Oster Pro 1200  Blender Review

It's on the small side for a full-size blender. It's easy to store on your counter or in a cupboard.

This blender has a mediocre build quality. The buttons on the front of the motor base are clicky and easy to use, and the motor base has vents to allow heat to escape. The main jar is made of thick glass and has a sturdy-feeling handle. The plastic personal jar also feels decently well-built and has a resealable lid. However, the design of the gears and blade assembly may not be very durable. The gear on the motor base is square-shaped but fits into a star-shaped gear on the jar. Since the parts don't fit together perfectly, it's harder to place the jar on the motor base. This design can wear the gears out more quickly because it causes more friction as they slip against each other.

The blade assembly also feels loose and is not very well made. It has a plastic tab that feels like it may break if you put pressure on it. The blades are only held in place by a rubber gasket that has a loose fit when the assembly isn't attached to one of the jars. There's also a small gap between the gasket and the metal plate of the blade assembly, which can trap ingredients and add steps to the clean-up process. However, you can easily remove the blade assembly from the jar by removing the gasket, so it's easy to take the blender apart. It also means you can't use it safely if you lose or damage the gasket.

If you want a better-built blender with similar features, including a large-capacity pitcher and a personal jar, you might prefer the Braun TriForce Power Pro JB9041BK. However, that model's pitcher is made of plastic, not glass.

The jar has a 48-ounce capacity, which is on the smaller side for a full-size blender. It also comes with a 24-ounce personal jar.

The main jar is made of glass, which you may find is less prone to scratches and discoloration than plastic. The smaller personal jar is plastic. Both jars, the blades, and the lids are dishwasher-safe.

It comes with one removable blade assembly that works with both jars that come included. It's held in place only with a rubber gasket, so it's easy to disassemble the blender for cleaning. The manufacturer advertises that the blender has 'dual-direction technology' that lets it reverse its blending direction to clear jams. However, this wasn't noticeable during testing, and you can't manually activate the feature.

The main jar has a two-part lid with a clear centerpiece that you can remove to add ingredients mid-blend. There's also a resealable to-go lid for the personal jar. It screws onto the jar, but unfortunately, the cover for the spout feels flimsy.

The power cord isn't very long but will still reach a nearby outlet. There's no stowaway compartment or place to wrap the cord when it's not in use.

• Oster Pro 1200 Blender motor base
• 48-ounce '6 Cup Boroclass Glass Jar'
• Two-part lid
• 'Extra Wide 3.5" System' blade assembly
• 24oz 'Smoothie Cup'
• To-go lid
• 'Quick Blending Tips' booklet

It's fantastic for processing small batches of fibrous ingredients. Using the personal jar, this blender makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale, with just a few unprocessed bits left over. However, some blenders can produce similar results faster, and you have to shake the jar once for the best results.

When you fill the jar to its full capacity, this blender makes an extremely smooth blend with fibrous ingredients. It can make a big batch of kale smoothies or pureed broccoli soup with almost no grains or specks left over. However, some blenders can do it faster.

It's excellent for crushed ice. While we usually use 12 ice cubes at a time in a full-size blender, the manufacturer says to only use six ice cubes at once in this model. Working with two batches of six ice cubes each and using pulse mode per the instructions in the manual, it takes about two minutes to make bar-quality crushed ice. There were a few very small unprocessed pieces, but overall the ice was a great texture for adding to cocktails. However, it has a limited capacity, and blenders like the Ninja Professional Blender NJ601AMZ can produce better results more quickly.

It's great for nut butter. It's not as easy of a process as with blenders like the Vitamix 5200 since you need to stop the blender, take off the lid and stir the ingredients a few times to keep everything moving. Still, after around four or five minutes of blending, it produces smooth, easily spreadable nut butter. There may be a few little unprocessed pieces trapped under the blades.

It's a loud blender. While most blenders are pretty loud, many full-size models we've tested make less noise at maximum speed, including the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 and the Ninja Detect Power Blender Pro.

It has a wide range of speed settings, although you have limited control over the speed because there are only three presets, plus pulse mode. The blending speed is the fastest when you're using pulse mode.

The motor base has buttons for three speed presets: 'Low', 'Medium', and 'Ηigh'. There's a dedicated pulse mode button, which yields the fastest blending speed. You can also choose from 3 blending programs: 'Green/Frozen Smoothies', 'Food Chop/Salsa', and 'Milkshakes'.

Once you plug the blender in, you need to press the on/off button to turn it on before it will run, which is a nice safety feature. There's a light that flashes when the blender is 'on'. The manufacturer advertises the blender to have seven speed settings, which seems to count the blending programs, pulse mode, and speed presets separately.

This blender is very easy to clean. It's very easy to clean the jar by adding warm water and soap to the jar and running the blender on high. You then need to use a sponge to wipe the jar and blades, but that's quite simple since you can remove the blade assembly from the jar. It's an easy process, although you may prefer blenders you don't need to take apart to clean, like the Blendtec Designer 725.