Cuisinart Cordless On the Go Blender Review
Capable but not capacious
Verdict
The Cuisinart Cordless On the Go Blender is capable but not capacious. Its blending power is impressive, but due to the narrow cup, very little can be blended at a time, particularly when it comes to ice, harder veg, frozen fruit or seeds. This blender’s main selling point is portability, and while the main unit is light, it’s not exactly handbag-sized. Nevertheless, it might prove useful for holidays, picnics or workouts, provided there isn’t a queue of thirsty/hungry people waiting for their share. Once its power runs out, the appliance will have to be recharged, but it can’t be used during charging.
Pros
- Portable
- Powerful blending
- Dishwasher-safe parts
Cons
- Pricey
- Small capacity
- Can’t be used while charging
Availability
- UKRRP: £100
Introduction
The On the Go Blender is part of Cuisinart’s Cordless collection, which also includes a hand mixer, a hand blender and an automatic wine opener.
It’s a highly portable appliance, with the box including such compact solutions as a drinking lid for the blending cup and a protective cover for the blades.
While the capacity is quite small here and the narrowness of the cup means further limitations, this appliance’s blending power is still impressive.
Design and Features
- The blender can’t operate while charging is in progress
- While the working capacity is 450ml, the cup’s fill line is at 400ml
- Most parts besides the blades are dishwasher safe
The On the Go Blender is light and portable and, according to Cuisinart, can be used for up to eight smoothies on a two-hour full charge. While it comes with an adapter for the USB cable, which is recommended for “best performance”, the latter can also be plugged in pretty much anywhere for a quick boost. However, once you run out of power, you’ll have to wait for it to charge for at least a little bit, as this appliance can’t be used while plugged in.
The three battery-level indicator lights are on the top front of the main unit. They will light up blue when the appliance is charged and operational, and flash when it’s charging or running low on power.
Like other appliances in Cuisinart’s Cordless collection, the On the Go Blender has a metallic plastic body with some shiny metallic and white textured elements. While this casing is likely to suit most tastes, it doesn’t look entirely durable, with the shiny elements likely to scratch or chip with age and use. Remaining quite conventionally kitchen-ny in design, it doesn’t quite shout “portable appliance” to me.
With only one control – a power button – the blender is very straightforward to operate. When switched on, it will turn off automatically after running for 1min.
The advertised working capacity is 450ml, but the manual warns against exceeding the maximum fill line, which is at 400ml. This means blending a maximum of one large or two smaller drinks at a time – so it’s best for individual rather than group use, putting a damper on its potential for out-of-house social occasions, such as picnics.
In addition to a manual, you also get a small booklet that contains recipes ranging from smoothies to sauces, soups and cocktails. However, the soup recipes for two people require blending one portion at a time.
Handily, the blending cup, blade protective cover and drinking lid can be cleaned in the dishwasher (top rack only), while the blade should be washed by hand.
Performance
- Acai Bowl and Green Smoothie blended beautifully in 1min
- Six ice cubes blended somewhat unevenly
- Cocktail mix with frozen fruit and ice had a pleasant slushie texture
The On the Go Blender was very good at blending fruit, but it struggled with larger portions of harder ingredients and ice in particular.
I started my tests by trying out a couple of the recipes from the provided booklet. The ingredients for the Acai Bowl actually filled the cup past the fill line and the cup needed a bit of shaking before and during blending. After the recommended 30secs, there were still a couple unblended sections, so I shook it and resumed blending for another 30secs.
I had similar fit issues with the Green Smoothie recipe, even though I used slightly fewer pineapple pieces than recommended. I blended it for about 50secs, but it looked done after about 30secs.
In addition to the recommendations of cutting food into 3cm pieces and placing the hardest ingredients into the cup first, the manual does acknowledge some gentle shaking of the cup may be needed during blending.
My trickiest smoothie test recipes – one containing small pieces of hard veg and fruit, such as carrots, apples and broccoli, and a chocolate smoothie with frozen strawberries, ice, cashews, flax seeds and cacao nibs – also required some shaking and resulted in slightly bitty/crunchy mixtures after 1min and 1min30secs of blending respectively. That said, the manual does advise that when blending harder ingredients, the cup shouldn’t be filled past half way. That does not, however, leave much room for blending anything.
I faced a similar issue when trying to blend my standard test of six ice cubes, which remained below the fill line. While the bottom cubes got ground to a fine powder, two at the top couldn’t be properly crushed even after shaking the cup – again showing that the full capacity of the cup can’t be used for such a hard task.
However, inspired by the Pina Colada recipe in the booklet, I had success crushing some ice and frozen pineapple with a bit of rum, syrup and pineapple juice into a smooth slushie texture. Similarly to the ice test, the blender was a lot noisier in this case than when blending any fruit or veg, but the drink was ready in 35secs.
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Should you buy it?
You need a portable blender for single-person use. This appliance is great for making one smoothie or a cocktail at a time.
You intend to use the blender at home, or you want to blend bigger portions. There are excellent regular blenders with larger capacities available in a similar or lower price bracket.
Final Thoughts
The Cuisinart Cordless On the Go Blender is surprisingly powerful for its portability and small cup, however, it also feels too gimmicky for the price unless you’re the kind of person who genuinely wants to bring a blender to the gym or to the office rather than use it once or twice for a holiday. If you need something with more power that can make larger quantities, check out the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri Blender 3-in-1 with Smart Torque & Auto-iQ 1200W CB350UK or the guide to the best blenders.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every blender we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main blender for the review period
We make the same smoothie in all of our blenders so that we can compare the results between different models.
We crush ice in each blender to see how strong it is, and if it crushes evenly.
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FAQs
Yes, it’s cup and blades can be placed on the top shelf of a diswasher.
It has a 400ml cup, so is designed for individual drinks.
Full specs
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
