GSI Outdoors Camp & Outdoor Vortex Blender, 2-Speed Hand-Cranked Blender

If you only put in solids into the blender and no liquids to speak of, IT WILL NOT BLEND. If you put a sizable amount of liquid, for example, milk or water in there, THEN you attempt to blend the solids, it will blend MUCH MUCH EASIER!I tested this by using this recipe:+frozen strawberries/bananas+plain frozen greek yogurt+lactate milk (I'm lactose intolerant) as the "liquid"+1-2 icecubes.Because of the milk I put into it, even though theres a huge amount of frozen everything in that recipe, this blender CAN DO IT! At first I tested the recipe with all the prior listed things, but with only 1 icecube to see what people were on about it "not blending ice". It does. I heard it, drank it, and confirmed that it did in fact blend that icecube into tiny drinkable ice shavings as blenders intended.REMEMBER, there's two "slots" you can put the handcrank in! Off the top of my head, the top slot, is the "low powered mode". Honestly I never use that one and it is really probably just for liquid only things. It any solids are involved, USE THE BOTTOM SLOT!The bottom slot is "high powered mode", in other words, about as powerful as a regular blender mode.One thing that did take me surprise to note however, is that, while in "high powered mode" IT IS AS LOUD as an actual blender! I didn't expect that from a handcranked machine! So if you're expecting this to be quieter than a regular blender, plot twist, its just as loud. (In high powered mode at least)As for something objectively annoying to deal with, on the absolute bottom of the inside of the blender jar mug piece thing, cleaning the food/misc. debris from the area beneath and around the blades is a little bit annoying and slightly difficult. Secondly, the outside of the bottom of the unit, in between the jar mug piece, and the black piece on the bottom, the gap in between those two pieces is big enough to "hold" things like liquid in them. So much like swimmer's ear, the liquid can (only) just drip out while drying it upside down.This blender comes with a thing that holds on to the blender, and "clasps" it to something. Please use that clasp. Please not that it doesn't "click" onto the mug unit. It "hooks" onto it. Once it is "hooked", then you can press the clamp onto a surface so that it is nice and flush, and then you can screw it down so it, well, "clamps" onto the surface.While the high powered mode is powerful, at the end of the day, you will need to put in the effort to blend things. Remember, it goes in both clockwise and counter clockwise directions. So if it gets "jammed", go a bit in the opposite direction, then continue going in whatever direction you'd like. So no your blender didn't "break", it probably just got "jammed". Either that or you didn't put enough liquids in there to allow for the solids to move around in the first place. I don't care if you have to use tap water as a "filler" for additional liquid. Just use something consumable as a liquid so you can actually blend things.I have yet to attempt to make a Oreo milkshake with this blender. I'll make a video if I can, showcasing that it does in fact do what it is supposed to do. Those negative reviews got me paranoid buying this thing, when in reality it was mostly user error. (Which seems to be a given for anything handcrank operated for some reason)It will be awhile until I can however, as my PC doesn't play nice with recording audio. So first I got to get a proper PC, however long that would take! Either way, it will be done when its done.PS: DON'T FORGET TO "LOCK" THE JAR/MUG UNIT INTO THE "BASE". The jar/mud piece's bottom has some plastic pieces that stick out that allows it to "lock" into the metal base. This makes it so that the mug/jar thing doesn't fly off the table(? or whatever surface you're using this thing on). There's a small instruction manual that comes in the box. Its like 4 or so pages long. Please read it for your own sanity and convenience. Manuals tend to tell people about common "issues" and how to "fix them". Its never a bad habit to read a manual of something before you use that something. It doesn't matter how "simple" that product is, just read that shit! I have my moments of idiocy as well. Took me a good while to realize that the clamp didn't "clip/click" into place. It just hooks onto the metal base. So don't worry if there isn't a click, it really does just kind of hook onto the unit. Again, it hooks onto the metal base. The metal base is where all the action is at.PSS: The handcrank also doesn't "click/clip" into place. You just put it onto the desired slot, and physics does the rest. No they won't fall out from proper use. Really though, I tried. I went as fast as I could, even put my whole body into it just for shits and giggles, all that happened is that the clamp and the metal base got slightly misaligned. If you need a exceptional amount of force to blend God knows what, remember to keep an eye on how the base+clamp is aligned so you don't accidentally clip/graze the surface you're working on with the actual handcrank piece! Its not a bad idea to stop blending, and realign the base/clamp should this occur.Anyway, hopefully this insanely (passive-)aggressive review helped clear somethings up about this product!Btw, one neat thing about it is that, even if you have a power outage, you can still use it being how it is handcranked! This of course also means you can take it camping with you, hypothetically speaking. Idk, personal preference. I don't really like how a lot of really simply things rely on electricity. Like standing desks. Just throw a handcrank on it and I'll get to work! Regardless on if I have electricity to work with or not!As for recommendations of other handcrank devices,KTOR sells what is known as a "Pocket Socket". It is basically a outlet that is powered by, well, a handcrank. Great for when you need to charge your phone if literally all other sources of power are not accessible for some reason.Next up, the Rally portable generator. It can be found here.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NGCO30/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1Apparently Rally still sells it but that other listing is listed for around $130 (USD). The one I linked should be unavailable but while it was up, it was about $76.54 (USD). That generator is notorious due to the amount of user error there! Yes I was (passive-)aggressive there as well! In case you wanted to know what you should watch out for in that product as well.Handcranks aren't to be underestimated! Yes they're slow in comparison to strictly electronic only machines/devices, but once its night time with no solar power to speak of, in a desert with no wind, during a power outage, these hankcrank devices really are convenient! Be it, "difficult" to understand apparently. Again, read the manuals on ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, and you'll have no questions.(probably)

I used my new non-electric for the first time last night. It worked spendidly! I like the fact that there are basically two speeds. It blended everything including my frozen fruit very well.The only thing I had a bit of trouble with was placing it on the base. It was difficult at first, and I had to push down fairly hard to get it in line so I could turn the jar so it would lock in place. The little metal cup thing that holds onto the bottom of whatever surface you attach it to came off. I glued it back on.I would buy one again! I just love it. In case of a power outage I know I can always my my smoothies, blend anything. Thank you.

Note: we tried to deliver this email to GSI Outdoors customer service but it failed. We also tried to leave it as a review in their web page... same result.We almost did not buy it because of the awful reviews 😬"Hello,I bought a hand-crank blender through Amazon from you.We have been living off the grid for 3 years now. I must admit we had terribly happy 3 weeks of use of your Vortex blender.After 3 weeks it stopped working and so it left emptiness in our short joy lived with it.We live down in Mexico, so after reading all the warranty info we decided to give it a try ourselves as it would cost us almost the same amount to send it back to you.This is no claim, it is just an advice. I got to open it and find out what the problem was. In my opinion, the "ability" of the blender to turn to both clockwise and counter-clockwise wears off the cog which has cuts to both sides.My suggestion: eliminate this "ability" and keep one direction design and blending so the cog does not wear off, thus loosing all abilities at once.Thank you for the 3 weeks of joy. It was a bit expensive for us, but the shakes was something we had missed for a while.We will save for a new blender and when time come to use it we will only move it to 1 direction.Nice product, keep up the good work and let us know if you perfect any of these aspects soon!Best regards,"

was really excited about this product, but after having it in the same place for less than 6 months the gears have already corroded and it no longer works :'(

I bought this blender for living in an off the grid cabin, ended up loving it more than my plug in blenders now that I am back in civilization. I have a Viking professional and a Nutri bullet gathering dust. I blend lots of frozen fruit, it’s amazing how the gearing allows you to break through the ice. It really is just fun to crank.It’s fairly indestructible, the base fits inside the the blender pitcher, and is less noisy than a regular blender. I have taken it down multiple intense rafting trips and it has not let me down. It’s pretty incredible that you can have blended margaritas in the absolute middle of nowhere.

i love that it can go anywhere and doesn't use electricity. I am a little dissapointed in the quality too many plastic parts for true tailgating and packing. it would be nice if the actual vessel was made out of metal, it would last longer, other than that it blends great and is easy to set up and use!