qualities of ‘Le Blender’, it was unabashedly a case of ‘love at first sight’ for me. Even though it looked nice enough in the photos here on Amazon, I couldn’t help but feel struck by how gorgeous it actually is in the flesh. This is definitely not the sort of kitchen gadget that you’ll want to hide away in a cupboard. Nope, you’ll want this sitting pride of place on your kitchen worktop, where it will revel in the admiring (and potentially jealous) glances from your friends and family.Moving onto its controls, ‘Le Blender’ shares the ‘Auto’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Pulse’ buttons on the front of its base unit that you’ll also see on other Magimix gadgets and has got a honking great dial above those buttons, which you can use to adjust the speed or choose from four automatic settings for ice, smoothies, soups and desserts. It’s very, very simple to use and, as is to be expected, the controls all feel of a very high quality.The included hardbound recipe/instructions book is really nice too and contains a bunch of recipes. Granted, a few of them aren’t vegan but it should be simple enough to ‘veganise’ them!There are other thoughtful and practical design touches on ‘Le Blender’, such as the integrated cable-wind underneath the base unit and the small measuring cup built-into the lid, and when it comes to the question...>>>IS IT EASY TO CLEAN?...The answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’ I remember my mum used to have an old blender which was a total pain to clean because the blades, which were in a recess at the bottom of its jug, could not be removed. This meant that if she wanted to clean the bottom of it she had to do so by poking a cloth into the recess, which was rather tricky to say the least.Rather thankfully, this is not the case with ‘Le Blender’, because those clever French designers at Magimix have made cleaning it ridiculously simple to do. The bottom of its big glass jug unscrews and you can remove the blade assembly (the ring, the blade plate and rubber seal) from the bottom of it with almost no effort at all, meaning that it can all be thoroughly cleaned after each useBefore I actually used it in earnest, I gave the blender a good hand clean. It’s also possible to clean it by popping some warm water and washing up liquid into the jug and giving it a good whizz for thirty seconds.>>>BIG JUGS!While I’m on the subject of the jug (and apologies for that heading), it’s worth pointing out that you can put up to 1.8 litres of stuff in it, which is larger than the average blender’s jug and means that you can blend soups and things in fairly large batches. Because it’s made of borosilicate glass - a special type of glass that’s really strong and resistant against temperature changes - you can blend hot and cold things in it without having to worry about damaging it.Another cool thing about the jug is that in addition to the measurement of litres on it, you also have measurements for Pints, Oz, and Cups - which should come in handy if you’re using the blender with recipes which are in US measurements.>>>IS THIS BLENDER NOISY?Well, ok. Let’s put this another way: ‘How noisy is it’, because by their nature, blenders not usually quiet and the noise level from it will change depending on what you’re blending in it. I can however definitely say that it’s not obscenely noisy and you can have a conversation while it’s blending without having to raise your voice.That said, I have noticed that it does create quite a lot of vibration - when I’m blending stuff in it and it’s on my kitchen worktop, I’ve noticed that I can feel the floor vibrating beneath me when it’s at speed ‘2’ and that the level of vibration varies depending on what speed the blender is running at, but this is again probably a common thing shared by most blendersDescribing the actual noise level from it is difficult to put into words, but I’d say that it’s probably along the lines of the sort of noise you get out of a something like a hairdryer or a (quiet) vacuum cleaner, if that helps!>>>CAKEY BAKEY TIME!The next thing (and with proper preparation this time) I decided to make in my new toy was a vegan cheesecake. It was actually quite good fun as it meant that I got to use my trusty Magimix food processor for the base of the cheesecake and then used ‘Le Blender’ for the sweet creamy cheesy bitInto the jug went four tubs of vegan cream cheese, a tub of soy yoghurt, half a cup of maple syrup and various other ingredients, then I pushed the lid onto the jug and decided to control the speed manually, taking into account the fact that the recipe states not to blend it too quickly or else air bubbles would form in the mixture, leading to the cake cracking during the baking process.I started at speed ‘1’ and slowly ramped it up to speed ‘2’, marvelling at how infinitely controllable the speed on this blender is in manual mode, as even the smallest twist of the dial results in an instantaneous change in speed, which is actually really cool.After about 30 seconds, the cheesecake mixture looked like it had achieved an even consistency, so I poured it on top of the base and bunged it into the oven for 30 minutes. When it came out it had not split or cracked, so I let it cool and put it in the fridge overnight.It was so lovely that the entire cake was devoured over the course of the weekend. Hooray for ‘Le Blender’!>>>SUMMING UPThis is a fantastic piece of kitchen kit that ticks all of the boxes for me; it’s powerful, not too noisy, smart looking, simple to use and easy to clean and I reckon that it’s probably the best blender by far at this price point without going into the obscene prices that Vitamix charge.The catch-line for Magimix products is ‘Built better to last longer’, and considering that there are people who have had their Magimix food processors for 30+ years that are still going strong, I have no reason to doubt that people will be saying the same about these blenders, which is something that’s rare to encounter in consumer electronics in this day and age. I thoroughly agree that you’re better spending a bit more to get a better product that will last you along rather than getting a cheap one that will burn out after six months - and with that in mind I have no doubt whatsoever in recommending ‘Le Blender’

I am not really experienced with using blenders, but when I read the negative comments on other brands like Philips that quickly broke down, I decided to trust the reviews of the other users about this great blender and ordered one. And so far I don't regret it!I started out with a raw food diet and wanted to have a good blender to make my green smoothies. In the raw food scene online, everyone is praising (hyping) the Vitamix blenders. Not only do I think they are absolutely hideous to look at, they are ridiculously expensive here in Europe. I mean 600 to 650 euro for a blender? Come on!!! Then they are talking about horsepowers which does not make sense at all. I prefer to compare the power consumption of the motor because usually the higher the power consumption, the stronger the motor is. Also important is the rotation speed of the blades. With a max of 15000 rpm, this machine is fit for the job. The faster the blades spin, the finer the contents will be blended.Now be warned, if you are living outside of the UK, you will receive this blender with the default huge power plug (what were they thinking when they made this the standard in the UK? :) ) Unfortunately countries like Portugal and The Netherlands have to use the UK amazon site as other sites often don't ship to these countries. Now with a device like this, it is not a problem. You buy a converter plug and there is no problem in using it. With a cellphone for example, where the plug is also the power adapter, the converter plug makes it extra big and clumsy to carry around. Since I am not planning on traveling with my blender, it is not a problem. (you could also put on another plug, but I don't know what this does to the warranty.)Now I inspected the coupling between the bowl and the motor. On the bowl side, it is made of metal, on the motor side it looks like some kind of rubber. It however looks sturdy and I trust the quality is fine.I went to the electronics store today here in Portugal and checked many blenders from Moulinex, Philips, Braun and some unknown brands to the rest of the world. NONE of them had metal couplings, it was all plastic and when I look at the Philips ones for instance, I can imagine why it breaks down so fast.The cutting blades on this blender are quite sturdy and made of thick metal. The ones from Philips and other brands looked like they were made from a recycled tin can. Besides that, most models have only a 500 to 600 watt motor. This might be just fine, but once you do a raw diet, this is a device you are actually going to use every day (instead of using it as a dust catcher). I can imagine that if you are using a 600 watt motor, that a tough blend job takes much more toll on the motor than with a 1200 watt one.In instruction videos for green smoothies, you often see people turning the speed dial. They even warn you that you have to make sure you set back the speed dial to low when starting up the blender and then turn up the speed. This because else the substances will get splashed all around causing the lid to be smudged as well. Not that this is a big thing but it is nicer if not.Now with this blender you don't have to take care of this at all. Just press start and you will see that the electronic control will automatically start slower and then speed up the motor. I love the automatic smoothie setting. It starts blending at a higher speed (after a slow start up of course) and then it varies the speed to make sure that all ingredients will have a chance to drop to the bottom and get blended as well. Then it will speed up again and automatically stop when the smoothie is finished.Now, of course I don't know how long this machine will last. I have no Idea how the quality of the Vitamix is compared to this one. I do know that the motor feels quite heavy, usually indicating high quality materials being used. I think that the glass bowl is a lot better than the plastic ones of other brands, but maybe I am wrong.I can easily see this machine working for 10 years without a hitch. Maybe I am wrong but I will tell you in 10 years from now :p. I don't know how long the Vitamix will work. They claim it will last a life time, but if that were true, they would offer a lifetime warranty but they don't.Now if you are doubting to buy this blender because it is expensive.. DON'T it seems to be a great blender. If you are doubting because actually you want a Vitamix... well don't buy this one and spend you hard earned money on the overpriced Vitamix.Now like my fellow reviewers said: Buy the blender.. you will not regret it!!!If you have further questions, please let me know.Cheers

Compré esta batidora tras leer muchas reseñas. Antes tenía la típica batidora de marca famosa que vale 3 veces más. Y la verdad, esta batidora por su precio está genial, pero la textura no es comparable a una batidora profesional como la que tenía antes. Me la quedo pero me toca darle al botón 2 o 3 veces para conseguir una textura parecida a la que conseguía ants en 1 minuto.

This is a fantastic blender. It is a little expensive but definitely worth. This works great for smoothies, milkshakes. We make a lot of soups and the Magi Mix worked better than any hand held mixer. Also is because of the large volume and the fact you can mix hot liquids. Easy to clean with the presets. Not too noisy. One of the best kitchen aids I ever bought. If you're doubting, Go for it.

Rien de particulier à dire...- très puissant ( beaucoup plus que mon soup maker Moulinex dont j'était très satisfait, donc je remixe ma soupe dans celui là)- récipient en verre donc ne se raye pas et ne garde pas d'odeur à la longue- le fond se dévisse pour un nettoyage facile, sécurisé et efficaceseul bémol -> assez difficile à ouvrir sans en mettre partout quand il est refermé à fondJe recommande fortement

Mes grands parents ont ce blender, je l'ai choisis car je l'ai utilisé à de nombreuses reprises.J'ai reçu le mien aujourd'hui et j'en suis ravi.Produit à la fois robuste et élégant. Extrêmement simple à utiliser et à nettoyer.

Robustesse, facilité d'emplois, fait son job parfaitementJe ne trouverai pas mieux :)