15th August 2022 – (Hong Kong) Consumer Council tested 12 models of blenders on the market. The blender motor speed of 2 models is relatively poor while 5 models failed the temperature rise or insulation test. In terms of overall performance, the model which is sold for HK$700 performs better than the model sold for over HK$4,600.
The most important function of the blender is to grind the ingredients. The Consumer Council conducted the blending test with reference to the international standard IEC60619. The ingredients included fresh carrots, potato chips, onions, parsley leaves and water. The test was to put the ingredients and sizes recommended by the standard into the mixing cup and blend them. After completion, a sieve was used to separate the incompletely chopped vegetable residues. Then, the blending ability of the samples was evaluated according to the weight of vegetable residue and the uniformity of the ingredients after blending. The results showed that “Bruno” and “Proluxury” were not able to completely grind the ingredients, and only scored 1 point. However, when considering the overall performance, the “Bruno”, priced at HK$698, scored 3.5, slightly better than the “German Pool” with a score of 3 and a price of HK$4,670.
For soymilk making, the soymilk made by “Philips” and “Goodway” is very smooth and uniform, and received the highest score of 5 points.
On the other hand, the soy milk made by “Proluxury” has a rougher texture and leaves more soybean skin. The default cooking time of the blender samples “Bosch” and “German Pool” that generate heat by friction is short, and the heat of friction alone cannot remove the grassy smell of soybeans. Therefore, users need to cook the soybeans in hot water before putting them in the blender.
In terms of safety, the test found that 5 models failed the temperature rise and/or insulation test, and the contents of the instruction manuals of all the samples were also insufficient. For example, the warning in the instructions did not fully meet the requirements of the latest safety standards. Among them, “Cuisintec” and “Turbo Italy” overheated during the 7th blending, so that the overheating protection device activated itself and failed to complete the test. There must be a certain distance between the 5 types of electrical circuits with insufficient insulation distance to prevent danger caused by short circuit, flashover, leakage and overheating. The manufacturer also responded to the test, in which “Bruno” refers to the model’s manual recommending that when using the juice function, the water should be added to the highest water level, so that the blending can be completed successfully. In the blending test conducted by the Consumer Council according to the IEC standard, the water consumption was only 80ml, which was less than the recommended 120ml for the product.
Meanwhile, “Proluxury” provided the performance test report of the product, indicating that the function of this model is mainly to make soy milk, rice paste, juice, etc., rather than the vegetable blending required by the IEC standard, and also refers to the fact that the laboratory adopts different test standards, so that the test results may vary. The spokesperson for “German Pool” said that the product manual will be improved to meet the latest safety standards. Both “Cuisintec” and “Turbo Italy” indicated that they had conducted safety tests on their own random samples and found no safety problems, which were considered individual incidents.