BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade Personal Blender In-depth Review
Overall Verdict
Considering its affordable price, the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade is a fairly impressive single-serving blender. Its appeal isn’t just about the stylish appearance and compact footprint. It has overall quality well covered too.
In terms of performance, it offered a pleasant enough blending experience. Its blade is not really well-designed, appearing a little too short and with fewer prongs than most of its rivals, but it was somehow able to blend our hard ingredients like frozen fruits and raw nuts pretty evenly.
Limited as its power plant is, this BLACK+DECKER won’t be for everyone, but if you’re focused on simple combinations of softer ingredients, you may find it worthy of your consideration.
Things We Like
- It offers consistent performance.
- There is an extra blending jar with twist-on travel lids included.
- The motor is more than sufficient for light-duty tasks.
- It has a fetching, well-finished, and simple design.
Things We Don’t Like
- It doesn't allow for hands-free operation
- A better blade assembly could make blending more efficient.
We loved the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade from the get-go but had a few concerns about the efficiency of its low-powered motor. So, to find out if this blender is as good as it seems on paper, we put it through a series of tests on our own, comparing its results against those of other single-serve blenders. In the end, our BLACK+DECKER turned out to be among the few efficient ones in this price segment, though its overall construction lacks the refinement of higher-priced competitors.
6.1 Performance: Just Fine for Simple Blends
The BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade performed acceptably in our tests, but didn’t blow our socks off. Although it wasn’t as quick as more robust blenders, its blended mixture, either packed with frozen fruits or raw nuts, was almost as smooth. We were disappointed when our leafy veggies couldn’t be blended to the finest consistency in the third test, but we still got better results than with other blenders in this price range.
7.2 Protein Shake
In this protein shake test, the FusionBlade came out as one of the best personal blenders. Its sturdy 2-prong blade, together with the 275-watt motor, breaks down tough foods, including almonds and dried berries, without much problem. However, for some reason, it had a hard time with oatmeal, requiring up to 2 minutes — longer than the average blending time — to completely pulverize the oats. If you’re willing to spend a few extra seconds on prep, this may not matter much. Overall, the smoothness of its product was more than acceptable, with just a very tiny flake of almond remaining solid.
6.0 Frozen Fruit Smoothie
If you've ever wondered how efficient a low-powered personal blender is in preparing frozen-fruit smoothies, the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade can give you an answer. Although this machine isn’t so powerful, it liquified the ingredients with little effort, though a few shakes were required to ensure the blending process went smoothly.
The smoothie was churned into a smooth, chilly, and slushy consistency, though it lacked the perfect ice-cream-like texture we got from faster blenders, such as the Ninja Fit. This was because frozen fruits thaw quickly at room temperature, diluting the overall consistency if you don’t blend fast enough. Simply put, the longer processing time of the FusionBlade means its smoothie came out thinner and less desirable than it should.
Nevertheless, this machine is an adequate personal blender for making frozen-fruit smoothies. We found it’s better at this job than many other models within the same range, and the great smoothness of its product in this test reminds us of pricier blenders, namely the Nutri Ninja Pro.
7.0 Fibrous Greens
The FusionBlade didn’t struggle during the 20-second runtime (our time limit for this test). More impressively, of all the blenders we tested from this market segment, the BLACK+DECKER stood out with the best extraction of high-fiber foods. However, that doesn’t mean it did a complete job; there was still a considerable amount of coarse pulp left behind after we drained the mixture through a mesh strainer. It probably could have been better if we allowed our machine to blend longer. For sure, a quality green juice is worth a little extra waiting time.
Failed Crushed Ice Cubes
It’s safe to say the BLACK+DECKER was not up to the heavy-duty task of crushing ice cubes. As Scotty might say, it just doesn’t have the power. That’s not a major hit to its value — we’ve learned that not many personal blenders are capable of producing fluffy, snow-like crushed ice (For instance, the Oster, the Hamilton Beach, or the KOIOS). If you insist on that sort of blend, you’ll need a more powerful motor. Most of this FusionBlade’s ice remained very chunky.
Overall, the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade’s performance was not all bad, and we really like this blender, but there are still a few good ice-crusher alternatives to choose from.
7.4 Design: Everything Comes Standard
You may fall in love with this blender the moment you lay eyes on it. Compact and beautiful, the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade is decently made and equipped for the price. It’s refined and as simple to use as any personal blender out there.
In the Box
- Motor Base
- Extractor Blade
- Two Blending Cups
- Two Travel Lids
- Recipe Book & User Guide
Dimensions
As we learned from our research, the ideal weight of a personal blender is between 2 and 4 pounds, and at 2.3 lbs, the FusionBlade fits this metric. While it appears in pictures to be the roughly same size as others, it’s actually taller than average. Nonetheless, it’s still compact enough to easily find in your cabinet when not in use.
7.0 Build Quality
This FusionBlade is powered by a motor encased in a simple plastic base. The overall quality and materials of the casing are inferior to premium models, but we haven’t experienced any durability issues so far. The same thing can be said about the blade assembly and plastic cup. Cheaply designed but otherwise sturdy, these pieces feel like they’ll be with you for years to come.
6.0 Blades
The blade features two dull prongs rather than the more common sharp blades. This typically means the blender should be used for processing dry ingredients rather than wet mixtures, but the FusionBlade’s testing performance somehow suggests otherwise. And as mentioned above, the lack of extra prongs means this machine doesn’t blend as quickly as its counterparts that come with four or even six prongs.
Motor Base
Despite the exterior being entirely plastic, the 275-watt motor base is on the robust side. It is wider at the bottom than the top to keep it steady, so the blender won’t walk around your counter while blending. There are also four rubber feet underneath to further help in this regard. They also help the blender avoid overheating by allowing some airflow to the motor.
In general, personal blenders tend to have an operational time limit on their motors — usually between 1 and 4 minutes at a stretch. Beyond the limit, they may overheat and damage the motor. That said, there is no clear information about the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade in that regard. We recommend that you don’t run your device longer than 1 minute per interval to ensure the best long-term use.
10 Blending Cup
The set we bought includes two blending cups, but you can purchase more at BlackAndDeckerAppliances.com. All the cups provided by the manufacturer can be used interchangeably with the extractor blade. They also fit tightly with the included flip-top lids so you can enjoy your drinks on the go without mess. Another convenience is that the lids are easy to screw on and remove from the cups.
Speed and Controls
There is one button in the front, which you’ll use to switch the motor on. It has only one speed, and you simply hold the button down to keep it running. We found the button to be very responsive so you don’t need much force. The FusionBlade isn’t equipped with a pulse function, but you can still approximate it and get a chunky texture by pressing and releasing its button in short intervals.
7.0 Usability
Given its simplicity, the BLACK+DECKER blender is easy to understand in the first few minutes. Cleaning it, on the other hand, isn’t as easy. The blending cup is too narrow for your hands to reach inside, but you can entirely remove food tailings from any hard-to-reach spots using a bottle brush.
5.3 Hands-Free Operation
Although the design couldn't be simpler, the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade isn’t very comfortable to use. It requires that you press and hold the power button throughout the whole operation. Not only that, but you also cannot take your eyes off the blending cup in any sort of blend. This is because food often gets lodged under the blade and stops it from operating, which demands your timely intervention to resolve.
10 Assembly
Attaching the cup, the blade, and the motor base together is effortless. You’ll need to screw the extractor blade onto the top of the blending cup first, then turn the whole thing upside down and place it on the blender base. A quick, simple turn to the right will lock the cup into place and you can start blending securely.
Disassembly is even easier. Simply take the cup out from the base and unscrew the extractor blade. You can then replace the blade assembly with the spill-proof travel lid if you want to sip your drink on the go.
9.0 Cleanability
All the removable pieces, including the blending cup, blade assembly, and travel lids, are top-rack dishwasher safe. We recommend washing them by hand with warm, soapy water, though, so they don’t wear down as quickly. We didn’t have any trouble scrubbing the blade’s undersides like we usually did with its competitors. Our only challenge was the blending cup, which was too narrow for even a small hand to get inside, so make sure you always have a bottle-cleaning brush available.