Hamilton Beach HBF500-UK Commercial Food Blender with Chop/ Pulse and Variable Speed, 1.4 Litre, 600 Watt, Grey

I don't understand why this blender is priced as it is. It is nice looking, not the most robust feel and made of hard plastic. Classic looking blender, nice jug. There are much cheaper blenders out there with better performance. Does not give smooth blend, food needs to be chopped really tiny or the blades jam and circulate round and round. Could not grind sesame seeds, as mixture kept going to sides of jar and blades spun round and round. Was supposed to have wave action to keep things circulating. The blender had a tendency to wobble at higher speed, and also to make a high pitched squeaking sound at higher speeds, when the dial was turned up. I thought this was a fault but the replacement blender did the same thing. The silicone type lid of the jug marks very easily, even if you dry with cloth, it leaves 'scratch' marks from the cloth. I personally, would not recommend this but I appreciate it has a load of glowing vine reviews.

To users accustomed to domestic mixers/blenders (think Kenwood, Phillips, even KitchenAid, all of which we have for use by a family of enthusiastic amateur bakers), this admittedly self proclaimed commercial mixer was quite surprising in a number of ways. Firstly, as you would hope from easily the most expensive mixer we have ever used, technical performance was excellent at everything thrown at it. Blending, chopping, pulse, low to high speeds, all undertaken with ease. Much is made of the heavy duty motor and that certainly seems to be where the weight is. Can't comment on long term durability but given its 'commercial ' tag, one would hope this mixer had longevity. On unpacking the unit, we were a little surprised at the brevity of the instructions. The absolute basics on how to operate the machine but then a professional user will know all there is to know anyway! Next surprise was that the base unit has a plastic body. High quality grey metal lookalike plastic but plastic nonetheless. Our high end Kenwood/KitchenAid mixers of a couple of years had metal bodies but no doubt less durable motors. Jug is plastic, not glass and the top is rubber. Capacity is nothing special at 1.4 litres or 'liters' as this Canadian sourced product says. The plastic jug simply fits straight on top of the base unit, there is no safety lock that some domestic mixers have. There are no accessories other than an unmarked plastic pouring cup that sits on top of the lid. Nor are there any optional accessories available. We cleaned the plastic jug in the dishwasher but there was no mention of this as a cleaning method in the instructions and we cannot confirm whether this would be suitable long term. I will update this review as our experience grows. The instructions only refer to a way of immersing the jug in bleach solution which is a direct nod to the target commercial sales. We did not find the jug easy to clean and removing the blades etc was far more difficult than with our domestic mixers and not a simple task. Compared to our other mixers that were clearly designed to allow quick and easy breakdown and reassembly for cleaning, this was an issue. Switches are metal toggles with a rotary switch that allows a very wide range of speed control. A further on/off switch is located under the base unit. Cable length is more than adequate for domestic use and noise is, well, pretty much on a par with our domestic mixers. This machine is, with the plastic pouring cup fitted to the top of the Jug,very tall and overall height exceeds any of our domestic mixers. Tall enough that it will not sit on the worktop under our wall mounted cabinets. Overall, this machine is clearly aimed at the professional/commercial market and for them, the high cost, cleaning issues and lower user friendliness ( in terms of normal amateur use) would not be such an issue in the trade off against durability and ability to stand up to professional abuse. For irregular domestic use, however, I would suggest that this very expensive mixer is over engineered to provide durability and lacks ease of use features in terms of cleaning ability and relative compactness. The long term durability of the plastic jug is a concern but time may prove that it can stand dishwasher cleaning etc. For domestic use, we still prefer our existing mixers and have marked this mixer on that basis. If you are a professional, this may however suit your requirements perfectly.

The first thing that stands out about this blender is the price, which is pretty extravagant for a food blender, but it needs to be taken into account that this is a commercial food blender so is really more designed for the demands and rigours of restaurant kitchens, etc. The fact that this is aimed at commerce is further reinforced by the bare minimum of instructions that come with the blender, just a very basic booklet on how to operate it. For a blender of this price you’d expect a nice glossy manual with colour illustrations describing every possible way the blender can be used along with loads of suggested recipes. Additionally, there’s no real accessories supplied (you can’t really count the dosing cup as an accessory), you just get the blender and its constituent parts. I was expecting it to come with a whole range of weird and wonderful extras but, again, domestic use is not this blender’s target audience, it really is designed for a commercial kitchen where the staff just want to get on and use it. So what’s in like in use? Well in fairness is doesn’t really need an instruction manual as it’s so simple to use, with a minimalist set of buttons for on/off, chop plus a 10-speed dial. And no doubt about it this blender is very powerful and can mix more or less anything you throw at it. In fact those stainless steel blades move at such a blistering rate that you’d probably rarely need to use the top speed. I made a very nice smoothie in ultra-quick time and it blended a soup to a perfect creamy consistency. This is a very high quality food blender that is obviously built to last a very long time. I can’t give it the full 5 stars as, despite its commercial design, I still think its price is a little high. So if you’re buying this for domestic use you just need to weigh up whether you’re willing to pay that price premium for commercial-level performance and durability.

This device is described as a commercial food blender and the hefty price tag certainly reinforces its industrial catering heritage. Everything about the HBF500 simply exudes robustness and quality. It is quite a heavy unit at almost 12 lbs and, when fully assembled with jug and dosing cup, stands a whopping 20 inches tall. It sits very securely on its four thick rubber feet and the toggle switches and rotary control are well-designed with a nicely positive action and are intuitive to use. It purées vegetables into perfect consistency soup in just a couple of seconds but, given the massive 1HP power behind those blades, it is not particularly noisy in operation. The blades should cope with pretty well anything you throw at them from whole nuts to ice cubes. The jug/container is graduated in both imperial and metric measures and contains a generous 2½ pints or 1.4 litres. No extras of any description in the box - just the base unit, jug, lid, dosing cup and a very minimal instruction manual. But I'm thinking in domestic terms once again - I suppose no self-respecting chef would have much use for a suggestions booklet or collection of recipe cards. So, while it may be difficult to justify the HBF500's eye-watering purchase price for average domestic purposes, it is reassuring to know that this is probably as good a blender as money can buy and it certainly looks like it will last a lifetime. Arrived very securely packaged, just two days after placing the order. I am delighted with it! **** UPDATE **** Well, my HBF500 has been in almost daily use for a month now and I am still delighted with it. Delicious home-made soups, smoothies and even brazil nut and almond vegan paté are now regularly on the menu. My only criticism is that, on experimenting with the higher blending speeds and an almost-full jug, I would strongly recommend that you keep your hand on the top, as the pressure caused some liquid to escape up the wall and onto my face! I have definitely learnt my lesson to treat this powerful beast with caution! No big deal though, as the slower speeds are more than adequate for general domestic use and the rubber lid will normally keep the ingredients safely contained within the jug.