Magimix 11610 Le Blender, Black Finish

After using an inferior brand blender which could not cope with making decent smoothies I did some research into which Blender to buy. Looking on some dedicated "Smoothie" websites the recommendation was for the Blendtec brand. However given these cost £350 upwards I had to look elsewhere. I then found the Magimix and started reading the reviews. Whilst there are always some negative reviews, the general consensus was that this was a good product. So I ordered it on my prime account and it duly arrived the next day. Upon opening the box I could see that this was a decent bit of kit. The glass jar felt very sturdy and when assembled it looks like it means business. I have started to make Green smoothies so I blend up Kale, Spinach, Cabbage, various fruits, along with Sunflower seeds and porridge oaks. The old blender could not make this smooth enough to drink with a straw, but the Magimix simply destroys these tough items into a smooth liquid. The one annoyance was that the Sunflower seeds need to be ground in the optional mill attachment, and I had not realised this beforehand so have had to order separately direct from Magimix spares as could not get cheaper on Amazon. So at this stage not sure how that attachment performs but if it is as good as the jar attachment then it will be great. The Blender has some auto settings for Smoothies, Soup, Ice and Desserts which are good as they perform to set times meaning you won't burn out the motor by overdoing it. As said the Smoothie program made my very smoothie into something I could drink, and the program takes 60 seconds. I cannot comment on how this performs on extend use as I do not want to risk burning it out but I did 2 programs in a row with a couple of minutes breathing space in between, and it was fine. It did feel a little odd when placing the jar on the blender base as it simply rests in by it's weight, whereas previous blenders have all had some form of twisting lock motion. However this is not an issue and in fact is a better more convenient approach as it is simply easy to take on and off. It is a dream to clean also, and in the attached user guide it shows you the auto clean method which is to put 1 Litre of water with 2 drips of washing up liquid in the jar and to put on speed 3 for 30 seconds. Rinse after that and it's ready to use again ! The user guide is pretty decent also, it's a week presented little book with some recipes in also, it's that extra effort that confirms you've bought something of quality. So the bottom line is that I am really impressed with this Blender and will update the review as time goes on to show how it performs after time.

I am not really experienced with using blenders, but when I read the negative comments on other brands like Philips that quickly broke down, I decided to trust the reviews of the other users about this great blender and ordered one. And so far I don't regret it! I started out with a raw food diet and wanted to have a good blender to make my green smoothies. In the raw food scene online, everyone is praising (hyping) the Vitamix blenders. Not only do I think they are absolutely hideous to look at, they are ridiculously expensive here in Europe. I mean 600 to 650 euro for a blender? Come on!!! Then they are talking about horsepowers which does not make sense at all. I prefer to compare the power consumption of the motor because usually the higher the power consumption, the stronger the motor is. Also important is the rotation speed of the blades. With a max of 15000 rpm, this machine is fit for the job. The faster the blades spin, the finer the contents will be blended. Now be warned, if you are living outside of the UK, you will receive this blender with the default huge power plug (what were they thinking when they made this the standard in the UK? :) ) Unfortunately countries like Portugal and The Netherlands have to use the UK amazon site as other sites often don't ship to these countries. Now with a device like this, it is not a problem. You buy a converter plug and there is no problem in using it. With a cellphone for example, where the plug is also the power adapter, the converter plug makes it extra big and clumsy to carry around. Since I am not planning on traveling with my blender, it is not a problem. (you could also put on another plug, but I don't know what this does to the warranty.) Now I inspected the coupling between the bowl and the motor. On the bowl side, it is made of metal, on the motor side it looks like some kind of rubber. It however looks sturdy and I trust the quality is fine. I went to the electronics store today here in Portugal and checked many blenders from Moulinex, Philips, Braun and some unknown brands to the rest of the world. NONE of them had metal couplings, it was all plastic and when I look at the Philips ones for instance, I can imagine why it breaks down so fast. The cutting blades on this blender are quite sturdy and made of thick metal. The ones from Philips and other brands looked like they were made from a recycled tin can. Besides that, most models have only a 500 to 600 watt motor. This might be just fine, but once you do a raw diet, this is a device you are actually going to use every day (instead of using it as a dust catcher). I can imagine that if you are using a 600 watt motor, that a tough blend job takes much more toll on the motor than with a 1200 watt one. In instruction videos for green smoothies, you often see people turning the speed dial. They even warn you that you have to make sure you set back the speed dial to low when starting up the blender and then turn up the speed. This because else the substances will get splashed all around causing the lid to be smudged as well. Not that this is a big thing but it is nicer if not. Now with this blender you don't have to take care of this at all. Just press start and you will see that the electronic control will automatically start slower and then speed up the motor. I love the automatic smoothie setting. It starts blending at a higher speed (after a slow start up of course) and then it varies the speed to make sure that all ingredients will have a chance to drop to the bottom and get blended as well. Then it will speed up again and automatically stop when the smoothie is finished. Now, of course I don't know how long this machine will last. I have no Idea how the quality of the Vitamix is compared to this one. I do know that the motor feels quite heavy, usually indicating high quality materials being used. I think that the glass bowl is a lot better than the plastic ones of other brands, but maybe I am wrong. I can easily see this machine working for 10 years without a hitch. Maybe I am wrong but I will tell you in 10 years from now :p. I don't know how long the Vitamix will work. They claim it will last a life time, but if that were true, they would offer a lifetime warranty but they don't. Now if you are doubting to buy this blender because it is expensive.. DON'T it seems to be a great blender. If you are doubting because actually you want a Vitamix... well don't buy this one and spend you hard earned money on the overpriced Vitamix. Now like my fellow reviewers said: Buy the blender.. you will not regret it!!! If you have further questions, please let me know. Cheers

This is a blender absolutely built to last. In this respect it matches other items by the same manufacturer that have had a long and useful life in our kitchen. Those who have experienced the 'professional' food processor will understand that - ours has given frequent and faultless service for nearly 30 years now and shows no sign of faltering. This blender feels and performs in the same way. Initially this was specifically bought to produce smooth foods following from a severe accident that required a liquid, or liquidised diet, for 12 weeks followed by a gradual return to normal eating. In these respects it out-performed the food processor as intended and the ‘smoothy’ auto option was totally effective. The soup option would clearly be equally successful but, as the results would still need heating, our Morphy Richards soup maker, giving fully cooked soups in only 20 minutes or so, has made it our preferred choice. However, the excellent Magimix recipe book supplied with the blender and with many tempting and imaginative soup ideas has proved to be an excellent 'extra' feature. it is robustly made and well bound and, like the blender, should last for years. The working options are easy to follow and there are effective auto choices. Alternatively it is easy to choose alternative speed settings with the same dial and to use a pulse option to control the precise length of blend. This is similar to the choices available on the food processor. There is an auto cleaning process which involves simply putting warm water with a few drops of Fairy Liquid or similar cleaner and blending for 30 seconds. This is suitable for most situations. More thorough cleaning is easily achieved with some dismantling. There is one item well worth adding to the blender as an additional purchase at about £40 and that is the Mill / Grinder attachment. This has a different cutting mechanism designed to cope with the more arduous tasks of grinding nuts, raw meat and similar foods. It is very similar in concept and blade design to the sturdy Moulinex coffee grinder - and and indeed one of its specified uses is as a coffee grinder. All in all this, despite its higher price than many alternatives, this superb blender is unlikely to break down in normal usage and will repay the investment with extended reliability. It comes with a 3 year guarantee but I would not expect to need this in practice. This is a highly recommended piece of kitchen equipment in every way.

Prior to purchasing the Magimix I read many reviews. Many were saying they were completely satisfied with the Magimix and that it did everything that they wanted. Therefore, recommending it over the Vita-Mix. I do own an American Vita-Mix and am completely in love with it. However, we have moved to the UK and I am unable to use it. We plan to be here a number of years, but not permanently. So, after checking the price of the Vita-Mix here (50% more than in America) I decided to try and find a blender that was close to the Vita-Mix and took a gamble on the Magimix. The Magimix does blend up carrots, celery and leafy greens well, which I generally add to my smoothies. However, the Vita-Mix is able to make a much smoother texture. The Vita-Mix has the ability to blend things from a rough chop to a very fine texture (same as baby food). With the Magimix you will see bits of skin from the fruit (esp. grapes), where in the Vita-Mix everything is so small that there is no flicks of different colours. The Magimix was not able to blend the pomegranate seeds leaving hard bits all through the smoothie, where the Vita-Mix is able to blend them so fine that you don't notice them. With the Vita-Mix I was able to make almond butter and peanut butter. I haven't tried it so far, but I have my doubts that Magimix can handle it, because it seems to get bogged down when there is not enough liquid in it. I will give it a try and if it works I'll write a review on my results. Cleaning is as mentioned in other reviews. Both Magimix and Vita-Mix, clean up the same, very simple and easy. I do like the glass jug of the Magimix. The manufacture of the Magimix recommends not running the blender more than 60 seconds at a time. Whereas the Vita-Mix is designed to run for long periods of time. Some soup recipes calling for 7 minutes, using the heat from the friction to warm the soup. The Vita-Mix can do beverages, soups, sauces, fondues, salad dressings, syrups and batters. The Vita-Mix also has a plunger that feeds down through the lid to aid moving the food down into the blades which actually works slightly better than the spatula in the Magimix. There is a major cost difference between the two blenders. The Vita-Mix being several times more expensive. But if you can afford it and like to cook/make smoothies, it's a great investment. I will get by with the Magimix, but I do miss my Vita-Mix.

This is a great blender for smoothies! My typical go to drink will be a bunch of kale, spinach, two apples, 2 sticks of celery, a quarter head of broccoli, a carrot, 2 oranges and 3 bananas - the blender makes this into a very smooth consistency, albeit having to run the blender twice to ensure it pulverises the load and not overpack it. No bits at all are left, although I must admit it doesn't do the best of jobs with the skin of plums. Incidentally, I've always used the "smoothie" auto setting - and the result has been perfect every time. As other reviewers have noted, the jug is actually very heavy (perhaps reassuringly heavy) as it's made out of solid glass - nothing that an able-bodied person can't handle though. But I can understand that if you any mobility issues at all with your shoulder/elbow then picking up and moving a full load could present a problem. Cleaning is an absolute breeze - just fill the jug with a litre of water and a squeeze of washing up liquid and run it for 30 seconds, and rinse. It couldn't be simpler. Whatever blender you settle on, do not underestimate the benefit of the ease of washing - it will encourage you to make more smoothies! I toyed with the idea of a Vitamix but I'm glad I settled with the Magimix. The Vitamix may well be a lot better but I'm not sure if it's three times better for three times the price. ***UPDATE (Oct 2016 - 18 months after purchase)*** So, the blender went bang today along a few sparks - suffice to say, the motor has burnt out! On average it's been used at least once a day (usually twice), every day for the last 18 months - is that good? Maybe, maybe not. I must admit that I've got no reference point as this was the first 'proper' blender that I purchased - perhaps I was hoping for a 'few' years of service before it died so possibly the bar was set too high. One point to note, for about a good 6-8 months I've noticed that liquid does leak out of the bottom of the blender if left sitting around. The seal looks intact so I'm not sure why it was happening. Anyway, given that I was using a Magimix food processor for blender smoothies before this purchase and that one also burnt out, I'm losing a little faith in the brand. So this time, I've opted for a Vitamix - maybe that might last a lot longer? Here's hoping! I may get this Magimix repaired under warranty though and use that as a back up.

This is a high quality blender. It has special programs for soups, smoothies, ice, but you can also set the speed manually. Start with a low speed and increase it slowly as needed. It doesn't pulverize fruits like Vitamix, so you'll have to peel apples. It also does't heat soup like Vitamix, but I don't think this is a really useful feature. The manual says you shouldn't use it for more than 1 minute at a time. It's quite heavy (4.5 kg, the jug has 2 kg), it's easy to clean and it has a mill attachment you can buy separately. It's noisy, but less noisy than other powerful blenders (I measured decibels using an iPhone app: 80db speed 1, 85db speed 2, 90db speed 3, 93db speed 4). It's important to keep in mind that the exterior of the blender doesn't use stainless steel and the name used by Amazon is misleading. Magimix uses the name "satin" ("chrome mat" in French). It's just a paint color that happens to look like stainless steel, but it's still plastic. You're paying £30 or more just for a different color, not for a different material. At the moment the black version is £52 cheaper.

five stars just ain't enough for this blender. If you're anyway a regular blender user, then you cannot afford to buy anything less, and you certainly need not spend anything more. This machine does everything it says on the box, and more. I was looking for a good blender, solid design, and simple to operate, no bells and whistles, or complicated electronic programs with telephone-book sized manuals, just a simple two speed on/off would have done. I was a little apprehensive buying this machine for that reason, but the multiple speed selection and the few pre-programmed settings are an absolute gift, and completely self explanatory. the slow start works brilliantly, and completely cuts out the dreaded initial "explosion". The machine is very solidly constructed, yet not heavy in use, and quiet. It is easily and quickly cleaned, and the glass jug is the perfect size, it fits comfortably under a standard sized kitchen tap, and still plenty big. On the scale of things,I find the slightly sticky lid not an issue at all. I'm just sorry I did not realize at the time of purchase that this machine can also be supplied with a handy mill attachment. I only discovered that when it arrived. To purchase one of those mills separately turned out not to be possible. The only way to obtain one, was to buy it as spare parts, which I did, but ended up paying well over the odds for. Definitely something to consider before purchase; the "set" is also available on Amazon.

I bought this to replace my Breville blender, the Breville one was a good cheaper alternative but i decided to spend a bit more to get this one due to the positive reviews and extended functionality. The Magimix blender came well packaged and it is much heavier then I expected (which is a good!). The bottom motor is very heavy and the case is very strong, it sits perfectly on my kitchen table and i am not worried about it moving or falling when the heavy glass jar is put on top. The glass jar is well made and so much better than plastic ones and gives me assurance of the food safety. The programs offered are well designed, easy to make smoothies and soup. The smoothies comes out much more smoother than the only Breville machine and the soup is much more smoother than hand blender. Very happy with the results so far and the machine is so powerful. It is not as quiet as the induction motor offered on the Magimix food processor range, but i guess it is just the way it is for a blender...