Hello all – just some reviews on recent products I tried out – just my opinions – feel free to add your own on these or other products – this was a purchase exercise that proved that first impressions can be wildly wrong (and sometimes right).
Promixx Vortex Mixer iX-R
When I first opened this (bought with the intention of taking it on holiday with me) – it seemed like a very well made, high quality product. The only weakness appeared to be the plastic mixing ‘blades’. This isn’t a portable blender – I get that – it’s supposed to be portable mixer. For Huel users though, it’s not even that. In fact you could say for mixing this kind of product its entirely unfit for purpose. Problems are:
Capacity: it’s stated max volume is 500ml so you would have to use 400ml water and 100g of Huel. If you try and put this in one go there is not enough power to create a vortex strong enough to pull the powder into the water. So, you have to add only half the water then top it up once the powder has mixed in. When the jug is topped up you can see that with the thickness of the liquid, the top half of the mixture is not getting mixed at all meaning you end up having to shake it anyway - defeating the purpose.
Mixing: the plastic ‘coat hanger’ style mixing element simply cannot break up any lumps in the mixture even with as little as 200ml left in the jug – it just swirls it around. I do not imagine this would last any kind of regular use. I get the impression that this unit is designed for very light aerated protein powders but even then no, more than 50g of it – which is the capacity of the integrated storage capsule for dry ingredients.
Build: while the Tritan jug and metal coated motor/USB housing are very well made – when I came to washing it, the lid cap immediately snapped off when trying to open it – granted it can be clipped back in but this is pretty shabby compared to the build of the rest of the unit.
Conclusion: Save your money and look elsewhere – this one is destined for the back of the cupboard gathering dust.
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ShakeSphere 700ml Tumbler View
First impressions of this was that it felt like a very cheap product. It costs a lot more than the King of shakers – BlenderBottle – but nowhere near as well made. It’s a stout grenade/capsule style design so noticeably more spherical at either end than any other product. Problems are:
Capacity: it’s stated max volume is 700ml – this is entirely disingenuous. You MIGHT get 700ml in it if you closed the cap and poured liquid into it through the spout and filled it right up but that would make mixing almost impossible. Adding 500ml of water requires you to very carefully pile on 100g of powder as this goes over the height of the lip.
Mixing: Because of its stout nature – it’s not the easiest thing to shake hard, but shake hard you have to. Shaking it for a good minute resulted in a horribly lumpy microwave-porridge texture with many clumps. I tried adding the shaker ball from one of my BlenderBottles and this made a huge difference – eliminating all the clumps - but if you need to do that then why not just buy the BlenderBottle instead.
Build: Like I said – pretty cheaply made by the look, feel and finishing. The slide to close cap stayed watertight but becomes tricky to open after shaking as there is an apparent pressure build up that also causes some of the contents to be spat out of the bottle unless you can slide it open very slowly.
Conclusion: the manufacturer makes a lot of bold claims – all of them untrue:
REVOLUTIONARY CAPSULE DESIGN
The unique capsule design is the only of its type in the world. The science behind the shape means that ZERO mixture gets stuck, resulting in a silky smooth shake every time.
and – bizarrely:
BLENDS FRUIT WITH NO BLADES
No more bladed machines or batteries needed. The mixing process within our shaker bottles purees almost all soft fruit, which leaves a paste perfect for your favourite smoothie.
This last one in particular is a complete falsehood – if you cant even blend powder into water – solid fruit will stay just that – solid. As it’s a Chinese company they are pretty much free to claim what they like as there is no regulation on that.
Save your money – it’s no more effective than a BlenderBottle Pro and feels like it should be priced at £4 – the same as the Buchsteiner – not five times that.
