Update: 4/12/10 - Second check: chopped nuts fine, made a smoothie fine, couldn't make cookie dough - not grabbing dough - says I need to pulse 3-4 times and it actually needed a lot more. The motor seized twice and I finally had to move it with a spoon. It overheats fast. Not enough torque and too much speed. Shredding onions with the shredding disk was an abject failure. It sliced carrots and celery just fine. It was good with a tapenade.
Ultimately I brought this one back in and picked up a Cuisinart - does all that this machine does and does dough which was important to me. The only thing missing is a juicer which I already have.
Wanted: a food processor to replace my old Oster. Must be small enough to store reasonably, powerful enough to process dough, versatile enough to chop nuts or make tapenade and safe enough to work with.
Yes, perhaps I found those items in the Bullet Express Meal Maker (BEMM)...time will tell. I originally was going to just get a GE food processor with the same motor rating at 500 watts, but I saw the other capabilities of this machine (juicer, processor and shredder/slicer) and purchased it. I picked up the BEMM yesterday kind of on a whim at Costco - saved some shipping costs - $99 there. And, after reading all the great reviews here, I decided I needed to take it for a starting test spin. Especially since some of the reviews were pretty devastating to the product. However, I'm finding the BEMM useful, and functional. I've found myself depending on others' reviews more and more. I've never written one before, but I like the in-depth ones, so that's what I did with this one.
In opening the box, I discovered that the base of the machine is very solid - no tipping here. Lots of parts, but I've been around a kitchen for years and could see how everything worked. I washed all the parts first, which was very easy. The plastic parts are light, but seem tough. I suppose if you dropped one of them, they would break...but so would most food processor top pieces since I've never seen one that's not plastic.
I have some products with which to compare this. A Juiceman that I've used for years for juicing, my parents donated 1990 (or so) Oster food processor/shredder/slicer/blender/mixer/ice cream maker. As you can see, the Oster has a lot of attachments and I've been happy with the Oster until the motor gave out. My old juicer still works fine - with some significant drawbacks that the BEMM fixed.
So, I put all the pieces together and ran them without product just to get a feel. Everything worked fine - processor, juicer and slicer spun. I noticed that if you push down to hard on the juicer, it can rub plastic on plastic. Push the juicer filter down firmly, but don't over push. And, if it doesn't run, or makes a sound, you might need to refit the pieces and ease up on the pressure. Everything else was perfectly aligned. On speeds, fast is very fast and unnecessary for most applications. Slow starts out a little faster and then slows to a constant speed - must have a governor to get it up to speed quickly. Pulse works the best out of the three speed selections.
THE JUICER. I put the parts together and noticed the fastenings were secure (unlike what others reviewed). They act just like my Juiceman, locking down the top. I definitely am not worried about it coming loose. The motor won't work without the locks secured. Even better is the fact that the exit chute is fully covered - no mash sent throughout the kitchen! That was a problem with my Juiceman. So, now, add in a couple of apples and strawberries. The chute is large (3 inch diameter) and I can cut an apple just in half and it feeds easily. I had to cut things in fourths with the Juiceman. The person who reviewed and complained about the plunger not reaching the bottom...give me a break. That person didn't use the right plunger - there's one for the juicer and one for the shredder/slicer. The slicer one is...about 2 inches shorter. So, the fruit went in, didn't bounce as much as the Juiceman - again, no spray back up. The plunger pressed down fine. The mash was dryer and there was more juice than my Juiceman. Advantage BEMM. Finally, it disassembled down fine, there was very little juice in the piece below the filter and cleanup was quick and easy - took all of about 1 1/2 minutes. I used the brush on the filter. PROS: large chute, better fruit juicing, secure clamps, covered waste pulp container, no spray back, and easy cleanup. CONS: I can't think of any. ADDL TESTING planned: carrots, oranges, strawberries and lots of apples. Grade: A+
THE SLICER/SHREDDER: Shredder blade up, machine locked down and secure. I knew veggies would shred just fine, but since I'm putting the machine through its paces...time for some cheese - not super hard like a Parmesan (although I'll probably try that today), but a sharp Tillamook cheddar. 1/3 pound was shredded quickly. This was a pretty big chunk and the processor again has a good sized chute (2 ½ in diameter). As a previous reviewer has mentioned, the motor has a lot of power even on LOW and tended to throw some cheese. So, at about halfway through the cheese, I switched from the recommended LOW setting to PULSE to see if I could control the cheese shooting better. And, PULSE did work better - didn't get up enough speed to throw food as much. I probably had about a tablespoon of cheese on the table - I could still use it as the table was clean. I suggest using a higher sided bowl, or putting a bowl higher up when shredding. Upon taking apart, I looked for food remnants that are left in the chute/under the blade, etc. Not a lot of remnants - maybe a teaspoon. So, less cleanup. Cleanup went quickly again - careful with the blades - they're sharp! So, time to flip the blade. I switched to the slicer blade. I make sweet potato slice fries, and potatoes au Gratin so in with a potato. Regular one - I'll try a sweet potato tomorrow. Potato was sliced fine - gave me slices about 1/16-3/16 inch in height, not paper thin as a previous reviewer has said. These slices will work perfectly for frying. As expected, easier clean up than with the cheese. PROS: handled some more difficult product in the kitchen, shredded/sliced quickly, good power with no slow down when food gets pushed through, good slice thickness. CONS: too much power on LOW with a tendency to throw food - should have longer output chute. ADDL TESTING planned: - stew vegetables and shredded cabbage. Grade: C
THE PROCESSOR: Ok, time for the real reason I purchased this three-in-one. And...the most difficult chore I can imagine for a food processor...dough. If it can handle dough, it'll easily chop nuts, make tapenade or hummus, chop vegetables, etc, etc. I decided to follow their pizza dough recipe. Flour, salt, sugar, yeast all mixed up fine as expected of a powdery consistency. I warmed up the milk and butter on the stove and realized the chute for the processor was a little small to easily pour in (oval: 2 in by 1 1/4 in). This is worrisome, but not overwhelming. I simply poured the milk into a pouring cup and added the milk. Dough was mixing fine on low. Now, the directions said add ¼ cup flour back in at a time. Here's where the chute becomes an issue. Either you have to use a funnel to get the flour in there, or you have to open up the top which is more difficult than some food processors I've seen. This is because the top has arms that stick down that allow it to be locked into position from the bottom arms. So, I used a funnel and started adding ¼ cup flour. And, it was continuing to mix fine and starting to pull away from the walls. I added ¼ cup more and kept mixing and that is when I ran into my second problem: the motor gave out. Uh, oh. So, I hit pulse and stopped it. Tried hitting low again and...nothing. I checked the circuit for power and it was fine. So, I decided to wait a little bit and do a couple troubleshooting steps. I figured I may have overheated the motor, but I was getting real worried that the other reviews on the motor power may have been right. I opened up the top and felt the dough - it was just the right consistency. I moved the dough around a little to get some of it back off the blade. So, a minute or two passed, I plugged it back in and hit pulse - yes, working again. I'm not sure at this point if the motor just wasn't strong enough to overcome the sticky dough or if the motor overheated. Because the dough was ready for kneading, I really think the motor just hit the end point of its power. Also, I think the recipe directions are off. Am I concerned about the processor? Not really too much except long-term to see if it holds out. I make dough about once every two weeks and I figure I've troubleshot this thing and I can easily do the right steps to make sure More to come as I plan on doing some more dough today - cookie dough. Finally, in removing the top and then putting it back on, I noticed that some dough had risen into a small cylinder on the cover. So, onto cleanup. Again, very easy overall although that little cylinder was a pain to get clean - lots of water, a toothpick (didn't work), and finally soaking (did work) got the job done. Also, the body of the processor has tiny nubs at the bottom that pick up some stuff and take a little longer to clean than a smooth bottom would. The nubs may be supporting structure and possibly assist with pushing food back up and in - a problem with a lot of food processors is stuff getting stuck on the outside and not being pulled back in so that part of your ingredients are mush and part are barely chopped. The other drawback on cleanup was it was somewhat difficult to remove the blade the first time - had to figure out the right spot to apply pressure to remove it. After that, it's easy to remove. I don't think it'll be a problem for weaker people - just tough to figure out the right spot and trying not to bend the blade. PROS: handled dough with some troubleshooting, large container - can probably handle 3-4 cups of flour with liquid (more with non dough type ingredients), two solid, sharp blades. CONS: chute to small, opening it difficult to keep adding ingredients, small cylinder on cover can catch food (especially dough), blade thickness and length (for stability), difficulty removing the blade. ADDL TESTING planned: cookie dough, tapenade, nuts Grade: C-
BIGGEST LESSON: Stick with PULSE for the slicer/shredder and processor. You definitely won't accidentally overheat the motor; you can control processing speeds and timing.
Overall:
CON's: Too much speed for many applications, some difficulty with processor (blade, motor, chute size, cleaning), not the best processor, only three speeds (high, low, pulse).
PRO's: Juicer and shredder/slicer are top-notch, three in one, secure base, 500 Watt power similar to many other processors/slicer/juicers, versatility, less kitchen utensils, and not a unitasker kitchen gadget (hat tip to Alton Brown), chute size for juicer and slicer.
Overall grade: C
Writing this review has helped me assess whether or not I will keep this product. Ultimately, the only add-on was the juicer and there are likely better products out there that may be cheaper without the juicer. I have a juicer already...I just need a food processor and slicer/shredder. So, I may take this back and get something different. But I will keep it for at least a few days.
(23 customers reviews)
Customers Rating=2.0 / 5.0
More Detail For The Bullet Express System W Bonus Juicer Express
- Make any full family meal ready to HEAT or EAT in just 8 minutes!
- Slice, shred, mix, blend, chop, mince, crush and juice all in one machine!
- The Meal Maker Express attachment
- The Meal Mixer Express attachment
- Bonus Juicer Express included
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