Magic Bullet works well but not for everything

I have had my Magic Bullet for about a 1 1/2 years.  I, like everyone else watched the long infomercials on TV and of course when you watch one you feel like it is a "must have" item for your kitchen.

First let me say that I love mine and use it lot, I even got rid of my big blender which I never used anyway. The Bullet is small and compact and doesn't take a lot of room on the counter.  I find that if I leave it sitting out I use it much more often that if I store it away out of sight.

Because the Bullet is small it is not as practical for large families or people that use a full sized blender often.  This is more of a personal sized appliance, which is what I like about it...very little waste this way.

I make home made pancakes from scratch and the Bullet blends up the perfect amount for 2 people.  I use it for a variety of things, from mixing up my own salad dressings, shakes, malts, smoothies and I make icees with it..though crushing the ice is not as easy as it should be, it either leaves partial ice cubes or crushes it up to a slushy consistency..which in a lot of instances is still OK.

I do not like the colorful rings that come with the mugs for I find that they tend to leak sometimes, so I usually don't even bother to screw them on.

I have heard that the little gasket that  is essential to seal the connection between the blending device and the mug, can loosen up or wear out but I suppose I have been lucky so far for I am still using the original one and I use my blender on a fairly regular bases...maybe just luck on my part.

It takes a bit to get used to it...and to realize the blending mode is  for short term use...I don't have the manual to refer to right now, but I believe you are not supposed to blend with it for longer than 60 at a time as it can cause the motor to stall out or stop.  

The Bullet comes with a second option which I use almost exclusively, which is to simply depress the cup and it will pulse" and blend for you as long as you hold it depressed.  I find for chopping or crunching ice it is better to pulse and to do it in 10 second pulses, which gives the chunk of ice time to settle back down towards the blades...but no matter what I do..if I put the ice in by itself with no liquid, I only get two results...the slush or  it leaves chunks of the ice cubes.

Best results for crunched ice by far, is to find some of the ice trays with the mini cubes in them...if you use the small ice cubes it blends or chops the ice in a more uniform manner.

I like my Bullet but it is certainly not appropriate for large tasks...much better to use it as a personal blender and keep to small tasks.