Oster Versa Blender Review Roundup

The Oster Versa ($150) is one of our top, home blenders with a specific goal in mind: Offer as much as possible at a price that's far lower than high-end blenders. Does this ambitious blender work well enough to make it an option for your kitchen? Let's take a closer look.

Features

The Oster Versa comes with a 1,400 watt motor, which is plenty of power to do almost everything (well, it has some trouble dealing with dough), and a 64-ounce eco-friendly jar that can hold an appreciable amount of ingredients, too. There are three programmed settings to choose from and a variable speed dial for manual control, but few other features. Pros

• A lot of power at a low price

Cons

• The full set of accessories is a bit too much
• Jar construction could be a little better

C-Net

C-Net found that the Oster Versa was surprisingly powerful and capable for its lower price point. However, it's also a little over extended: The review thinks it comes with a few too many accessories, some with flimsy components, when the blender could have benefited from a simpler approach. So expect this model to take up some storage space...or you'll be tempted to throw away the accessories you don't really use.

"Starting with its weak spots, the design and usability categories are the reason I can't universally recommend the Oster Versa. The somewhat flimsy pieces don't fit together well, requiring you to fiddle constantly and keep the instruction manual on hand whenever you want to use one of the many accessories. Overall, these pieces take up a lot of space and offer few handy ways to effectively store them. The result is a blending experience that is more difficult than it has to be and never allows you to just pick the thing up and go."

Juicing with G

Juicing with G also liked the lower price of the Oster Versa model, and noted that adding ingredients was particularly easy. However some of the markings on the jar are a little hard to read, and tamping down ingredients can require some care, since the tamper can hit the blades and cause problems. The one thing the model cannot do, apparently, is mix dough (if you use a blender for that).

"Aside from mixing pizza dough, the Versa can pretty much blend any fruit, peanut or vegetable you throw into it. Combine the strong motor and the 4 blade system this machine is capable of making frozen desserts, smoothies, protein shakes, coffee, crushed ice, hot soup, almond butter and even almond milk."

Amazon Users

Amazon users were pleased to find that the Oster Versa made an admirable alternative to high-end blenders at a much lower price. However, many users did not that have a couple years or so of use, some components started to break or fail. Fortunately, the Oster warranty lasts for seven years and many were able to get replacement parts without trouble.

"I've had this product just under 2 years. We use it primarily to make smoothies and hot chocolate. I've been very happy with it. However, a few days ago (it is now Oct 16, 2015) I got it out to make a smoothie and after just a few seconds it quit. I followed the instructions and tried it again with no luck. Then today I figured I'd try it again. To my surprise it was working. So I tried to make another smoothie. Worked for a few seconds then quit. The gear on the motor was turning freely. After emptying the carafe, I reached down inside to try to turn the blades. They were very difficult to turn. I checked Oster.com and found that a new jar would cost $75 dollars. I was not very happy. I found an 800 number for Oster Service (800 334-0759) and called them. After asking me several questions the Oster service employee said that she would place an order for a new carafe and I would have it in 7 to 10 business days. I asked her how much it would cost. She responded that I was still under warranty. I had totally forgotten that the blender carries a 7 year warranty. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!"

Bottom Line

Looking for a more affordable blender that can do almost – but not quite – as much as high end version? This one is for you. Read Next: http://www.gadgetreview.com/reviews/blender-reviews

Oster Versa Blender Review Roundup was originally seen on GadgetReview Expert Testing & Reviews