RUNNEPT Mini Portable Juicer/Blender Review

RUNNEPT Mini Portable Juicer/Blender 500ml

This is a type of blender that I haven’t seen before. We used to be Jamba Juice junkies when we were younger but as we got older we realized that the supersize portions and overpowering flavors were not that natural. We kept meaning to get a blender but never quite got round to it.  So when we were offered this one to review we jumped at the chance.

The blender arrived in a cardboard box that had  been damaged in transit.  Fortunately, the blender itself is quite sturdy. When you remove the box, all the accessories and instructions are inside the thick Perspex container. You get:

  • The blender
  • The plunger
  • Micro USB charging cable
  • User’s manual

A quick inspection was promising. The blender is well put together. It’s about the size of one of those tall glasses deserts sometimes comes in. It’s easy to use and breaks down into three separate parts.  The parts are:

  • A thick Perspex cylinder in the middle is threaded at both ends  with indentations on both sides for easy gripping with either hand (so great for lefties too).
  • The base screws onto the bottom of the cylinder and is threaded differently to the cap so you can’t mix them up. Screwing it in compresses a silicon washer in the bottom to form a tight seal. The top of the base has the three blade propeller that chops up whatever you’re blending. All three blades are serrated with grooves and set at different angles to create maximum disruption. The bass is quite heavy due to the lithium battery and motor. This is good because it lowers the center of gravity so the blender will not topple easily. A small flick knife is also stowed inside the bottom of the base for breaking down food into chunks or removing unwanted parts.
  • The cap screws on top of the Perspex cylinder and seals it the same way the base does. The outside has a small flip-up drinking spout which is a great addition if you want to prepare smoothies on the go. There is also a slot in the cap for a wrist strap. A plunger comes fastened to the cap which is used to push solids down onto the blades without risking your fingers. The plunger is removable so you can shake the contents inside while the machine is running.

Operating the blender

The blender is easy to operate. I charged it up for a couple of hours via the Micro USB port. A silicon flap protects the port and power button from moisture. Charging time depends on the USB power source you use.

There are two LEDs to the left of the on/off switch. The red one tells you that the battery is charging while the green one tells you the battery is charged and/or that the blender is turned on.

I had some trouble starting the blender initially. It looked simple enough but I should have checked the instructions because there are a couple of safety features.

There’s a magnetic switch where, when screwing the base down, you have to line up an arrow on the cylinder with the power button on the base. When aligned the blender will operate. The other feature requires you to hold down the power button for a couple of seconds before it powers up. When powered up, the green LED starts flashing after which short presses will turn the blades on and off. The LED goes solid when the blades are working and goes out when the blender is shut down. To shut down the blender, just hold the power button for two seconds when the blades are not turning.

  • RUNNEPT Mini Portable Juicer/Blender
In Use

The blender works a lot better than I anticipated. You can throw in soft fruits and veggies, some liquid, screw down the cap and turn it on. It’s best to start at a tilt and let the blades start turning before letting solids contact the blades. Another nice thing about it being cordless is that you can pick up the blender while it is running and agitate it to enhance the blending. It works really well.

If you’re going to use harder foods like cucumber, apples and nuts you will need to use the plunger and push down the solids slowly. So far I have tried various berries, cucumbers, some dry pitted prunes and mango chunks mixed with water, cream or yogurt.

One full blender provides a large mug of liquid so you will have to run it twice for two people which is what we do. After the smoothies are made, we pour them into a jug before serving. If you’re on your own you can drink it straight out of the blender thanks to the pop up drinking cap. Or you can just throw it in your bag and make yourself a smoothie at the local farmers market which is kind of cool.

Another nice thing is that because it separates into three parts with large openings, you get easy access for cleaning making it extremely easy to clean.

Great for smoothies
RUNNEPT Mini Portable Juicer/Blender

Product Name: RUNNEPT Mini Portable Juicer/Blender

Product Description: Battery powered portable blender, juicer.

Offer price: $20.99

  • Design
  • Features
  • Ease Of Use
  • Value
4

Summary

Having used this a few times in the last week, the blender surprised me. It works a lot better than I had anticipated. One charge lasts long enough for at least 8 mugs. More if you don’t stress the motor using solid foods. It works surprisingly well and is very easy to clean. I can see a lot of effort went into the design. I haven’t tried hard things like nuts but I really like how portable and easy it is to use. It has a really small footprint so you can easily stow it away (even in our small kitchen). And with just the two of us at home, we can make smoothies for the both of us in a couple of minutes using our own healthy recipes.

The only negatives are that you do have to screw down the cylinder pretty tight for the safety switch to deactivate. This makes it hard to take apart for cleaning afterwards. An easy way to clean it is just blend tap water with some soap, the violent vortex usually makes short work of cleaning it out most of the time so long as you don’t let scraps dry inside. The only other thing is our three pugs. They start barking when we turn it on. I don’t know why because the coffee grinder makes a similar but MUCH louder noise and they don’t mind that.

This is a great personal blender with some nice safety features. I recommend it to anyone who wants something small, compact and easy to use and cleanup after. For one of two people it’s great, but it’s not really suited for making smoothies for many people. On the other hand, it’s small enough to carry in a tote and use at a picnic or camping.

Disclaimer: This blender was provided in exchange for an honest and fair review.