April 28, 2009 The Bella Blender is part of the Sensio® Bella Professional™ line of appliances. With commercial styling and three speed digital controls, it looks very durable and simple to operate. The following are my testing results.
Product Description
- Sensio Bella Professional Blender 500 Watts, 120 V
- Commercial grade parts; die-cast and stainless steel body
- Three speeds: High, Med, Low and Pulse function (with any speed)
- Dishwasher-safe 48 oz glass jar; lid has measuring cap
- Heavy duty motor base with non-skid feet
- Blue back-lit LED controls
- One Year Limited Warranty
- Has built-in overload protection
- Visit Bella Professional more product detail
- MRSP: $99.99; available at Macy's, Bed, Bath & Beyond
How the Bella Blender Performed
The Bella Blender looks very stylish and has adequate blending capacity. The base is heavy, slightly taller than average and is very stable during operation. The finish is easy to maintain and operation is simple with pulse operating on any of the three speeds. The glass jar is very thick, durable and is heavier than most. The lid fits very tightly.
The blender has loads of power even for blending regular-size ice cubes in a frozen smoothie. In fact, it's so fast that too much pulsing will liquefy the ice. All blending including making baby food, pureeing, mixing pancake batter, creaming soups and making cracker crumbs posed no problem at all and pulsing mere seconds was adequate for satisfactory results. Vegetables for salsa required less time than expected to avoid pureeing it. Occasional scraping between pulses with a spatula was needed to push some foods down into the blades - typical of most blenders.
The blender has built-in overload protection where the motor will shut off after two minutes of continuous run to protect the motor - a very nice feature to have. However, I found this blender fast and seconds (not minutes) were needed for most foods blended.
The blender has loads of power even for blending regular-size ice cubes in a frozen smoothie. In fact, it's so fast that too much pulsing will liquefy the ice. All blending including making baby food, pureeing, mixing pancake batter, creaming soups and making cracker crumbs posed no problem at all and pulsing mere seconds was adequate for satisfactory results. Vegetables for salsa required less time than expected to avoid pureeing it. Occasional scraping between pulses with a spatula was needed to push some foods down into the blades - typical of most blenders.
The blender has built-in overload protection where the motor will shut off after two minutes of continuous run to protect the motor - a very nice feature to have. However, I found this blender fast and seconds (not minutes) were needed for most foods blended.
Overall Impression
I really like the construction of the Bella Blender, it's a sturdy, commercial-grade unit with sufficient power for all blending tasks tested, including ice crushing in smoothies and frozen drinks. I'm also very satisfied with blending results.
One thing that I didn't like and could be improved is the spout design - it's too flat and wide and some contents had to be poured from a corner of the jar to avoid spills, especially when pouring into a glass. Overall, it's a durable and quality-built appliance at a comparable price.
One thing that I didn't like and could be improved is the spout design - it's too flat and wide and some contents had to be poured from a corner of the jar to avoid spills, especially when pouring into a glass. Overall, it's a durable and quality-built appliance at a comparable price.
