Magic Bullet 250W Personal Blender In-depth Review

The Magic Bullet is a popular low-priced personal blender, but as far as our testing went, we found the reality doesn't match the write-up. Of all the machines we tested, it is the one that surprised us most. Read our hands-on review below to see how it stacks up against the others.

2.8 Performance: Below-Average

The Magic Bullet sports a 250-watt motor, which we found to be less efficient than higher-priced blenders and this resulted in some limitations on its testing performance. However, it's important to consider that these limitations are a compromise for its affordable price point. On the bright side, the blender can still work adequately for preparing smoothies packed with fresh fruits or soaked nuts.

3.9 Protein Shake

In this test, the two minutes and ten seconds we spent with the Magic Bullet produced an undrinkable result. While all the oatmeal was broken down pretty well, most of the blueberries and almonds came out completely intact. As a result, the drink was too chunky to sip on. It also lacked the fruity flavor that our recipe prides itself on. If you want to use this blender for a protein shake, we recommend just using soft ingredients.

Failed Frozen Fruit Smoothie

By our 2-minute cutoff point, the Magic Bullet hadn't fully processed all the ingredients so we considered it to have failed the test and awarded it no points. To be fair, though, the final result was not too bad. While this blender still left behind strawberry chunks, it blended through other ingredients pretty evenly. The smoothie came out smooth; our straw didn't get clogged with hard bits after we removed the two partially blended chunks. It was just quite thin since the blending process was so long that the frozen fruit had time to thaw thus diluting the overall consistency.

6.0 Fibrous Greens

If you’re looking for a personal blender that can handle leafy vegetables along with other fiber-filled foods, the Magic Bullet is up to the challenge but will not wow you. 

In this test, its mission was to break down kale, spinach, and celery in 20 seconds. Perhaps, you will get a better result if you blend for longer than we did, but this time frame is adequate for us to evaluate this blender’s efficiency. To check the result, we drained the completed drink through a mesh strainer. As such, we noticed a vast number of leafy chunks remained unblended. The pulp also looked coarse and non-uniform. Still, this outcome is more impressive than those produced by its counterparts, namely the Hamilton Beach and the KOIOS Pro.

Failed Crushed Ice Cubes

Our Magic Bullet couldn’t blend through 6 oz ice cubes thoroughly not only because of its weak motor power but also because its blending cup is too small to handle such an amount of ice. For the most part, the ice got stuck in the blade and prevented it from turning. Even when we undocked the cup and shook it, this still couldn’t help much. If you want something that can be up to this sort of blend, consider the NutriBullet, Ninja Fit, and Ninja Nutri Pro.

7.5 Design: There’s Room for Improvements

The Magic Bullet has a straightforward design, and this is the only praise we can really give it. On paper, the blender is advertised to be made of high-impact plastic, but in fact, it only took us a glance to criticize its poor quality. There are also several other drawbacks and you may consider those acceptable trade-offs given its low price. However, in the end, we are sure you will eventually become uncomfortable with such limitations.

In the Box

• Motor base 
• Extractor blade
• Two blending cups 
• One to-go lid
• One party mug
• Two lip rings 
• Two resealable lids 
• Recipe guide

Dimensions

The Magic Bullet is half the size of traditional countertop blenders so it should fit easily into your cabinet. This compact structure also avoids overwhelming your counter space. That being said, the plastic construction means the blender itself is so lightweight that it wobbles while blending.

7.0 Build Quality

All the parts are mostly made of plastic, making the blender look flimsy both inside and outside. Apart from lacking the sturdiness we’re after, the Magic Bullet also has a low resistance to wear and tear. It feels like it could be easily scratched or even broken if accidentally dropped. The blade made of standard stainless steel may well grab your attention but unfortunately, it’s less solid than its competitors at the same price point—the KOIOS, to name but one. So again, the low cost shouldn’t be an excuse for this blender’s shortcomings.

6.5 Blades

The stainless steel blade has 4 prongs. It comes relatively sharp but looks a bit fragile so we would suggest that you shouldn’t use it for blending hard ingredients without liquid. Otherwise, it may dull or even get permanently damaged.

Motor Base

The motor peaks around 250 watts. It is too weak to be used for ice crushing or dry blending. To make icy drinks, we recommend only using chilled ingredients. Like other personal blenders, it cannot run for longer than 1 minute to avoid damage caused by overheating, though there is an internal thermal breaker that shuts off the unit when it overheats. 

The base has four silicone feet to help keep the whole blender in place while operating. However, we don’t think such add-ons are really helpful; our machine walked around on the counter in every test anyway.

10 Blending Cup

The set consists of three blending cups. They work interchangeably with the extractor blade and two different types of lids. There are also two removable lip rings included so you may find it easier to sip your drink straight from the cup.

The drawback is that the lids do not seal tightly to the cup. In the smoothie test, we paused several times to give the cup a shake and eventually ended up with a mess.

Speed and Controls

The Magic Bullet is a single-speed blender working without any physical buttons. To use, you simply place the blending cup and press it down onto the motor base. You can also simulate pulse mode by pressing and releasing the cup in short intervals.

6.9 Usability: A Little Disappointing

We cannot deny the Magic Bullet’s user-friendly design, but after hours of experimenting with it, we realized this blender is actually quite frustrating to use. More often than not, though, cleaning and assembling are effortless.

5.8 Hands-Free Operation

The Magic Bullet will blend for as long as you press the cup down onto the power base. To stop blending, simply release pressure on the cup, but with the Lock On Mode, your machine can also offer hands-free blending. However, we recommend not letting it out of your sight: Sometimes, solid ingredients like hard nuts and root veggies can stop the blade from turning so you will need to detect this obstruction and intervene as soon as possible. In the smoothie test, we had to shake to unblock the cross blade up to 6 times.

10 Assembly

There's a very shallow learning curve to getting accustomed to the assembly process. To blend, you simply line up the tabs on the sealed cup with the tabs on the power base, then press it down until the desired consistency is achieved. 

You can also press down and turn the cup clockwise until the tabs lock under the lip of the power base for hands-free operation. To turn it off, just twist the cup back counter-clockwise and release the cup.

7.0 Cleanability

Cleaning all the pieces is a snap, especially when the cups and lids are top-rack dishwasher safe, but that didn’t save us much cleanup time. Because of leakage, the motor base got dirty after nearly every blend, though we could easily wipe away the gunk with a damp cloth. Not only that, but the blade’s backsides also gave us a hard time for a thorough hand cleaning so we recommend using a straw-cleaning brush.

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