Calphalon - Power Sense 10-Speed Blender - Dark Stainless Steel

Though it came factory sealed, the pitcher was dirty when it came out of the box.  It was as though the pitcher had been washed and allowed to simply air dry – leaving water spots all over the sides.  (See the attached photo.)  I assume all consumers expect brand new items to arrive in perfect condition, but sadly - this wasn’t my experience.  From what I have heard, Calphalon has a good reputation, but my confidence in the quality of this particular item has been shaken (as I can’t be sure if the blender has already been used). Despite arriving dirty, this blender is a true beast.  Not only is it large, but the 1,100-watt motor is strong enough to pulverize ice.  I know this because the first test of any good blender is to verify that it can blend ice into snow.  Not just the chopped of gravel of a cheap snow cone machine – I’m talking transforming cubes of ice into the fine texture of frozen powdered sugar!  …Well, the motor met the challenge and the 6 pointed blade quickly cut the ice into the finest of snow.  I did quickly notice that the motor adjusts the speed & power of the blade by pulsating – which means that it should be nearly impossible to burn out the motor. The LCD screen is unnecessary, but is easy to read.  My main disappointment is that (like many modern blenders) the pitcher is squared (instead of round).  This means that certain foods can get stuck in the edges.  To combat the issue of stuck food, the blender has a pulse option and can also reverse the direction of the blade – which does help to a fair degree. I also don’t like that the Pitcher has a plastic base that extends down around the frame of the blender’s base.  The intention may be to make the pitcher more stable, but frequently the peg in the base doesn’t line up with the hole underneath the blade – meaning that the pitcher doesn’t fit onto the base correctly at all times.  If the square bottom of the pitcher didn’t wrap over the square base, one could simply rotate the pitcher to fit down correctly.  But, this simply isn’t an option which makes correct placement difficult. Another small annoyance is that the pitcher & included Smoothie cup do not need to be locked in place before the blender can be turned on.  At first glance I didn’t think that the smoothie mode was needed, but it is actually a pretty cool feature.  In the named modes, the blender moves through a variety of speeds, pulsations, and changes the direction of the blade rotation.  This feature not only saves me the time of manually speeding up, slowing down, etc while I make a shake, but it also means that I can push one button and do other things in the kitchen while the blender moves through all the required modes and shuts off when the shake is appropriately blended.  Pretty cool. The main pitcher is so large (67.5 ounces) that it is aptly referred to as the “Titian Jar”.  I do like that the capacity allows the option to blend enough for multiple people, but the pitcher can quickly weigh in at more than 5lbs or 6lbs.  Perhaps the weight is why the jar is made out of plastic (instead of the more traditional glass) – which I have “mixed” feelings about (bad pun intended).  Plastic may reduce the weight, but I question the durability.  It does feel sturdy, but even plastic can chip, or crack if dropped – and I would not be surprised if the inside of the plastic gets scratched-up of after years of use.  But, at least the plastic is BPA-free. Impressively, the blender does have a 10 year warranty.  The details of the warranty appear to be pretty standard stating that it covers “any item found defective in material or workmanship when put to normal household use and cared for according to the instructions […] This excludes damage from misuse or abuse, such as improper cleaning, neglect, accident, etc”.  The wording makes me doubt that Calphalon would cover a crack or a chip in the plastic pitcher if it were to be dropped.  But, Calphalon appears to have a good reputation – so perhaps they will stand behind their decision to use plastic instead of glass. Overall I do feel that this blender is worth the money as it is very powerful and because it should last for many years without issue. Pros: + Strong Motor (1,100-watts)         NOTE:  This motor exceeds the power of the popular 1,000 watt Ninja Blender that is sold at Costco. + The strength / speed automatically adjusts (or pulses) to prevent the motor from burning out + Large capacity “Titan Jar” (67.5 ounces) + Pre-set modes are actually useful & convenient + Has convenient handles on both sides of the base – adjusting the location on the counter is very easy + Comes with a large (25 ounce) smoothie cup – the blender base screws onto the top of the cup + Multiple settings including a reverse pulse option + Certain modes automatically shut off after a pre-determined time period + 6 point stainless steel blade does a great job at evenly chopping & blending + Pitcher / Jar fits snug on the stand during operation + Pitcher / Jar is BPA free + Pitcher / Jar is dishwasher safe + 10 year warranty Cons: - Pitcher has squared edges which causes certain foods to get stuck in corners - Pitcher is made out of plastic (not glass) - Pitcher is quite heavy when full (greater than 6 lbs) - The center of the Pitcher’s lid doesn’t unscrew, but instead pops out awkwardly when pulled - The digital interface feels rather unnecessary and may be one extra feature that may break - The blender can start before the smoothie cup, or Titan Jar is locked in place - The dial can rotate infinitely in either direction.  This means that there could potentially be an error where the digital interface doesn’t know what option you want to select. - The rubber loop on top of the Blend-N-Go cup can break rather easily - Replacement parts are difficult to find (if you break the Titan Jar or lose the smoothie cup – they will be difficult to replace)

---SETUP--- The setup for the Calphalon blender is quick and easy. After unboxing it, just plug it and you are ready to blend. ---FEATURES--- The key feature of this blender is that it has 10 speeds to choose from as well as 4 of which are specific: dip, milkshake, smoothie, and frozen drink. The other options are pulse, reverse pulse and various levels of low-high. ---PERFORMANCE--- The performance of this blender is good. The first thing that I used it for was to make a banana/strawberry smoothie. The blender had no issues making the smoothie and because it’s on a specific timer when using the ‘smoothie’ option, there was no guessing how long to blend it for. Milkshakes were great as well. No struggle with blending the ice-cream. Dips and frozen drinks work great as well, so this is a great blender to pull out for parties of all ages. ---EXPECTATIONS--- The product meets my expectations. I immediately put my previous blender away and this has become my new daily blender. It comes with a smoothie/protein cup that you can directly blend into, which is perfect for daily use. Because the settings are on a timer, you can set your blender to blend what you need and take care of other things while the blender works on its own. ---VALUE--- The price for the blender in terms of value is worth it for how powerful it is. This is a blender you won’t want to put away any time soon. ---APPROVAL--- I highly recommend this product for people who use blenders daily for workouts or breakfast shakes as well as those who make margaritas for adult parties or fruit smoothies for children parties. The container is deep and wide, perfect for large amounts of servings at once.

We really liked this blender, but a part broke in the blender (a seal) broke and we needed a replacement. Calphalon does NOT sell parts for this blender. While you can get the whole blender replaced for free, they can always decide that you must have misused it and refuse to honor their warrantee. Every blender that we have ever owned before had parts available to fix the blender. Seals for other brands are even available from third parties. If you can't replace parts that break down regularly in blenders, then expect that one day in the not too distant future you will be throwing away your blender because it leaks and you can't get a simple 10 dollar part. We loved the blender, used gently, until the time that the blender broke and the representative said we would have to ship the blender back to them to determine whether or not it was our fault that the blender seal broke. She suggested that it would take about a month to determine it. This makes for a horrible customer experience and a short lifespan for the product. This is way to expense for being a disposable product. They wouldn't publish my review because it reveals that you can't buy common replacement parts for it. It's time for us to replace our cookware and it won't be with Calphalon.

The Power sense blender worked out great for our needs. The blender base is solid providing good balance/support and is fairly quiet considering it's motor size and power. The connection made between the pitcher/cup and base is simple and solid. I do wonder how well the gasket will hold up over time? The controls are very easy to use with the rotary style dial making it easy to choose your settings. The overall style is a good blend of classic and modern styling. The pitcher is big enough to make multiple smoothies/milkshakes at once as well as being able to fit a large container of box store salsa to make it less chunky. My wife loves the included to go cup is the best feature. She is able to make her smoothies and take it to work with her without having to clean out the big pitcher. The Power Sense quick settings have gotten the job done on the first try without having to run them again. Cleanup is also very easy. Overall the Power Sense blender is working great for our needs. With it's good looks, power, performance and convenience we look forward to getting a lot of use out of it.

I’ve never been so torn writing a review. I was shopping blenders for about 3 months before I settled on this one. I really like the features that it has including the forward and reverse pulse to chop up any hard or frozen items in it. I love the auto time feature for making smoothies, shakes, or frozen drinks. I like how it senses the resistance of the items in the blender and then adjusts the power level to break them down to the proper consistency every time. Some have complained about the top on the Blend-N-Go cup tearing soon after purchase. I noted that the cap didn’t spin easily in the rubber retention strap. So, I remedied that with a small amount of cooking spray worked on to the contact area between the two. Works like a charm now. I also noted people complained about the lack of a good seal in the Blend-N-Go top. That seal dropped out the first time I washed it. I noticed that it can only be assembled one way for it to work properly. Assembled as the factory intends, it works great with no product spilling out. The blender has more than enough power to handle the tough jobs and I love the simple design to the unit. It looks very sharp out on our countertop. I have also found that it is very easy to clean and when properly assembled doesn’t leak during the blending process. Make sure that you don’t fill the Blend-N-Go cup to full or that will squeeze some out while blending (easy to clean though). I would have given this product my highest recommendation but for the one disturbing item. I hope someone from the company is monitoring this site and sees this as I have contacted them personally concerning this “issue”. If you want additional Blend-N-Go cups, YOU CAN’T GET THEM! I thought it would be great to have two more for my family especially when several people want different shakes or smoothies at the same time and all want to go their separate ways. It would be so easy to switch the blade unit to a different cup full of ingredients and blend. Then put on the serving top and go as the name indicates. The system works great, however the company stated that the only way that I could get another cup was to purchase another blender. That is really a poor business model to me! I told them I was happy to pay for the cups if they could come up with a reasonable price (not $179.00 for a whole blender setup!) I would be glad to pay. However they wouldn’t help me with the request. If you only need one Blend-N-Go cup, and you want a quality blender, this unit is for you. If you want some good customer service and additional cups, better look to Ninja, NutriBullet, or one of the other companies. Sorry Calphalon, but if you can’t take care of your customers after the sale, I can’t highly recommend your product, no matter how good it is...

In short, this blender is an eye-pleasing powerhouse. The 2-Liter blending jar for this blender is large enough to allow you to easily make 5-6 drinks at a time, and the 1100W motor provides enough power to make sure everything you put in the jar gets blended as well as is needed. There are manual settings that allow you to control the blade speed, as well as pulse and reverse pulse, but there are also preset settings for making frozen drinks, smoothies, milkshakes and dip. For these settings, you simply select the desired blend and press the start button; the blender then runs the program for the preset amount of time and you have a perfectly blended drink. Every preset program I've used has resulted in an almost perfect drink, and at no time did the motor even begin to sound like it was laboring, no matter what I had in the mix. The model I'm testing came with a smoothy cup, but I haven't used it, choosing to simply use a glass instead. The smoothy cup and all elements of the blending jar are top-shelf dishwasher safe, but I've simply used a soapy sponge and hot water to clean mine immediately after each use. The blades are easily removed by unscrewing a retaining ring on the bottom of the blending cup, making cleanup simple, fast, and safe. I think this blender is amazingly good; not only has it performed flawlessly creating perfect drinks, but another plus is that it looks great just sitting on the counter. I would definitely recommend it.

10-year warranty but the warranty return process will cost me $50. Calphalon has a very unused friendly return process is seriously flawed and frustrating. See photos the screw is stripped and won’t go back in.

Calphalon made a nice blender here - but only from the point of view of basic blending functionality. The motor is strong and sure and the blending action is fantastic. But the overall design of this blender is a disaster. They included a "Blend N Go Jar" that can screw onto the blade assembly - but the cap attachment broke before I could even unscrew the drinking cap (how is Calphalon capable of making such a brittle detail?). The filler cap on their blending jar's lid is a mystery - it ultimately plugs into the lid, but it doesn't seem to have any design that makes their union sensible. The settings dial spins like it would operate in modes that you can select over 360 degrees - but that's misleading....you can only select manual speeds clockwise and mixing modes counterclockwise (the dial spins beyond the maximal setting in either direction but the action remains maxed-out clockwise or counterclockwise). And Calphalon has decided to control the motor function by way of three switches at the top of the base - on/off, pulse, and reverse pulse. The inclusion of the reverse pulse function is interesting and probably smart - it can stop and reverse any forward functioning blend quickly and very powerfully. But the three switches look and feel feeble and poorly designed (see photo). The functionalities of the blender that are tied to these switches are rock-solid but the switches themselves feel like points of failure. I'm dumbfounded by how a company like Calphalon can be making such a strong blender with so many poorly-designed details.