When shopping for a blender, you can be presented with all kinds of specs that try to make it seem better than the rest. Wattage, Horsepower, Power, and RPM; what does it all mean?
How can you tell if the blender you have chosen is any good? Is a 600 Watt blender good?
Most standard blenders you will find in a supermarket likely have a wattage of between 300 Watt and 500 Watts. So a 600 Watt blender is certainly a good choice.
When you’re trying to disentangle the disarray of disinformation around blenders, it can be difficult to discern what you can depend on. Don’t become downtrodden. Here’s how to decode this debacle.
In This Article
Mechanics Of A Blender
Understanding Power and Watts
A blender needs power to, well, blend. When blenders talk about their power rating, they are saying how much electrical power they can potentially use from your plug socket.
Unfortunately, not all blender manufacturers will use the same language.
Some will talk about power in units of Watts, others will talk about power in units of Horsepower. Both Horsepower and Watts are units of power, 1 Mechanical Horsepower is equivalent to 746 Watts.
So they’re both talking about the same physical thing, there is just a factor of 746 mixed in there to make it tricky to read.
Watts more, just because your blender is consuming that much power, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all translating into pulverizing the contents of the blender. One big aspect involved in this is how efficient your blender, mainly the blender motor, is at converting that electrical power into strong chopping power at the blades.
Unfortunately, this isn’t something that many blender manufacturers will tell you. Partly because other aspects such as the jug volume and shape as well as the blade sharpness, shape, and size all play a part in how well your blender will blitz those bits.
For the most part, the blender power will be the overriding aspect to consider when you look at how well it will blend. It’s a good rule of thumb.
While one 600 Watt blender might be better than another 600 Watt blender; a 900 Watt blender will beat a 600 Watt blender, hands down. It’s more powerful, simple as that.
Understanding RPM
RPM is another aspect that is regularly thrown into the smoothie of blender specifications.
RPM is short for “revolutions per minute”; the number of revolutions that will be made in 1 minute. It is essentially speed, but for spinning things.
A more powerful blender will produce a faster RPM.
That doesn’t mean that RPM is the quantity to rule the school. It is technically possible to produce a high RPM from a low powered motor. It’s a bit of a not all fingers are thumbs kind of situation.
A good way to use RPM, when comparing blenders, is to consider the RPM after considering the power rating of the blender.
So, for example, you might have two 600 Watt blenders, but they produce a different RPM each. The one producing the higher RPM is likely to be a slightly better blender.
Although, if you were to compare a 600 Watt blender to a 900 Watt blender, the 900 W blender would almost certainly have a higher RPM anyway. Power comes out on top.
How Many Watts Should A Good Blender Have?
A 100 W blender would be a pretty cheap little thing. You will only have a fancy stirring machine at that.
Most countertop blenders are rated at somewhere around the 500 Watt mark, which is a perfectly capable power rating. In most cases, you will find that a blender with a power rating between 300 to 500 Watts would blitz through ice cubes and frozen berries just as well as a 1500 Watt blender.
Usually, a blender with a power rating of 1000 Watts, or higher, is more intended for commercial use where they would be running many times each day, every day. High power ratings are more looked at as a sign of longevity than anything else.
In many cases, you might find that opting for a massively powerful blender only results in a louder blender.
So, a 600 Watt blender is a fair step more powerful than standard household blenders without going overboard into four figures.
There’s More To Blenders Than Just Power
The Jug
Both the shape of the jug and what it’s made of will influence how good your blender is.
A jar with fairly tall sides, so more moving away from the classic jug shape and toward a tall flask, is going to promote the contents to stay above the blades.
Whereas a classic jug shape can allow for some of the contents to be swept just around the blades and potentially avoid their fair share of pulverizing.
Most blender jugs are made of plastic, but did you know you can get blender jugs made from glass and stainless steel?
Glass
A glass jug is much weightier, so you can feel confident that it is not going to move mid-blend. Although the extra weight may be a hindrance to some.
Glass is also more scratch-resistant than plastic and less prone to absorbing food odors. Plastic certainly can become scuffed up over time. Especially when blending ice.
So a glass jar is likely to last better than plastic. It will certainly look better for longer. That is, provided it doesn’t smash.
Stainless Steel
A less common, but just as valid, blender jar option is stainless steel.
As first, this might seem like the best aspects of plastic and glass. It is lightweight and absolutely solid; you are not going to shatter steel.
It doesn’t absorb food odors. It even tends to wash up easily. Not to mention that hot soup is absolutely no problem.
The drawback? You can’t see through it.
Most blender jugs have volume measurements so you can simply fill it up by the amount you want. Not so easy when you can’t see through the jug itself. While some stainless steel jugs have volume measures etched on their inside; they’re not always easy to read, especially in low light.
Then there is my least favorite part to them. How do you know it has blended properly?
You have to stop blending and take the lid off to have a look. That’s still not the same as being able to see through the side because the top surface is often quite bubbly.
Controls
Most standard blenders come with three speed settings: Low speed, High Speed, and Pulse. Usually, you will be choosing these settings with a knob or switches.
Some, dare I call them, fancier blenders come with programmable keypad controls, which can make them much easier to clean. While a keypad and all the functionality they bring can sound neat and high-tech; you can end up spending a silly amount of time programming in your blend rather than just hitting GO and blitzing it.
On the flip side; push buttons and flip switches, pun intended, can collect gunk in and around them. They can be tricky to clean. Although they certainly do encourage you to just crank that thing up and puree.
The Blades
While blades can come in many different designs with varying shapes and even numbers of blades; it can be hard to really tell exactly how effective the different designs can be.
A curved blade can potentially bring a guillotine effect. Whereas with more blades, it makes sense that you get more chop in each spin.
One aspect that you want to make sure your blades have is stainless steel.
Stainless steel blades ensure that your blades stay sharp and don’t corrode over time.
The Looks
Who said looks don’t matter? I want a pretty blender.
If you’re looking for a blender for regular use, staring at a plain plastic base every day doesn’t exactly give a sense of “this thing is going to last”.
Whereas brushed stainless steel? Ooh shiny.
Yes, looks don’t affect the performance. That said, you will often find that blenders with more watts of power tend to have a nicer look.
The Different Types Of Blenders
Immersion Blender
Immersion blenders, sometimes also called stick blenders, are possibly the most common type of blender.
They are brilliant to use with cooking. They make blending up some food in a pot super quick. Perfect for hot foods such as soup.
Another real big plus to immersion blenders is how easy they are to clean. For tough stuck on gunk, I like to just bend some warm soapy water. Sorted.
One downside is that they are often fairly low powered blenders compared to countertop options. So they are unlikely to blend up little seeds. Then again, it can be nice to leave some texture in things like soups.
You also usually have to hold the button down and press the blade end into the liquid, which can get quite tiring. Especially if you’re blending lots of thick soup.
Some of the best brands for immersion blenders are KitchenAid, Cuisinart, and Kenwood.
Countertop Blenders
These set the standard for blending.
Making smoothies? This’ll blend ’em.
They usually have a capacity of around 2 liters. Perfect for lots of smoothies at once, but maybe a bit too much for one person at a time. While you can blend without them completely full, you might not get as good a blend as if it was full.
While they are perfect for making smoothies, be careful if you’re planning to puree up some hot soup. Some lids are designed to form a seal which can lead to pressure building up with hot contents.
While they do pack a punch, they can be pretty bulky. Which is not ideal for just an occasional. milkshake.
Some of the best blender models of the countertop variety are made by brands such as Blendtec, Vitamix, and Kitchenaid.
Personal Blenders
Personal blenders, also known as single-serve or bullet blenders, have the capacity to make just one large drink.
They are designed with convenience as the key aim. The jug doubles as a large cup, so you can drink your smoothies or milkshakes straight from the flask.
You throw your blend ingredients into the flask, screw the blender unit to the top like a lid, invert it, sit it down with the flask on top, and blender blades at the bottom, and hit GO.
They are great at chopping up frozen fruit, ice, nuts, and seeds. They also make lovely fluffy pancake batters.
While they are certainly faster to use than a countertop blender, and more powerful than a stick blender, they have one big drawback you need to be careful of. They are prone to leaking.
If you don’t manage to screw the flask on just right, you will have the contents leaking out once you’ve inverted it. On the other hand, if you screw it on too tight you can end up breaking it or not being able to unscrew it.
Some of the best blenders in the personal blender niche are made by brands such as NutriBullet, Magic Bullet, and Ninja.
F.A.Q.s
Is A 600W Blender Good?
Most standard blenders you’ll find in supermarkets have a wattage of between 300 Watts to 500 Watts. A blender with a 600 Watt motor is easily a cut above the rest. Yes, a 600 Watt blender is going to be good.
Can The Nutribullet 600 Crush Ice?
It certainly does. The Nutribullet 600 will make quick work of both ice and frozen fruit alike.
If you plan to be blending fairly large chunks of frozen fruit, you might want to opt for a more powerful motor such as the 900 Watt version.
Which NutriBullet is best for frozen fruit?
The 600 Watt NutriBullet blender will absolutely blitz up frozen fruit. Although if you are planning to blend something larger and frozen, say a whole frozen banana, the 600 Watt NutriBullet might struggle a bit. The 900 Watt version would have no trouble though.
Are Glass or Plastic Blenders Better?
It completely depends on how you intend to use your blender.
A glass jug is less likely to scratch and tends to last longer than plastic options. Plastic jugs can also absorb food odors over time.
A glass jug doesn’t completely beat a plastic one though, they can be inconveniently heavy and can shatter.
While glass tends to last longer than plastic, that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily dishwasher safe though. It’s best to check each jug individually, glass and plastic alike.
What’s The Difference Between a Blender and a Food Processor?
The key difference between a blender and a food processor is their purpose, which leads to their different design aspects.
A food processor is designed to process food in a variety of ways such as slicing, grating, or dicing. Usually, the food is mostly dry. Whereas a blender is designed to pulverize both wet and dry ingredients.
Final Thoughts
So to roundup this blether on blending gadgets, a 600 Watt blender is indeed an excellent choice. While there certainly are more powerful options, it’s worthwhile checking if you actually need that much power. Otherwise, you’re likely just getting a noisier blender.
Both Horsepower and Watts are measurements of power. RPM is how fast the blades are spinning and is a result of the power itself.
You will likely have a hard time pushing a 600 Watt blender to its limit. It will certainly breeze through ice crushing, frozen berries, and most nuts and seeds.
The only cases where you would want to look any higher is if you’re planning to blend large chunks of frozen fruit or small tough seeds. Maybe you’re looking to make some interesting nut butters.
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