BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade vs Hamilton Beach 51101AV Side-by-Side Comparison
How do the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade vs. the Hamilton Beach 51101AV stack up? We answered this question by comparing their specs, features, and testing their performance.
Specifications
Design
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.
The overall design of the Hamilton Beach is simple, but the blending cup with a fixed blade assembly inside seems to be impractical if used as a to-go cup. The materials are only average, making the blender itself look fairly jerkwater and not catchy. This, however, is expected for the price.
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.
Despite its intuitive design, the Hamilton Beach is somewhat uncomfortable to use. The blending jar attaches securely to the main body, but the assembly process is a bit of a hassle. Not only that, but it’s also more of a pain to clean than other blenders since the blade assembly isn’t removable.
Performance
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.
We tested the Hamilton Beach against a range of culinary blenders, but this machine was surprisingly the only one that didn’t pass even a single test. With its weak motor and small blending blade, it failed to blend the foods completely, resulting in grainy, rough mixtures.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- 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.
- Inexpensive and easy to use with one-touch blending.
- Blending cup features measuring lines.
- Compact design makes it perfect for use in small spaces.
- It is adequate for light blending performance.
- It doesn’t allow for hands-free operation
- A better blade assembly could make blending more efficient.
- The low-powered motor limits its capabilities.
- Poorly-built quality impairs the machine’s overall performance and durability.
- It works inconsistently
- The blades are too short, which affects the blending time and final results.
Conclusion
Choosing between these two models is easy since the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade wins hands-down against the Hamilton Beach 51101AV in every aspect, from performance, to usability and build quality.
Although it wasn’t the best of the group starting out, its testing results were largely very acceptable, and the comfort it provided was far more pleasant than the Hamilton Beach.
As a low-range personal blender, the Hamilton Beach was the worst in this analogy. Like the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade, it was unable to crush ice, but its overall score wasn’t as high due to its smoothie coming out smooth but with large chunks of unprocessed strawberries. Likewise, the protein shake was less enjoyable to drink as some of the almonds and dried blueberries couldn’t be broken up. Its blending wasn’t sufficient enough to extract as many nutrients from leafy veggies as did the BLACK+DECKER FusionBlade.For the most part, we agreed that this blender isn’t worth your consideration.
Behind the Comparison
Tina Pham is a staff writer and reviewer, with five years of experience in the industry. As a passionate amateur home cook, she loves to discover practical cooking solutions, and has made it her mission to bring her findings to every kitchen. Her ultimate goal is making cooking more of a pleasure for all.
Tuyet Pham is an award-winning Saigonese chef passionate about delicious and healthful foods. At HealthyKitchen101, she develops recipes and collaborates with our Research, Testing, and Review lab to evaluate the performance of cooking appliances. Her assessments add a strong authoritative voice to our product scoring process.
Lap is Head of the Research, Testing, and Review Team (RTR Team) at HealthyKitchen101.com, where he directs and supervises the testing of kitchen gadgets and appliances.
