Blogger Chile at Chile Chews has just published an in-depth review of the Vortex hand-cranked blender — and it’s not an endorsement.

Our evaluation agreed with Chile that the Lexan pitcher seemed cheap and less desirable than a glass pitcher, as we don’t like processing foods (particularly hot foods) in plastic. Also, we found that the hand-cranked blender couldn’t blend dense slurries like pancake batter or cut through hard items like frozen berries very well. But we didn’t have the same problems with unscrewing the blender from the base and inadvertently also unscrewing the blender bottom (thus creating an awful mess, which is understandably frustrating), nor did we have trouble with leaking. On the other hand, we probably don’t use blenders as much as Chile does. If you have the space and still want to try a human-powered blender, I suggest a bike blender, which in my experience can blend nearly any substance as well as a motorized blender can.