Oster BLSTPB-WBL vs Hamilton Beach 51101AV Side-by-Side Comparison

The consistency of the Oster’s protein shake was about average and much in line with other low-powered blenders, such as the Black+Decker FusionBlade. After letting it pass through a mesh strainer, we found a small amount of dried berries remaining partially intact and this made the shake somewhat gritty. The oatmeal and almonds were mostly turned into liquid form, however. So overall, the beverage was still drinkable enough to help an athlete or gym enthusiast increase their muscle mass without feeling uncomfortable.   

Despite being second to none within its market segment, this blender abjectly surrendered to its higher-priced counterparts in terms of blending time. To manage an acceptable result, it took up to nearly three minutes, which was about one minute slower on average. For this reason, we only gave it a 5.2/10, in comparison to other personal blenders in our Protein Shake test.

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 Oster BLSTPB-WBL did fairly well in this test, producing a result that was roughly the same as that of a higher-powered blender. So if you tend to focus on frozen smoothies, this device should be worth your consideration. Spinning at speed, we can assure you its blades will yield a silky frozen smoothie without a particularly intense struggle. Just make sure to give your blending cup a good shake once you notice any food getting stuck in the blades and prevent them from turning.

However, you might be wondering why it only got a 6/10 if its smoothie came out that good. Again, it was because of its longer-than-average blending time. 

In particular, after a course of testing trials, we found that a good blender for making icy beverages has to process all the frozen ingredients as fast as possible so they don’t have time to thaw and dilute the overall consistency. As such, the completion time of the Oster meant its smoothie was thinner and less ice-cream-like than faster models, namely the Ninja Fit or the  NutriBullet.

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.

With the Oster, it was definitely an undertaking to extract high-fiber food into liquid form in a short period of time (20 seconds). By our cutoff point, we drained the final mixture with a mesh strainer and ended up with a substantial amount of coarse pulp. This suggested that the test was just one-third completed. 

Perhaps, if we allowed this blender a longer runtime, we would eventually get a smoother outcome. However, one noticeable point was that some personal blenders we tested could do this trick perfectly following the same time frame. (For example, the Nutri Ninja Auto-IQ). As such, the performance of this Oster means more than just a slower extraction — it also has some implications for its overall efficiency in comparison with the expensive, high-end ones.

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.

The weak motor power didn’t allow the Oster BLSTPB-WBL to crush ice so the final outcome came out almost pristine but this is a common occurrence of this type of personal blender. If you want fluffy, snow-like crushed ice or desire to incorporate ice into your smoothies, we recommend more powerful blenders, like the Ninja Fit.

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.