Braun MX2050 PowerMax Jug Blender

Do not buy!

By Mike D.  May 29, 2008

Pros: Cheep

Cons: Overheats, catches fire!

I must be missing something!
The very first time I used this blender, we were making icy drinks. Before we even got to pouring the rest of the stuff in, it started to overheat and SMOKE! I shut it off and as soon as I could and checked to see how I could get a replacement. I sent it to some local place and 5 days later they sent it back. I thought it was fixed. This holiday weekend we tried it again and the exact same thing happened.
also chose this from Consumer reports page. I will never buy a Braun again. You most certainly get what you pay for.

Great blender, but not built for the long haul

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Apr 30, 2008 | 4 out of 4 found this Braun MX2050 PowerMax Jug review helpful

Pros: Great smoothies, glass blender

Cons: Drive system twisted off after 2 years of use

This blender is a great design as far as getting the job done is concerned. Doesn't suck air into the mixture, and does a great job mixing frozen fruit into a smoothie. It just needs a more robust drive design. We bought one about 3 years ago--the drive cog on the jar lost it's teeth after eight months and it was replaced under warranty. The second one did a little better. It lasted about 24 months, but eventually, the plastic drive piece on the base unit twisted itself off in a smoky haze.

Neither of these blenders were abused--any blender ought to be able to do what we called on them to do. I haven't called the company to see if they will replace (it is out of warranty), but at this point I'm not sure that I want the hassle. On the other hand, if the company doesn't understand the failures, it won't be motivated to fix the design.

Great for Price and Used a lot

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Mar 25, 2008

Pros: Great for Smoothies

Cons: Only lasted about a year...

I purposely chose this blender because Consumer Reports recommended it and I wanted something that I could use at least 3 times a week and not pay a fortune for it. The price was right at $32 at Walmart Online. I used it mainly for smootohies which contained ice and frozen strawberries. It performed perfect and as I needed....for about a little over a year. Then one day I was making my usual smoothie and the blade would not spin. I was crushed (lol). The teeth on the bottom unit were stripped. I was crushed, but I put it to good use. I always keep a spare. I now have Cusinart originally $150 on sale for $39.95 (imagine that) and it does not compare to the Braun. The jar is too wide so the ingredients take a while to get blended. I'll purchase the Braun again as a spare until the Cusinart stops working.

Worked great until the plastic spinner broke

By lisak  Feb 9, 2008 | 5 out of 5 found this Braun MX2050 PowerMax Jug review helpful

Pros: Great for smoothies

Cons: Plastic power drive broke off one by one and now it's totaled

The blender was great for about a year and a half. I knew I was in trouble when some of the plastic teeth on the spinning part broke. This morning the rest broke off. Time to shop again.

Drive Coupling is a weak link

By kelleyp  Nov 26, 2007 | 11 out of 11 found this Braun MX2050 PowerMax Jug review helpful

Pros: High Consumer Reports rating

Cons: Drive coupling fails

I bought on CR rating and it worked great. BUT, the drive coupling - that piece on the blender base that spins and provides power to the blender container - can strip out if you blend anything that provides much resistance. For example, ice or frozen fruit chunks for a smoothie. I have now stripped out the second coupling in less than 4 months. And the screws holding the blender together are tamperproof, so it's pretty tough to fix. Although I bought 2 couplings when it first broke, I can't get it back apart this time, so it's headed for the junk pile. Next blender I get will have a metal coupling.

By Etthan  Jan 25, 2007

By KatyC  Nov 24, 2006

Excellent blender for smoothees

By Carol  Aug 29, 2005 | 31 out of 32 found this Braun MX2050 PowerMax Jug review helpful

Pros: Works better than my Oster or my Vita-Mix for making smoothees. Has a large capacity jug and an uncluttered, easy-to-clean control. Doesn't whip a lot of air into smoothees. Handles thick smoothees quite well.

Cons: The blade assembly came loose and had to be replaced. Fortunately customer service was very good about this and replaced them for free.

I have had my blender for about 6 months and was concerned about some of the issues I had seen regarding the plastic drive teeth breaking that I had seen on other posts, but my son had bought one of these and loved his. I have not been disappointed. Since I have had mine I have pretty much retired my Oster and my Vita-Mix. I use my Braun MX2050 everyday to make smoothees and it performs better than any other blender I have used. I love it. The blades did come loose in the blade assembly but Braun's customer service was very good and replaced them for free. The only thing I really miss is that the blender jar is a unique size and there are interlocks on the base, so you cannot use standard use "mini" blending jars, like the Oster can.