Hamilton Beach 51101AV vs NutriBullet 900-Watt Pro Side-by-Side Comparison

In this test, the Hamilton Beach took 3 mins 45 secs to yield a portion of protein shake, which is far longer than average. The mixture came out slightly coarse due to a smattering of unblended dried blueberries, but since all the oatmeal and almonds were entirely liquified, it wasn’t too lumpy or unpleasant to drink. For the most part, we agreed many fitness enthusiasts would consider this texture to be acceptable. 

Blending time was a little bit of a compromise, though. Personal blenders are designed to produce quick-blended results so the blending time of nearly four minutes was clearly too long in this regard. Even if you’re willing to blend a bit longer for an acceptable result, running this blender in excess of three minutes will cause its motor to overheat, thus impairing its longevity.

Moreover, to activate the blender, you’ll need to press the Power button continuously until the desired texture is achieved. This means the prolonged processing time will also make your hands tired or even numb.

The NutriBullet Pro is amazingly capable when it comes to preparing protein shakes. In this test, it was the fastest contender, mixing a silky-smooth workout drink in only 40 seconds. It blended well enough that we didn't need to shake the cup to promote contact between the food and blades. The blade spined extremely fast and together with the mighty motor, it allowed the blender to draw everything toward the blades and tear apart each at the same time without any struggle. You might notice there even wasn’t a time that food clinged to the sides of the cup.

There were also blenders that delivered the same result, such as the Ninja Fit, but they all demanded extra shaking or stirring to dislodge chunks trapped on or around the blades during the blending process. Efficiency aside, it’s apparent that your NutriBullet Pro will also outperform its rivals in terms of use ease.

We began the test by tossing all ingredients into the blending cup, then blending them until they came out smooth or until we hit the time limit (2 minutes). As such, we found this Hamilton Beach to be just mediocrely capable of preparing frozen fruit smoothies. 

The final result appeared visually smooth, but when we used a spoon to stir it back and forth, we noticed a few fruit chunks still remained intact. Considering that such residual solids might be a good compromise for the cheap price, you might think this blender’s performance wasn’t half bad. 

The real problem here, however, was that throughout the whole 2-minute blending procedure, it struggled considerably to break down the ingredients while its counterparts, in contrast, got the job done quicker and more easily (for instance, the Oster and the Ninja Fit). Not to mention its longer-than-average blending time.

Speaking of the blending time, we can’t say for sure if longer processing would have resulted in a silkier smoothie but we can assert that this would have failed to achieve the

thick, ice-cream-like texture we were after. This is because frozen fruits thaw quickly at room temperature, causing the overall consistency to be diluted if a blender isn’t able to blend fast enough.

The NutriBullet completed our smoothie in less than a minute, and its results were unparalleled. Our smoothie came out exceptionally velvety. Although there were still tiny flecks of raspberry skin and strawberry seeds, this is a common occurrence when it comes to processing such ingredients. 

It’s worth noting here that no other personal blender we tested could produce such an ideal texture in the same time frame; some couldn’t even break down strawberries after a full minute. Again, this blender never demanded that we shake the cup or stir the contents, and we really couldn't be happier.

Aside from the high-speed rotation and powerful motor, we supposed the blade assembly is a factor creating this outstanding performance. Personal blenders typically feature a blade assembly with two or four prongs, but the NutriBullet is an exception. Made of first-grade stainless steel, its blade is a clear step above those of the competition, including even the pricey Ninja Nutri Pro. It isn’t super sharp, but looks thicker than most and has up to six prongs. More prongs allows for more food contact at the time so the final drink will come out faster and finer.

After blending all the leafy greens with water in 20 seconds — our time limit for this test, we drained the liquid through a mesh strainer and disappointedly ended up 

with a considerable amount of pulp. Not only that, but we also noticed the pulp was very coarse. This suggested that the extraction ability of this blender is too weak to help you get the most nutrients and flavor out of your veggies. 

Actually, the mixture would’ve had a finer consistency if we had blended it for longer, but this didn’t matter nor wasn’t worth the labor since we have already found several other models that can produce perfect high-fiber extractions, namely, the NutriBullet.

Liquifying high-fiber whole food like leafy veggies is always a challenging task for personal blenders, but the NutriBullet’s performance really made it stand out from the rest. 

It could break all the ingredients down into their finest state in only 20 seconds. We drained the completed drink through a mesh strainer and noticed it left behind very few leafy chunks. It could produce an even better result if we blended longer. 

Actually, we didn’t expect such good results so quickly. Most of the machines we tested turned out very coarse blends on this test, such as the Magic Bullet.

The Hamilton Beach wasn’t able to power through ice cubes, causing the final outcome to come out almost pristine, but this is typical for this type of personal blender. If you want fluffy, snow-like crushed ice or desire to incorporate ice into your smoothies, we recommend considering a higher-powered blender, such as the NutriBullet.

The NutriBullet Pro is not only capable of crushing ice cubes, it excels at it! We tested a myriad of personal blenders, and so far haven't found a single machine that can crush ice as fluffy as this one. 

It finished the test in about 40 seconds. A couple of ice chunks still remained solid, but it didn’t look like the blades would be able to grab them. Nevertheless, this NutriBullet performed wonderfully and is very deserving of the top score.