Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control Blender

List Price: $249.99 Price: $199.99 You Save: $50.00 (20%) Product Details Permanent hemisphere bowl and blade system with central blades that draw down what's on top and wide sweeping blades hug the bottom of the jug Electronic 5 speed control plus pulse featurel ensure that the rpm speed is maintained for consistent results every time Made from bpa-free, lightweight, superior clarity and shatter resistant eastman tritan copolyester LCD timer counts up on speed settings and down for pre-programmed settings for complete control when blending Illuminated buttons for clarity and ease of reading Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.5 x 17 inches ; 11 pounds Review: 4.3/5 Product Description How do you pull down what's on top, while whipping up what's below. Central blades crush and chop for velvety cocktails. Bowl hugging blades whip and aerate for creamier smoothies. The Hemisphere Control is a 750-Watt blender with LCD timer, pre-programmed Ice Crush and Smoothie settings, which automatically alters speeds to improve blending results. The illuminated 5 speed control buttons plus pulse insure RPM speed is maintained for consistent results every time and is designed for even blending performance. It combines the functionality of a powerful blender with some food processing tasks for versatility and convenience. It also features a large 48 ounce BPA-free, Eastman Tritan copolyester jug fitted with a permanent Hemisphere Blade and Bowl System. The blade design and high torque motor delivers quiet and efficient blending performance, while the contoured bowl design minimizes food traps and makes for easy cleaning. Customer Reviews By L. Sweeney "M Fan" (Michigan): Bought this blender based on reviews in Men's Journal magazine. It's perfect for all your blending needs. Great design, cleans easily, even in dishwasher. You won't be disappointed. By Eric A. Hofstetter (Vandalia, OH USA): We are using this blender for smoothies and milk shakes. It works great! My wife uses it almost daily for her morning smoothie. The blender has a smoothie function. The frozen fruit is blended and chopped up completely. It's just like something you would get at a speciality smoothie store. Our only complaint is the pour spout. It is very wide and as you pour, the contents tend to go over the side of the glass. Because of this, just be careful when pouring. A great blender! By C. Keeney (Magnet, IN USA): I just finished making snow from a tray of ice cubes..I'm really impressed! Although this blender uses short pulsed bursts to get the job done, it DOES get the job done. I made a green smoothie first..and although the Breville doesn't hold as much lettuce at one time it did an excellent job. I used the puree function though so next time I will try smoothie instead for the greens. Then I made a Strawberry smoothie using frozen strawberries with yogurt. Turned out awesome although the Vitamix's texture is thicker, this was still delicious and fast! This blender is similar in so many ways to my Vitamix although it doesn't have the same wattage or capacity. It's easy to clean and I love the lid much better than on the Vitamix, although the Vitamix has a plunger you can put through the hole in the top to keep things moving along should they get stuck. I did smell something burning as I crushed the ice, but I think that is normal in the first couple of uses. For the money this is an excellent blender! I highly recommend it! By Kent J. Smythe (CA USA) : I was not familiar with this brand but I checked it out on-line and realized I had only gotten the common lower price blenders (lousy & cheap) before, which explained to me why my blenders in the past lacked power and the ice in my beverages was never right. This blender has blown my mind, when I made a smoothie using frozen coffee ice cubes and sugar-free ice cream and a bit of milk, the drink is like something I got out at a professional smoothie shop, Perfect! The price I can get this incredible machine at Amazon will prevent me wasting my money elsewhere on a gutless, no power blender like I have in the past. A smooth blended drink of perfection, just like I was in El Coyote Restaurant without dealing with the locals. By James Beswick "In my day, we had 9 planets." (Austin, TX) : The big selling point here is Breville claims to have solved the age-old blender problem of blending evenly when dealing with items of different densities (like fruit and ice, for example). The only workarounds tend to involve either adding more liquid or performing the ill-advised maneuver of shoving a fork or spoon into the jar while the blades are spinning. I'm pleased to confirm that this new blade design works wonders, pushing up the freshly blended food and pulling down the rest of the mixture easily. Compared with my older unit, the consistency of blended food is remarkable. Another reviewer commented that the unit is under-powered but I've seen no such problem - so far I've made smoothies and chopped ice without any issues. Again, compared with my old unit, the blending operation is far superior (maybe once again because of the blade configuration) and this machine can turn a cup of ice cubes into shavings in about 20 seconds. While it's nowhere near the power of a commercial unit, I think the daily smoothie drinker will be perfectly happy with the performance. Aesthetically, this is a good looking machine that looks expensive. Despite not having a glass jar, the plastic is high quality, scratch resistant and dishwasher safe. The buttons and LCD display are simple to use and look good too. It's also surprisingly quiet compared to other blenders I've used. This is the second Breville kitchen appliance I own and once again I'm pleasantly surprised with the thoughtful design and superior performance compared to other brands.