Product Review: Optimum 9200 Blender

Let me start this review by saying the Optimum 9200 is the best blender I have ever owned… and I’ve been through a few of them.

The most memorable blender-blunder was a Breville model I broke with a errant medjool date pit. There was a horrid ‘crunch’ and then ‘pop’ sound and from that point on I had to hold the blender on the base at the right angle or it wouldn’t blend. That was fun. I also had a magic bullet-style blender that was too small, with useless blade systems and a motor that always overloaded right in the middle of making a green smoothie.

I ended up getting quite sick of those inconveniences after a while and bought a whizz-bang stick blender with a million attachments while I decided on a real blender to buy. Most of those attachments sit in a drawer unused so far, though I do use the main attachment to blend my pumpkin soup every week.

The stick blender doesn’t have the power for a truly smooth smoothie or other blended treats and after a lot of research I kept coming back to Froothie, an Australian company selling amazing blenders to rival Vitamix and Blendtec. After some more deliberation I went with the Optimum 9200, a commercial-grade blender with easy push timer button operation. With excellent value for money, a stronger motor than it’s rivals, a 6-blade cutting assembly with the blades and jug designed for both wet and dry ingredients I would never need to use another blender again. This blender even destroys medjool date pits (an accidental addition to a smoothie recently and not a purposeful test, I swear)!

Blending Capabilities

This is the first time I’ve consistently used a blender everyday since I bought it. Sometimes more than once a day.  The long blades you see above allow it to grind up ingredients very quickly, there’s also two little hooked blades underneath those that stop your mixture clumping at the bottom of the jug. This means that the Optimum 9200 easily blends solid food into smooth liquid in no time at all. I’ve made lots of creamy smoothies, non-dairy milks, nut butters and vegetable purees effortlessly in this blender. Similar to the Vitamix, it can also make hot soups in minutes due to the friction caused by the blades and turn cold ingredients into ice-cream or mousse desserts almost instantly.

I tried kneading dough in the blender and unfortunately I did find it was easier by hand, but it the machine did easily grind activated buckwheat groats into flour for baking. I’m not the best bread-maker though, so I’d love to hear if anyone has had great results with in-blender kneading. Making home-made Instant Applesauce however was a breeze and it grinds together the ingredients for raw treats without sticking or jamming.

Ease of Use

The feature I love most of all on this maching is the push button operation – I may have chosen this model over the next one (Optimum 9400) almost solely for this reason. You have the option of ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ or ‘High’ speeds, or from 3 push timer functions that come in handy for smoothie making. I like to use the 35 second command as it starts out on high power to grind through any harder ingredients and then lowers the speed to churn everything together for the creamiest possible smoothie that doesn’t separate no matter how long it takes me to finish my drink. The pulse button is indispensable when blasting saoked nuts, seeds or grains or when you need crushed ice in a hurry.

Cleaning and Storage

I don’t have time/can’t be bothered pulling everything apart after use to clean it up (hence why I don’t do juicing as often as I would like). Luckily with the Optimum 9200 I only have a lid and a jug to wash and with a quick rinse straight after blending everything is clean and sparkling again. The longer you wait after blending to clean though, the more ‘stuck on’ everything becomes – so get stuck into it before you drink that delicious smoothie! There’s even some handy space under the unit for cord storage when the blender isn’t in use (hah! Like that’s ever going to be happening).

Price and Support

I know what you really want to ask, how much does it cost? I was pleasantly surprised when researching blenders, as the Optimum 9200 is around 40% cheaper than the Vitamix I was also considering. At the time of posting the Optimum 9200 is $431 with a 5 year domestic warranty, which I upgraded to a 10-year warranty for $541.The 30-day money back guarantee on the product really gave me the peace of mind to buy and try.

With a support team available 24/7 I have faith that any problems will be dealt with swiftly, while the Optimum blender community on the Froothie Facebook page provides for lots of recipe sharing inspiration. I’m so happy with the product that I regularly contribute recipes to the Facebook page and I’ve also decided to become a distributor for their products.

Notable Things I’ve Blended Up So Far

Just Beet It! Smoothie, Instant Raw Applesauce, High Protein Pineapple & Ginger Popsicles, Fudgy Cherry Date Truffles, Canteloupe & Carrot Creamsicle, Raw Mango Lassi, Hydrating Honeydew & Fig Smoothie, Green Cacao EFA Bomb Smoothie, Banish Back Pain Smoothie, Super Berry Protein Shake.