One-minute review
Acekool might not be the first brand that comes to mind when you’re thinking of buying a new blender, but this brand is on a mission to offer great appliances at affordable prices. With a range of kitchen and home appliances under its belt, Acekool is planting a foot firmly in this market with what it calls the next generation of lifestyle electronics.
The Acekool Blender BC2 is the more expensive of the two blenders in its range, but it’s still a very affordable blender that costs just $99.99 /£79.99. For this budget-friendly price you get a large 70 oz/ 2 liter BPA-free plastic pitcher and tamper, but there are no personal blending cups or other accessories.
The base offers four preset blending options as well as adjustable speeds via a dial or there’s a pulse switch. As you’d expect for the wallet-friendly price tag it’s an uncomplicated blender but it offers enough functionality to cover off most everyday blending tasks. And with a 1500W motor and an eight-blade configuration, it has enough guts to tackle tough foods.
It’s well suited to homes where safety is a concern, due to a safety feature that won’t allow you to switch it on unless the lid is securely in position. On test, it impressed us by creating grit-free smoothies and milling nuts into a fine flour. However, the lid doesn’t stay secure when blending at max capacity and not only does it have to be hand-washed, but water can get trapped inside the pitcher handle and base which is frustrating. Having said all this, it’s rare to find budget appliances without some compromises so if you can forgive these issues, you’ll be creating great smoothies in no time.
Acekool Blender BC2 price and availability
- List price: $99.99 /£79.99
The Acekool Blender BC2 is a budget blender that’s available from Amazon or direct through Acekool in the US, it’ll set you back just $99.99 /£79.99. It’s not currently available in Australia.
This low-cost blender is a basic model but doesn’t lack presets or blending speeds. The pitcher is plastic though and there aren’t any other accessories.
Design
- Large 70 oz/ 2-liter pitcher
- Four presets
- Eight adjustable speeds and pulse
Though it’s tall, the Acekool Blender BC2 doesn’t have a large footprint, so it won’t take up too much counter space. It measures in at 17.7 x 7.3 x 8.3 inches/ 45 x 18.5 x 21cm (h x w x d). The plastic pitcher is light in comparison to a glass pitcher and weighs just 2.6 lb/ 1.2kg including the lid. Together with the base, the whole blender weighs 7.9 lb/ 3.6kg so it’s not too heavy to lift in and out of a cupboard.
The black and silver finish is unassuming, it can easily blend into the background if you intend to keep it on the counter, which is fine. For the price, we wouldn’t expect it to have the type of high-end stylish design that would make a feature in your kitchen.
The controls are pretty intuitive, there are two large switches, one for power and the other for pulse. The central dial controls the adjustable blending speeds and as you increase the speed, the screen displays the level from 1-8, it also counts up the blending time. Below the dial and switches there are preset buttons for smoothies, ice crush, grind, and juice, once activated the preset completes a predefined blending pattern and the time counts down on the screen.
The pitcher is plastic but it’s BPA-free and has a generous pouring lip, the plastic doesn’t feel as robust as some other plastic blender pitchers we’ve reviewed but it’s not flimsy either. The lid pulls on and off easily, plus it has a safety pin that means the blender won’t switch on unless the lid and safety pin are firmly in position. But there’s a removable insert in the lid so that you can pour extra ingredients in during blending or use the included tamper to stir foods. The pitcher can only be placed on the base with the handle to the right-hand side, which isn’t ideal for left-handers.
There’s no cleaning preset and none of the accessories are dishwasher safe, so it has to be washed by hand. And after washing we noticed some water droplets inside the handle and it’s impossible to get inside to dry it out. Similarly, there’s a void between the inner base of the pitcher and the metallic strip that runs around the bottom, and this area steamed up with water vapor too but it’s impossible dry it out.
Performance
- Lump free smoothies
- Blades don’t reach low enough for small quantities
- Lid doesn’t stay secure when filled to max level
First up we tried chopping hazelnuts and since we were trying to achieve a chopped texture, we opted to use the pulse switch instead of the grind preset. It took 10 pulses before there were no whole or really large pieces left. But in this time, the hazelnuts had been milled down to a fine flour, rather than a chunkier chopped nut texture, although we spotted a few chunkier pieces amongst the flour.
The blender was speedy and efficient at milling the nuts and is great for creating fine flour but didn’t quite have the finesse to achieve the larger size chopped pieces that we were looking for.
We attempted homemade mayo next and despite having eight blades, none of them reach low enough so that it could mix up the two egg yolks with vinegar for our small mayo recipe. We persevered though and started to trickle in the oil anyway, and as soon as the level rose slightly, it began to mix and then emulsify.
We poured the oil in via the removable insert in the lid which worked effectively although there was a little splashing. The finished mayo was emulsified and glossy, though perhaps not as thick as we would have liked. With no cleaning preset or possibility of putting it in the dishwasher, cleaning it after making this oily condiment was a bit of a chore.
The ice crush preset takes 40 seconds, we added six ice cubes, but they weren’t completely crushed at the end of the program, so we had to start it again for a further 10 seconds. After which, the ice was completely crushed and even.
Our most successful result with this blender was with the smoothie preset. We added apple juice, spinach, pineapple, banana, and yogurt to the pitcher and started up the 60 second smoothie program.
At the end we were rewarded with a completely smooth, lump-free drink, there were no visible specs of spinach or pineapple fibers, it was good enough to rival some of the best blenders for a completely smooth pulverized smoothie.
To test the pitcher and lid for any leaks we filled it to the maximum capacity with water and gradually turned up the blending speed to maximum. There weren’t any leaks, but something else happened. As the speed increased up to the maximum level, the lid was pushed upwards.
Fortunately, before it could be completely pushed out and flood the kitchen in a sea of water, the safety pin was dislodged and turned off the blender. We tried it again to be sure it wasn’t a one-off, but the same thing kept happening. So if filled to maximum capacity we wouldn’t recommend cranking the speed up too high and if you do, be sure to keep your hand on the lid.
The loudest sound registered on our noise meter was 86dB when chopping nuts, which is equivalent to the noise level created by a truck traveling down the road at 40mph, however as it’s only for short periods at a time, we think it’s an acceptable level.
Should I buy the Acekool Blender BC2?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
First reviewed: January 2022
