Xibonol Portable Blender Blender Review

The Xibonol Portable Blender is about the size of a plastic water bottle, like the BlendJet 2 and Fresh Juice Portable Blender. It's not very big or heavy, so you can easily store it in your backpack or in a cupboard.

The Xibonol Portable Blender has a sub-par build quality. The design is top-heavy because the motor base is on top when you use it as a bottle and drink from it. Even though you flip it upside down to blend, this design makes it prone to tipping over if you set it down right side up on a surface, as you can see in a video here. To operate the blender, you need to press the button on top of the lid and then flip the blender over.

When you're ready to drink from it, the lid cover flips open to allow access to a hole in the motor base for the straw. However, the lid cover can easily snap off if you twist it even slightly, which is likely to happen accidentally. You can see a video of it here. The carrying strap around the bottle has a tacky feel and seems prone to collecting dust and debris. The blade shaft is quite thin, and the accessories included with the blender, including a soft plastic straw and two cleaning brushes, feel very cheap.

It's not all bad: the blending jar feels sturdy. There's a cover to protect the USB charging port on the lid, and there are markings on the lid and jar to help you see when they're properly aligned and the blender is ready to operate.

The Xibonol Portable Blender has a 16oz capacity, which is typical for a personal blender and a good size for blending single-serve protein shakes and smoothies.

The plastic jar has measuring marks in oz and ml on one side. Unlike most blenders, which have clear plastic jars, the base of its jar is opaque black, which fades gradually so you can see into the jar near the lid and blades. The manual doesn't say if the blender's components are dishwasher-safe.

The blade assembly is part of the lid, so they will always be attached if the lid is on the jar. The straw fits into a hole in the motor base/lid next to the blades. This is unlike other portable blenders that either have blades on one end and a lid on the other or have just one opening but come with separate lids and blade assemblies.

Two of the six blades are serrated. Serrated blades are less common in blenders but are sometimes used for pureeing and grinding in food processors. This could help with recipes like nut butter, but performance also depends on other variables like motor power, blending speed, and jar design, and this blender's serrated blades don't help it outperform any other portable blenders we've tested.

The blade assembly base doubles as a drinking lid. After blending, you flip the blender over and open the hinged cover. This lets you stick the straw into a hole and drink from the jar.

This is the only portable blender we've tested with a straw, which you might like if you prefer to drink your smoothies that way. However, since it can't smoothly blend all kinds of ingredients, it makes a grainy or leafy blend with some recipes, which may be difficult to drink with a straw. (You can see how it blends fibrous ingredients like leafy greens and fruit further down). You could drink directly from the opening without a straw, but the manufacturer doesn't mention that in the manual. The lid is easy to screw on or off.

The blender has a USB-C to USB-A charging cable that plugs into the lid. The manufacturer advertises it to charge fully in three hours and provide enough battery for 40 blending cycles that last 40 seconds each. It's a somewhat longer advertised battery life than the BlendJet 2, but battery life varies with real-life use. When making nut butter, the battery was depleted much more quickly (see the nut butter test below). Thicker mixtures or harder ingredients will likely drain the blender battery faster. There's a plastic cover over the charging port to help protect it, but you can't use the blender while charging.

• Xibonol Portable Blender
• 16 oz jar
• Spout lid
• Motor base with blades/drinking lid
• Plastic straw
• Blender brush
• Straw brush

The Xibonol Portable Blender is disappointing for small batches of fibrous ingredients. You don't need to shake the jar to get it going, but it takes a long time to process ingredients like kale. Also, even after several minutes of blending, many grains and leafy bits are left over. Most portable blenders don't make a completely smooth blend with small batches of fibrous ingredients, but some do a better job, including the Fresh Juice Portable Blender and Ninja Blast.

It performs similarly at full capacity. The extra ingredients require a few more minutes of blending time to get the best results, so mixing something like a kale smoothie is a very long process. Many unprocessed bits and pieces are left over in the final blend. Still, you don't need to shake the jar or stop the process to stir the ingredients.

It's disappointing at crushing ice. It can't process many ice cubes at once, and even in small batches, it usually leaves behind at least one unprocessed chunk. It can make small amounts of ice for cocktails and process some ice cubes in a drink recipe.

It's not suitable for nut butter. Like other portable blenders, its battery dies before producing spreadable butter. You also need to shake the blender often to keep the ingredients moving. While other portable blenders have the same problem with battery power, some manage to process nuts for longer before the battery dies, like the Fresh Juice Portable Blender.

The Xibonol Portable Blender is quiet for a blender. Like most battery-powered models, it's quiet when running, so you can blend a smoothie early in the morning or during your lunch break without bothering people nearby too much.

The Xibonol Portable Blender has one speed setting, like most personal blenders. It's quite fast, which can help smoothly blend fibrous ingredients depending on the power and design of the blender. The manufacturer doesn't indicate the motor power.

The controls consist of a single button on the lid. You must double-press the button and flip the blender over so the blades are at the bottom. One blending cycle lasts 40 seconds, or you can push the button again to stop the blender earlier.

The Xibonol Portable Blender is very easy to clean. Running it with soap and water in the jar does help remove some debris from the blades and walls. You can use the included brush to clean the blades and straw opening. Although you need to be careful not to immerse the blades in water, since they're attached to the motor base, it doesn't have any parts that are difficult to reach. The included brushes feel flimsy and might not last for the blender's life, but using a different brush or sponge isn't an issue.