When we were told Xiaomi is making blenders, we had to know what angle it was going to spin on this fairly common kitchen gadget.
The Xiaomi 17PIN Juistar is a portable blender for 400ml, or medium sized smoothies when comparing it to health restaurant standards. At first, we had our doubts about the power a battery operated blender could put out, but it proved to be extremely capable of getting the job done.
Before jumping into the review: when searching for this brand, one may not encounter the Xiaomi branding. This is because 17PIN is a sub-brand of Xiaomi. Chinese brands generally segment their products to different consumer bases by changing the brand name altogether. Another example is Honor and Huawei, where Huawei creates and designs Honor smartphones, but does not label it Huawei.
Out of the box, we got a proprietary charging cable, the blender itself and a manual. The charger is a two pin to USB Type-A cable. We were puzzled about Xiaomi’s decision to move away from a Micro-USB or USB Type-C port, but we realised: the proprietary charger port makes it waterproof. This is extremely useful for just wiping off the contact and clipping on the charger. It is magnetic so it has a satisfying clip-on, similar to the MagSafe chargers in the older MacBooks.
The blender is made up of a plastic lid with a thick glass cup. We got the light pink version, which is pretty elegant and resembles pink Bakelite. Inside, there is a trio-blade blender configuration and the blades sit at different angles to make a deeper vortex for blending. The plastic lid contains the battery, and can be cleaned by wiping it down. The lid is not dishwasher safe and should not be submerged in water.
The glass cup is pretty thick, and can handle hot or cold liquids. The glass is also dishwasher safe. It has measurements on the side that go up to 300ml, while the cup itself can handle 400ml. The 300ml (max) mark indicates where users should stop putting in solid objects (like fruit) for a smoother blend. We went past this mark, overfilling the blender, and it still blended the fruit but it was a little bit chunkier. That said, always follow the instructions for a good experience.
It can blend up to 15 times on a single charge, which makes it pretty convenient for blending a beverage, and then washing the blades out by blending it with some hot water and dishwashing soap.
It also has some safety features built in. One can’t start the blender if it isn’t tightly screwed onto the glass, and the blender will stop if it is unscrewed while blending. It’s great to see a lot of thought went into the design.
Overall, it’s a good blender for taking around and preparing fresher smoothies on the go. The battery powered aspect is very useful, and the form factor is very ergonomic.