Verdict

The Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 provides better coloured and less frothy drinks and soups. It has a quality build and is pretty easy to clean. But the vacuum has some limitations – mainly, no hot liquids and no dry ingredients on their own. Ice-crushing is very powerful, but the pulse function seems to lack the oomph to chop things effectively.

Pros

• Powerful blending
• Preset programme
• Bubble-free results
• Dishwasher-safe

Cons

• No hot ingredients
• No grinding
• Extra time for vacuum creation

This Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 removes air from the jug before blending, which Philips claims leads to tastier, more nutrient-rich drinks. I found this difficult to prove in my tests, but the drinks made definitely had fewer bubbles, which tend to be a common side-effect of high-speed blending. I also noticed a slight improvement in colour – likely a result of less oxidisation.

But contrary to some high-end blenders that come with optional vacuum accessories, such as the Vac Q for the Sage Q blender range, you can only use the HR3752 blender in vacuum blending, pulse or ice-crushing mode. The vacuum environment isn’t suitable for ingredients over 40°C or dry mixtures, so it slightly limits your blending options.

Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 – What you need to know

• Blending smoothies – Harder fruit and veg, including a chopped carrot, a quartered apple and orange, and spinach leaves were beautifully blended into a smoothie with coconut water and banana. While the colour of the drink seemed brighter and the texture much less foamy than the results with other high-end blenders, the smoothie was slightly bittier, with some white bits of orange that would have been crushed by other models
• Crushing ice – The powerful ice-crushing function pulverised six large ice cubes in 30 seconds. To make a frozen cocktail, I crushed cubes for only 15 seconds and then used the pulse function to combine rum, lime juice and syrup with the partially crushed ice for 45 seconds. The result was a little uneven
• Pureeing soup – I had to wait for roasted carrots and vegetable stock to cool down to below 40°C, but the resulting soup was silky-smooth with no air bubbles following about 40 seconds of vacuum prep and 1min 10secs of blending, using the preset programme

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Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 design – Easy to use, but some preparation is required before use

The HR3752’s lid comprises two parts: a main black plastic lid plus a metallic and plastic vacuum section housing the air-release button that slots into it. While this contraption isn’t too difficult to assemble, it’s important to place the lid on the jug correctly, ensuring it lines up with the vacuum bit on the motor unit – otherwise, the blender will not start.

As a result of the lid’s design and its vacuum function, there’s no small measuring cup or the opportunity to add ingredients to the mix without fully lifting off the lid.

The plastic jug feels light, but sturdy and durable, and features cup, ml, oz and pint measurements. A separate 1l max mark is added for frothy liquids, such as milk, because they’re too easy to froth up during vacuum blending. The top side of the jug’s handle is made of rubber, facilitating a steady grip.

The bottom of the motor unit has four suction pads to keep the unit firmly attached to your worktop during blending.

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The lid needs to be placed on correctly or the blender won’t start

The motor unit has a large dial with markings “off”, “on”, and 11 dots between “min” and “max”. Inside the dial, you’ll find buttons for pulse, ice crushing, a preset vacuum-and-blend programme, as well as a vacuum-only button.

A blending speed can only be chosen if you opt for the vacuum-only option. The pulse button needs to be held down to operate, while the ice-crush function will be activated by the push of a button and stop automatically after 1 minute. If you’d like to stop it sooner, you can press the ice-crush button again or turn the dial into the “off” position.

When either of the vacuum functions is activated, indicator lights around the dial will show the progress of the vacuum. The actual time it takes to create the vacuum will depend on the type and amount of ingredients in the blender jug. In my tests, it took between 40 seconds and 1 minute. While this isn’t long, it does add up to a minute to your blending time.

The lights count down to show you when the vacuum has completed its job

The recipe booklet is nice and colourful, but includes an array of strange drink recipes containing sweetcorn, cabbage and peppers. The most bizarre is perhaps the one recipe in the manual itself, which recommends blending 600g of chopped pork with some scallions and water. While I stuck with my staple smoothie and soup recipes, I also managed to use the pulse function for chopping, as recommended in the manual.

Note that this blender isn’t suitable for grinding dry ingredients, since the small particles can damage the vacuum. The manual advises pre-mixing any dry, powdery ingredients with wet ones before starting the blender.

This HR3752 is super-easy to clean thanks to all removable parts being dishwasher-safe. The blades can be easily removed from the jug and cleaned separately. According to the manual, the lid can’t be washed under a tap, since direct contact with running water or a thorough immersion in water may damage the vacuum filter. Other than placing it in the dishwasher, the manual recommends to simply wipe it down with a cloth.

Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 performance – Bright colours and less foam than other blenders, but some larger chunks remain

I started by blending a chopped carrot, a quartered apple and orange, a pitted date, a banana and spinach leaves with coconut water, using the preset vacuum-and-blend programme. The vacuum took about 45 seconds to form, with the actual blending time around 1min 20secs.

The resulting green-coloured smoothie appeared brighter than when made with other blenders, but it also felt a little bittier. I found a few bits of orange skin that other appliances, such as the Sage Super Q and KitchenAid High Performance Blender, had managed to pulverise.

However, the Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum smoothie had much less foam on top, compared with the KitchenAid High Performance smoothie. Meanwhile, the Sage Super Q version wasn’t foamy either, thanks to a specific green smoothie programme that slows down towards the end to avoid frothing.

Our smoothie was brighter in colour than those made using other blenders, but there were a few more bits in the drink

I then blended a fresh mango, a frozen banana and chunks of frozen pineapple with yoghurt and chia seeds to make a frozen dessert. Texture-wise, it was mostly smooth, although a little fibre and a few small chunks from the pineapple were noticeable in places.

Our frozen desert looked good but there were a few chunks in there

Turning my attention to ice, it took 30 seconds of whizzing using the ice crush function to completely pulverise six large ice cubes.

Ice was thoroughly pulverised

I had a slightly trickier time making a frozen cocktail. After 15 seconds of crushing ice, I added rum, syrup and lime juice and pulsed the mixture for a further 45 seconds. While the texture could have been a little more even – I found a few bigger pieces of ice when drinking through a straw – it was a decent result, piling up nicely in a cocktail glass.

To blend soup, I had to wait for some vegetable stock and roasted carrots to cool below 40°C. However, the blitzed soup was impressively silky-smooth – and, of course, beautifully orange.

Soup can only be blended when cold, but the bright colours and smooth texture make this minor hassle worth it

Finally, I tried chopping some onion using the pulse function. Three-quarters of an onion cut in quarter wedges proved somewhat tricky, with uneven results. Although my total pulsing time was just 30 secondss, I had to keep stopping to shake the jug to get the bigger onion pieces closer to the blades.

Chopped onion was more difficult for the Philips Avance blender to tackle

Should you buy the Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752?

If you’re looking specifically for a vacuum blender, the Philips Avance High-Speed Vacuum Blender HR3752 is a solid mid-range option. Just remember that the only options without the vacuum here are pulse and ice crush, meaning this blender’s abilities in terms of hot liquids and dry ingredients are limited. While models such as the Sage Super Q offer greater functionality and a vacuum option at an added cost, they also come at a much higher price.

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