I spent a week with the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 blender — can it beat the original?
Nutribullet is a legend of the blender game. My parents bought theirs when I was a kid, and they still use it today. Despite how many blenders I've offered them over the years, they're perfectly happy with their Nutribullet 900, which also sits in the third spot of my best blender guide.
So while I've got a lot of time for the Nutribullet brand, I was curious to see if the Nutribullet Ultra 1200, the most powerful single-serve blender Nutribullet offers, could outperform my old faithful.
Here's my verdict after spending a week with the Nutribullet Ultra.
At $164 / £129, the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is quite expensive for a personal blender. But at time of writing, I saw it reduced to $129 / £109 everywhere I looked.
For context, the Nutribullet 600, which we've not tested, is $79 / £69, and the Nutribullet 900, which we gave a 4.5-star review, is $109 / £89.
You may have noticed the eye-catching papaya trim on the model I tested. That's because it's from Nutribullet's collaboration with McLaren F1. Under the hood, it's the same as the regular Ultra.
One regional difference I should address is that the U.K. version of the blender, which I tested, came with two blending cups. In the U.S., you get three, one of which includes a handle.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
The main distinguishing factor between the Ultra and other Nutribullet models is the addition of pre-set controls. My old faithful Nutribullet 900 turns on automatically when you lock the blending cup into place, but the Ultra features a pre-set blending mode and a pulse button.
The buttons are touch-controlled, which feels sleek and makes cleaning easy. They're also backlit, meaning they only light up once your blending cup is secured into the base.
As mentioned, the model I tested came with two blending cups: a 32oz cup and a 24oz cup. If you're in the U.S., you'll also get a 24oz handled cup.
There was also two screw-on to-go lids included with the blender, meaning myself and my partner could each make a morning smoothie and take it into work. I used these lids a lot on my commute, and (thankfully for my laptop) I never had a spill.
The Ultra 1200 is named after the wattage of the base, which comes with suction cups on the base to prevent it slipping around your kitchen counter. A 1200-watt blender is decent, but in my experience, a higher wattage isn't always synonymous with higher performance. When blending single servings, most sub-1000-watt blenders shouldn't feel lacking in power.
Cleaning this blender proved very easy. I never put the blades through the dishwasher (as with any blade, they can be dulled when you do this) but I put the Tritan Renewed blending cups through many times, and they always came out spotless.
Cleaning with a sponge was also straightforward thanks to the crevice-free interior of the blending cups.
More on the blades: Nutribullet calls these the Rapid Extractor Blade, and it's got a stainless-steel platform and titanium coating which is designed to increase longevity and reduce blending time. Each blade comes with a 5-year limited warranty, which is good for a blender of this price.
I've gone from being a protein shake hater to a full-on convert recently. My personal favorite is a blueberry cheesecake flavor shake with some frozen blueberries, ice and milk thrown in.
I like to use a blender when making my shake, which prevents any nasty powder clumps and liquifies my ice cubes and blueberries into a delicious, weirdly blue drink.
I was expecting this to be the easiest task for the Nutribullet to handle. As a single-serve blender, it should be the sort of morning task the Ultra was engineered to handle. But while some of my shakes came out perfectly, I also encountered lumps of half-blended blueberries in a couple of the shakes I made throughout the week I spent with the NutriBullet Ultra.
It's really not pleasant to encounter an unexpected berry in what should be an entirely clump-free drink, and I was surprised that the Nutribullet missed a few. They were frozen, but they're hardly the trickiest thing I blended throughout the week.
Even in the lump-free shakes, I found that the blueberry skin and seeds were present in the texture of the drink.
This might be because I used the blender's pre-set mode to make my drink, which lasts for 30 seconds. Things would likely have been fine if I'd run the setting twice, but at that point, what's the purpose of a pre-set mode?
We crush ice in every blender test. It's a good way to gauge how powerful a blender really is, and whether it's capable of breaking through firmer ingredients. I decided to pulse my ice cubes for this test, and found that this setting is a little sluggish.
It's still better than pulsing in the original Nutribullet, which requires you to lock the cup in and out of the base, but the blades were a little slow to respond when I pressed the button.
Despite that, the Ultra made light work of my ice. I was left with a snow-like consistency after just a few pulses, and I didn't need to shake or stir to evenly integrate all my ice cubes.
To push the Nutribullet Ultra further, I made a quick guacamole. Single-serve blenders always struggle with more solid ingredients. The blending cup design is best suited to liquid bases, which can more easily integrate ingredients by creating a vortex that sucks everything in.
So again, I decided to make use of the blender's pulse setting to see if it could tackle cilantro, onion, lime juice, chili and avocado.
It took a few pulses and a bit of tapping on top of the blending cup, but everything was integrated into a relatively smooth (and very tasty) dip after around a minute in the Nutribullet.
After the middling performance on smoothies, I was surprised at how impressive the blender was at mixing tougher recipes. There were no lumps of onion or cilantro, just a smooth dip that I achieved without even having to open up the blending cup and stir the ingredients.
You're not supposed to blend hot ingredients in the Nutribullet, and the brand also recommends that you don't blend for three minutes at a time. But I always make a savory recipe when testing a blender, usually a soup of some kind, so I roasted my tomatoes as usual and then left them to cool completely before putting them in the blender.
I blended this mix for three consecutive 30-second cycles and was left with a smooth and thick consistency. Tomato seeds are usually a nuisance to blend unless have an all-singing, all-dancing model like the Vitamix, but I was pretty happy with the texture of my sauce. It was about the same consistency that I'm able to achieve with an immersion blender.
Nutribullet claims that this is its quietest blender, thanks to "a specialized design that produces lower-frequency sound," according to the company.
I tracked the blender throughout my tests, and it consistently hit 87dB. Yes, that's loud. But it's a little quieter than the 92dB we hit in our Nutribullet Pro 900W review.
The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is just as good as the Pro 900. It's certainly more convenient to use, on account of the useful pre-set mode and pulse button.
But this improvement comes at a cost, and this increased price doesn't necessarily equate to an increase in blending performance. If you're a smoothie drinker or milkshake maker, I think you'll get on just as well with the Pro 900, at a much lower cost.
For a similar price, you could also buy the Nutribullet Smart Touch, which comes with four auto blend modes, three power levels and pulse settings, a jug, and a single-serve cup. That's a lot more value for money, if you can spare the space.
The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is a good blender. It's just that Nutribullet makes a lot of great blenders, and almost all of them offer better value for money than the Ultra.
I love the smart and sleek design, and the inclusion of backlit touch controls is a great improvement on the original Nutribullet. The Ultra's pulse button was effective at making crushed ice and guacamole, and while it took a few 30-second cycles, the blender did a decent job of making a (cold) sauce for some pasta. But in terms of blending performance, the elevated wattage didn't result in a better finished product.
There's one user who I think should opt for the Ultra over other Nutribullet models: if you're short on storage and kitchen space but want a powerful and capable single-serve blender, the Ultra would be a good choice. It's especially suited to someone who wants some help in the kitchen but doesn't want to splash out on a food processor.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Tom's Guide
I test smartwatches for a living — 5 Apple Watch Ultra 3 upgrades I want to see
The debut of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is likely right around the corner. This would make it the first new model in the Ultra series since 2023's Ultra 2, but what will the standout features be? From a bigger screen to more efficient power consumption to an onboard camera near the digital crown, there's no shortage of Apple Watch Ultra 3 rumors. And if even half of them pan out, Cupertino's next-gen premium wearable could be a major upgrade over previous models. But let's put rumors aside for a moment and talk about the upgrades that we, the users, actually want. As one of the lead smartwatch reviewers here at Tom's Guide, I've got no shortage of strong opinions, including several upgrades I'd like Apple to borrow from the competition. With that in mind, here are the five biggest Apple Watch Ultra 3 feature enhancements I'm hoping for come fall launch time. There have been a handful of leaks hinting at some sort of emergency communication feature coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to assist users when off the grid or away from their phones. As both a smartwatch nerd and an outdoor adventure enthusiast, I'd love to see this one come to fruition. Of course, Apple isn't the only smartwatch maker rumored to be working on such a tool. Leaks suggest that Google might be working on something similar for the Pixel Watch 4. Either way, another peace-of-mind safety tool joining the likes of fall and crash detection would be a great addition to Apple's top-of-the-line smartwatch. It seems like every yet-to-launch smartwatch is rumored to debut a first-of-kind hypertension monitoring, yet none of the brands have cracked the code, just yet. Could the Apple Watch Ultra 3 be the first device that alerts users if their blood pressure is abnormally high? I'm hopeful. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Hypertension is a silent killer that often goes undiagnosed, similar to sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation (AFib). With the ability to monitor for potential signs of the condition, the Ultra 3 will become an even more powerful holistic tool, especially with the long-awaited return of SpO2 monitoring for U.S. customers. While the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a capable sleep-tracker, despite its heft, Apple is the only major smartwatch maker that doesn't provide users with a daily numeric sleep score based on a combination of sleep metrics. Basically, all of the best smartwatch models, minus Apple, offer it. The best Garmin watches, Samsung smartwatches, and Pixel Watches all provide a sleep score from one to 100. Often based on total time spent asleep and time spent in deep sleep and REM versus light sleep, this metric can be especially handy at the start of the day. Got a low sleep score? Maybe today isn't the day to meet friends for cocktails after work. Similar to sleep scores, Apple is also one of the only smartwatch makers that doesn't provide users with some sort of daily energy level score, which tends to be based on a combination of recent sleep quality, physical activity, and overall health trends. Garmin watches have had the feature, called 'Body Battery,' since 2018, while Fitbit first introduced a similar 'Readiness Score' in 2021. Samsung's Energy Score is only a year old, having debuted on last year's Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra. Arguably more useful than the sleep score, keeping tabs on your energy levels can help you make informed decisions about the intensity of your workouts (or whether to even exercise at all) and even potentially help you spot incoming illnesses (low score despite lots of rest/health lifestyle). Last, but not least, I'd love to see Apple emulate Google's Loss of Pulse Detection feature. Similar to fall and crash detection, if a loss of pulse or abnormal pulse is registered in a user, the Pixel Watch 3 can automatically contact emergency services/loved ones and send for help. Right now, the Pixel Watch 3 is the only smartwatch on the market with this tool, but seeing as virtually every smartwatch feature gets lovingly duplicated eventually by the other big players — the folks at Google I chatted with fully expect this — I'd be thrilled to see the Apple Watch Ultra 3 debut with something comparable.
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
Hurry! This espresso machine restored my faith in cheap coffee gear, and now it's $60 off
If you're an espresso lover (nerd) like me, you'll have no doubt been a little put off by the price demanded for many of the best espresso machines. Thankfully, there are some decent machines out there for those on a budget, like the Casabrews Ultra, which is currently $60 off at Amazon. While budget espresso machines (this one included) always come with some compromises, when we tested the Casabrews Ultra we were impressed with its premium features, including a PID temperature controller and shot time. We deemed it a solid little machine for the money and that's truer than ever with this deal, which knocks nearly a quarter off the MSRP. When we tested the Casabrews Ultra, we were impressed by the espresso it produced, and its array of premium features, including a PID temperature controller and shot timer. It was already a sound deal at the full MSRP, so with $60 knocked off, this is a great offer for espresso enthusiasts on a budget. As I mentioned above, cheap espresso machines usually come with compromises. And in our Casabrews Ultra review we found that applied to this machine, too. However, none of its shortcomings are too drastic, and are to be expected in this price range anyway. "One of the cheapest ways to get decent espresso," as we said in our review. The Casabrews Ultra made very tasty espresso. I wasn't the tester of this machine, but we had it set up in our test kitchen for several days. Not only did I pull shots on it and make milks drinks with it myself, but I was also one of the samplers of the coffee our reviewer Erin Bashford made on the machine. See, when we test machines, we always make drinks for each other in the office to get a balance of opinions on the results. The Casabrews Ultra pulls at up to 20 bars, so it's more than capable of the 9-bar pressures required to extract proper espresso. It also has a PID temperature controller to ensure temperature stability and improve shot-to-shot consistency. The temperature can also be controlled and set manually so you can ensure the machine is at optimum brew temps. More expensive machines like the Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia don't have PIDs. The Ultra also includes a shot timer, so if you don't have a one of the best coffee scales with a timer, you can still assess your flow rate. The flaws? Well, the steam wand isn't particularly powerful, so you'll need to be steaming for a while and it can be difficult to nail the right milk texture. I would advise steaming before brewing your shot (with the PID, that should be no issue) so your espresso isn't losing crema while you steam. It also takes a while to switch between espresso and steam modes. For $189 though, those are not very serious complaints. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Tom's Guide
5 days ago
- Tom's Guide
I spent a week with the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 blender — can it beat the original?
Price: $164Dimensions: 5"D x 4.75"W x 7.9"HWeight: 10.24lbsCord length: 29.5"Capacity: 32oz Cup, 24oz CupWattage: 1200 wattsNoise level: 87dBMaterials: Tritan Renew blending cups Nutribullet is a legend of the blender game. My parents bought theirs when I was a kid, and they still use it today. Despite how many blenders I've offered them over the years, they're perfectly happy with their Nutribullet 900, which also sits in the third spot of my best blender guide. So while I've got a lot of time for the Nutribullet brand, I was curious to see if the Nutribullet Ultra 1200, the most powerful single-serve blender Nutribullet offers, could outperform my old faithful. Here's my verdict after spending a week with the Nutribullet Ultra. At $164 / £129, the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is quite expensive for a personal blender. But at time of writing, I saw it reduced to $129 / £109 everywhere I looked. For context, the Nutribullet 600, which we've not tested, is $79 / £69, and the Nutribullet 900, which we gave a 4.5-star review, is $109 / £89. You may have noticed the eye-catching papaya trim on the model I tested. That's because it's from Nutribullet's collaboration with McLaren F1. Under the hood, it's the same as the regular Ultra. One regional difference I should address is that the U.K. version of the blender, which I tested, came with two blending cups. In the U.S., you get three, one of which includes a handle. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The main distinguishing factor between the Ultra and other Nutribullet models is the addition of pre-set controls. My old faithful Nutribullet 900 turns on automatically when you lock the blending cup into place, but the Ultra features a pre-set blending mode and a pulse button. The buttons are touch-controlled, which feels sleek and makes cleaning easy. They're also backlit, meaning they only light up once your blending cup is secured into the base. As mentioned, the model I tested came with two blending cups: a 32oz cup and a 24oz cup. If you're in the U.S., you'll also get a 24oz handled cup. There was also two screw-on to-go lids included with the blender, meaning myself and my partner could each make a morning smoothie and take it into work. I used these lids a lot on my commute, and (thankfully for my laptop) I never had a spill. The Ultra 1200 is named after the wattage of the base, which comes with suction cups on the base to prevent it slipping around your kitchen counter. A 1200-watt blender is decent, but in my experience, a higher wattage isn't always synonymous with higher performance. When blending single servings, most sub-1000-watt blenders shouldn't feel lacking in power. Cleaning this blender proved very easy. I never put the blades through the dishwasher (as with any blade, they can be dulled when you do this) but I put the Tritan Renewed blending cups through many times, and they always came out spotless. Cleaning with a sponge was also straightforward thanks to the crevice-free interior of the blending cups. More on the blades: Nutribullet calls these the Rapid Extractor Blade, and it's got a stainless-steel platform and titanium coating which is designed to increase longevity and reduce blending time. Each blade comes with a 5-year limited warranty, which is good for a blender of this price. I've gone from being a protein shake hater to a full-on convert recently. My personal favorite is a blueberry cheesecake flavor shake with some frozen blueberries, ice and milk thrown in. I like to use a blender when making my shake, which prevents any nasty powder clumps and liquifies my ice cubes and blueberries into a delicious, weirdly blue drink. I was expecting this to be the easiest task for the Nutribullet to handle. As a single-serve blender, it should be the sort of morning task the Ultra was engineered to handle. But while some of my shakes came out perfectly, I also encountered lumps of half-blended blueberries in a couple of the shakes I made throughout the week I spent with the NutriBullet Ultra. It's really not pleasant to encounter an unexpected berry in what should be an entirely clump-free drink, and I was surprised that the Nutribullet missed a few. They were frozen, but they're hardly the trickiest thing I blended throughout the week. Even in the lump-free shakes, I found that the blueberry skin and seeds were present in the texture of the drink. This might be because I used the blender's pre-set mode to make my drink, which lasts for 30 seconds. Things would likely have been fine if I'd run the setting twice, but at that point, what's the purpose of a pre-set mode? We crush ice in every blender test. It's a good way to gauge how powerful a blender really is, and whether it's capable of breaking through firmer ingredients. I decided to pulse my ice cubes for this test, and found that this setting is a little sluggish. It's still better than pulsing in the original Nutribullet, which requires you to lock the cup in and out of the base, but the blades were a little slow to respond when I pressed the button. Despite that, the Ultra made light work of my ice. I was left with a snow-like consistency after just a few pulses, and I didn't need to shake or stir to evenly integrate all my ice cubes. To push the Nutribullet Ultra further, I made a quick guacamole. Single-serve blenders always struggle with more solid ingredients. The blending cup design is best suited to liquid bases, which can more easily integrate ingredients by creating a vortex that sucks everything in. So again, I decided to make use of the blender's pulse setting to see if it could tackle cilantro, onion, lime juice, chili and avocado. It took a few pulses and a bit of tapping on top of the blending cup, but everything was integrated into a relatively smooth (and very tasty) dip after around a minute in the Nutribullet. After the middling performance on smoothies, I was surprised at how impressive the blender was at mixing tougher recipes. There were no lumps of onion or cilantro, just a smooth dip that I achieved without even having to open up the blending cup and stir the ingredients. You're not supposed to blend hot ingredients in the Nutribullet, and the brand also recommends that you don't blend for three minutes at a time. But I always make a savory recipe when testing a blender, usually a soup of some kind, so I roasted my tomatoes as usual and then left them to cool completely before putting them in the blender. I blended this mix for three consecutive 30-second cycles and was left with a smooth and thick consistency. Tomato seeds are usually a nuisance to blend unless have an all-singing, all-dancing model like the Vitamix, but I was pretty happy with the texture of my sauce. It was about the same consistency that I'm able to achieve with an immersion blender. Nutribullet claims that this is its quietest blender, thanks to "a specialized design that produces lower-frequency sound," according to the company. I tracked the blender throughout my tests, and it consistently hit 87dB. Yes, that's loud. But it's a little quieter than the 92dB we hit in our Nutribullet Pro 900W review. The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is just as good as the Pro 900. It's certainly more convenient to use, on account of the useful pre-set mode and pulse button. But this improvement comes at a cost, and this increased price doesn't necessarily equate to an increase in blending performance. If you're a smoothie drinker or milkshake maker, I think you'll get on just as well with the Pro 900, at a much lower cost. For a similar price, you could also buy the Nutribullet Smart Touch, which comes with four auto blend modes, three power levels and pulse settings, a jug, and a single-serve cup. That's a lot more value for money, if you can spare the space. The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is a good blender. It's just that Nutribullet makes a lot of great blenders, and almost all of them offer better value for money than the Ultra. I love the smart and sleek design, and the inclusion of backlit touch controls is a great improvement on the original Nutribullet. The Ultra's pulse button was effective at making crushed ice and guacamole, and while it took a few 30-second cycles, the blender did a decent job of making a (cold) sauce for some pasta. But in terms of blending performance, the elevated wattage didn't result in a better finished product. There's one user who I think should opt for the Ultra over other Nutribullet models: if you're short on storage and kitchen space but want a powerful and capable single-serve blender, the Ultra would be a good choice. It's especially suited to someone who wants some help in the kitchen but doesn't want to splash out on a food processor.
