Review on Powerful Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher Blender: Blend, Crush, Shake, and Puree with 14 Functions, 40 Oz Glass Jar, and Stainless Steel Design (54221) by Shelly Day

. I've tried many blenders and this one does a fantastic job for sooo much less money. I bought it for a vacation home and I liked it so much that I bought another one to replace our house. I'm actually buying it again after having it for over 2 years and accidentally leaving a spoon in it which ripped off the gears. So yes, the gears are plastic and you can't mix them with spoons! But I've been blending ice cream every morning for the past 2 years with no problems, and let's face it, it costs a ton more to buy a blender that has metal gears, and the "metal" gears are made of zinc, which is actually a softer metal than a good quality one . plastics. I'm not saying these gears are high quality plastic, I have no idea, but I can replace them every time I leave a spoon in them and still save money. I also mix my cocktails VERY thickly. So thick that they usually don't come out of the blender without the help of a spoon, or at least a vigorous shake. So yes, since I don't use much liquids, I need to know how to mix ice. You can't just push a button and walk away, which is no different than ANY sub-$200 blender. You have to start by simply pressing the pulse button and shaking the blender from time to time until the contents start spinning and THEN you can press the slow button and press the next button every few seconds until you have a super smooth smoothie to have. Oh, and one last tip - I used to think it did a great job blending ice for such a cheap blender, but then I took out the blades and used a steak sharpener to sharpen the blades a bit. Not to the point of making them thin like Nutri-Pool blades or anything, I didn't want them to be flimsy and prone to chipping, I still wanted the blade to be a "wedge" rather than a blade is. But this little spicing did the trick and my frozen smoothies are SO INCREDIBLY SMOOTH. To attempt.