Why You Can Trust CNET Beast Blender Review: A Mighty Motor but How Long Will It Last?
The Beast B10 is beautiful to be sure. I took the sleek new blender for a test drive to see if it lives up to the hype.
The Beast looks and feels like something Apple would make if it made small kitchen appliances.
Editor's note: A little over 16 months into using this blender, the motor stopped working. In Oct. 2022, a representative for Beast Health told CNET that the brand has "made improvements with this next generation of Beast Blenders currently in the market to the circuit board and electric connections." We have now been testing the improved Beast Blender for more than a year with no motor issues.
In my home, the blender gets about as much play as any other appliance. Thanks to the personal blender, gone are the days of lugging out a clunky Oster or Vitamix to whip up a smoothie, dip or cocktail. And if you're a fan of small-yet-powerful blenders like me, you can tip your hat to Colin Sapire.
Sapire is the former CEO and co-founder of Capital Brands, where he helped develop the popular NutriBullet. The easy and compact push-top blender would eventually evolve into even more sophisticated models like the 1,000-watt NutriBullet Pro and 1,700-watt NutriBullet Rx. At the peak of the bullet blender craze, the company was shipping as many as 100,000 machines a week, according to Sapire.
Beast B10 Blender
Like
- Sleek and sophisticated design with a sturdy build
- Simple to operate
- Plenty of power for a small blender
Don't like
- Expensive for a small blender
- Food can get stuck in the blending jar's bevels
- Unclear how long the motor will last
Sapire went on to sell his share of Capital, which houses all the bullet brands including the original Magic Bullet of '90s infomercial fame. Now, the seasoned marathoner and nutrition fanatic is back in the game with what he calls a "true top-of-class personal blender."
Beast Health is his new company and its first product, the B10+ Health Blender Plus Hydration System, looks and feels like the sort of blender you might expect if Apple started creating countertop appliances. But it's not just all style: I got a chance to test out the sleek new blender, and I can attest that the B10 offers some notable improvements over its category counterparts.
What's different about the Beast B10
Here's an overview of the key features and differentiators of the Beast B10 blender.
Build quality:Comparisons with NutriBullet and SharkNinja's Nutri Ninja blenders are inevitable, but just from holding the B10 it's clearly heftier and sturdier than most of those other personal blenders. It has a weighty, solid base, which I like, but if you're looking for something lightweight that can fly in and out of the cupboard, know that Beast is a bit more substantial. It's also coated with a fancy matte rubber that's very nice to the touch versus cold hard plastic. It comes in either black, white or gray.
Power:The B10 has a 1,000-watt motor just like most of NutriBullet's premium models. While you can buy small machines with more wattage, this is really about as much oomph as a blender of this size needs.
The B10+ Health Blender Plus Hydration System has several components pictured here: a blender base, a large vessel, an infusion bottle and a smaller blending vessel, which can be purchased separately.
Blending cups: The blending cups are ribbed inside -- something Sapire brought to my attention -- which helps break up food and ice faster but also makes it a bit more difficult to get all the blended food out. The cups are really solid too, more than twice as thick as the NutriBullet's and Nutri Ninja's. You can feel that, but naturally, it also makes them a touch heavier.
The blending jars aren't sloped or bullet-shaped, either, so they sit very stably on the counter or the floor of yoga class once you take them off the base and pop on a drinking lid. They're also wider and thus not as easy to grip as NutriBullet or Nutri Ninja blending cups, which is something that might take getting used to.
"Leakproof": One of the B10's enhancements over other personal blenders is that it is "100% leakproof," according to Sapire, whereas other personal blenders will drip from the cup into the base if overfilled. I had no issues with the B10 leaking but, to be fair, I never had big issues with my NutriBullet leaking either.
Not a push-top: Beast is button-operated rather than push-top. I don't view that as an advantage or disadvantage but it does make it feel a bit more like a "real" blender.
Price: The B10 is also more expensive, clocking in at $155 for the basic blender package, which gets you the blender, a 1,000ml blending cup, a drinking lid with a carrying cap and a storage lid. If you add the B10 hydration infusion bottle it's $185. By comparison, NutriBullet's cheapest 1,000-watt blenders retail for around $80.
What I made and how it went
Caesar salad dressing: For a dressing, you want a fine consistency. I threw some raw garlic, kale (for the health of it), an egg, some mayonnaise and some spices into the blending jar. In seconds I had a very smooth and creamy caesar dressing. This was the easiest test I gave B10 but it passed with flying colors.
Roasted veggie dip: Now that I'd tested the B10's basic blending function I wanted to see about more precise control. There's only one button and there aren't any settings, so you hold to blend and push quickly to pulse. I dropped in a bunch of roasted veggies with some cream cheese and spices and got to pulsing, and the B10 did the job well. The pulsing was easy to control and the results were consistent when I unscrewed the jar, which is what I'm looking for when making a dip.
Smoothies with ice: I decided to make some smoothies next since I'm a daily smoothie drinker and a blender's ability to crush ice is the most important test for me. I dropped in my frozen bananas, frozen açaí, peanut butter and ice and gave it a whirl. The B10 has impressive power and it got me to my desired smoothie consistency in less than 25 seconds, which is about as fast as my big, expensive blender.
I tried another smoothie and jammed a few more ingredients in, filling the jar almost completely, exactly as I had been instructed not to do. The Beast still did pretty well with a packed jar, although this time the jar needed a few stop-and-shakes to get the blending back on track.
Water infusion (infusion bottle not included with standard blender): Since I also had the hydration system in my package I tested that too. It's essentially a water bottle with an infusion chamber. The idea is to pulse your infusion in the Beast, spoon it into the chamber and fill with water. Infusion water bottles aren't new and this one isn't unusual, but all went according to plan and it appears to be well made and easy to use.
The infusion hydration bottle is not included with the basic blender.
My first impression
I like this blender quite a bit. It's designed to be sturdier and heftier than most personal blenders but it's also a bit bigger, so I'd probably place it somewhere between a true personal blender and a small full-size blender. Even though the motor is on par with those of other blenders and it got me to that creamy smoothie consistency faster than others I've used -- perhaps because of those ribbed jars.
Secure lids for storing homemade dips and dressings.
I also honestly love the aesthetic of the B10 and I'm not afraid to admit it. If you leave your daily smoothie- or shake-maker out on the counter more often than in the cupboard, it'll definitely attract compliments. It looks and feels expensive and all the lids screw on securely.
Speaking of which, I think the price -- $155 for the blender with drinking and storage caps -- is a fair one. Considering the NutriBullet RX (that brand's most premium model) retails for $113 on Amazon, I'd personally consider coughing up the extra $40 or so for the Beast B10's improvements both in style and substance.