There’s no avoiding the fact that the new Philips HR3652 is aimed at the healthy, fitness folk among us. And to tell you the truth, that’s not us at TechNuovo. I mean, it comes with a recipe book for smoothies like the Strawberry Red Cabbage with carrot and coconut and the Pineapple Mango with mint. They do look tasty though, so to review this machine, I think I’m going to make one of these.
The recipes are laid out pretty easily too, so you’re not going to get caught up measuring ingredients in cups and the fact that it gives you pieces rather than weight makes a smoothie amateur like myself prosper.
The unit itself stands pretty large, and I found a job to fit it inside a cupboard without taking it all apart so it’ll probably have to live on your worktop in the kitchen, unless you want to set it up each time you use it. It’s not all bad though, aesthetically it looks pretty good. The main body is wrapped in a brushed stainless steel and the actual controls are pretty minimalistic, so overall, a smart looking machine.
The jar itself is big enough to hold around 2L of liquid. In fruit form though, that is much less as the chunks are bigger. Philips state that pieces of fruit and veg you put into the blender shouldn’t be bigger than 2cm x 2cm x 2cm. That’s not large at all, but a little preparation has to go into making the smoothies. The jar is made from solid glass with measurements in ounces or cups on the side. It’s pretty heavy, so don’t drop it.
So once I put the ingredients into the jug, actually blending the food together with the Philips HR3652 was pretty easy. There are three main options that you can choose from as well as a manual control for speed. The first useful preset option is for smaller processes like for example garlic cloves. The second is a smoothie option and the third is to crush ice with intervals between spins. Each option will start when the button is pressed, and will stop with another press of that same program. The manual control is on a rotating knob.
Be warned though. At max speed this machine is loud. It’s probably that 35,000rpm motor that’s inside. It definitely did a good job with grating down even the hardest of foods including the ice. The smoothie I made is pretty smooth. Funny that. But what I mean is there were no unwanted lumps left. The Philips HR3652 made light work of making it runny.
There are four suction cups on the bottom of the machine too, so there’s not too much vibration within the actual unit itself. It makes it easier to stand in place while you’re using the higher speeds. The hole in the top of the blender, which can be plugged if needed, is an easy way to add those extra ingredients that you may forget to stick in during your initial food prep.
I know that things like blenders are pretty alien to TechNuovo, and reviewing this type of product is not like our usual content, but I felt that this machine would be pretty reliable if used on a regular basis. It’s build like a tank and is extremely solid, and even for extended use at full power, it never felt like it was going to break. Nothing about this machine felt flimsy and snappable, which is wonderful when you’ve got 35,000rpm blades flying around inside. The whole thing is pretty pricey, coming in at £160.00 here in the UK, but if you’re a fan of smoothies, or making puree type foods, then I don’t think you can go wrong with this. For more information, you can visit the Philips website.
