Viking Hand Blender with Bonus Chopper Review

Viking is a name that most people associate with quality.  Everyone has heard of the famous “Viking Stoves” and it should be no surprise to anyone living in the current century (20xx) that they are making some pretty nifty Kitchen products as well.  The problem with Viking is the cost of the item doesn’t necessarily match the value given…

Now take this Viking Hand Blender with Bonus Chopper for example.  You can get a hand blender at Walmart for less than 20 bucks.  You can get one with a case for $30  Hand blenders are not rocket science and using them is pretty task specific.  Quick blends, easy chops (if you have a chopper attachment), shakes, drinks, hell even pancake batter.  They are pretty versatile.

So what’s the big deal right?  Well for one thing, the Viking Hand Blender is $120 bucks.  Now you are thinking wow that’s a lot of money, but this thing has to have a lot of power… a lot more power than the $20 Hamilton Beach hand blender at Walmart right?

Well yeah… and no…   At $120 Hamilton Beach gets you 6 blenders with a combined total power of 1200 watts of power.  At Viking you get 300 watts.  That’s only 100 watts more powerful then the Hamilton Beach version, and considering you save $100 getting the Hamilton Beach Hand Blender I’m not seeing the reason to roll with Viking yet…

Even if you factor in the “Bonus” Chopper (Bonus does imply free, so you really shouldn’t be factoring it in) it still isn’t weighing out right in the price department…

So let’s take a look:

With the $120 Viking you get:

• hand held blender
• wire whisk attachment
• blender attachment
• food chopper
• 35 oz. measuring beaker.

With the $20 Hamilton Beach you get:

• Drink Mixer
• Whisk Attachment
• Hand held blender

Another thing to consider is the Viking is made of stainless steel while the Hamilton Beach version is made of plastic.  Both hand blenders have 2 speed control, and you are able to pulse with them…

So I guess it comes down to power… right?  Because I know I’m not going to pay $100 for a free food chopper I’m going to misplace in the first month, and a 35oz measuring beaker.  So the extra 100 watts (the Hamilton Beach is 200 watts, the Viking is 300)…

It took the Viking Hand Blender 6 seconds less to pulverize a stainless steel cup full of ice for a smoothie… 6 seconds less than the Hamilton Beach Hand Blender.  So that extra 100 watts gives you an extra 6 seconds of your life back when you are making a smoothie.  So if you get paid $100 an hour… you’ll pay for the difference in hand blenders in time saved in… what… 10 years?  After all… even if you blend every day are you really going to be able to justify an extra $100 for a hand blender you use for a minute a day?

The moral of the story is this: If you are the type of person that doesn’t like Starbucks more than your local coffee house, but goes there anyway so you can carry around a mug that says “Starbucks” and look good… then you will want one of these Viking Hand Blenders.  You’ll probably never use it, but when your friends show up, you’ll pull it out, make some wonderful smoothies with it, waiting for someone to mention “Wow that’s a viking?”.  The problem is at the end of the day it is just a hand blender and I doubt anyone will notice.  Save your $100 and get a Hamilton Beach at Walmart.  Even if it breaks every 2 years, it will take 12 years to get even with your 1 Viking purchase, and by then it will look pretty beat up anyway.

5 stars for the Viking on performance.  Subtract 3 stars for overpricing in a bad economy and you have a 2 star ranking.