I spent a week with the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 blender — can it beat the original?

Nutribullet is a legend of the blender game. My parents bought theirs when I was a kid, and they still use it today. Despite how many blenders I've offered them over the years, they're perfectly happy with their Nutribullet 900, which also sits in the third spot of my best blender guide.

So while I've got a lot of time for the Nutribullet brand, I was curious to see if the Nutribullet Ultra 1200, the most powerful single-serve blender Nutribullet offers, could outperform my old faithful.

Here's my verdict after spending a week with the Nutribullet Ultra.

Nutribullet Ultra 1200 review: Price and availability

At $164 / £129, the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is quite expensive for a personal blender. But at time of writing, I saw it reduced to $129 / £109 everywhere I looked.

For context, the Nutribullet 600, which we've not tested, is $79 / £69, and the Nutribullet 900, which we gave a 4.5-star review, is $109 / £89.

You may have noticed the eye-catching papaya trim on the model I tested. That's because it's from Nutribullet's collaboration with McLaren F1. Under the hood, it's the same as the regular Ultra.

One regional difference I should address is that the U.K. version of the blender, which I tested, came with two blending cups. In the U.S., you get three, one of which includes a handle.

Nutribullet Ultra 1200 review: Design

The main distinguishing factor between the Ultra and other Nutribullet models is the addition of pre-set controls. My old faithful Nutribullet 900 turns on automatically when you lock the blending cup into place, but the Ultra features a pre-set blending mode and a pulse button.

The buttons are touch-controlled, which feels sleek and makes cleaning easy. They're also backlit, meaning they only light up once your blending cup is secured into the base.

As mentioned, the model I tested came with two blending cups: a 32oz cup and a 24oz cup. If you're in the U.S., you'll also get a 24oz handled cup.

There was also two screw-on to-go lids included with the blender, meaning myself and my partner could each make a morning smoothie and take it into work. I used these lids a lot on my commute, and (thankfully for my laptop) I never had a spill.

The Ultra 1200 is named after the wattage of the base, which comes with suction cups on the base to prevent it slipping around your kitchen counter. A 1200-watt blender is decent, but in my experience, a higher wattage isn't always synonymous with higher performance. When blending single servings, most sub-1000-watt blenders shouldn't feel lacking in power.

Cleaning this blender proved very easy. I never put the blades through the dishwasher (as with any blade, they can be dulled when you do this) but I put the Tritan Renewed blending cups through many times, and they always came out spotless.

Cleaning with a sponge was also straightforward thanks to the crevice-free interior of the blending cups.

More on the blades: Nutribullet calls these the Rapid Extractor Blade, and it's got a stainless-steel platform and titanium coating which is designed to increase longevity and reduce blending time. Each blade comes with a 5-year limited warranty, which is good for a blender of this price.

Nutribullet Ultra 1200 review: Performance

Blending smoothies

I've gone from being a protein shake hater to a full-on convert recently. My personal favorite is a blueberry cheesecake flavor shake with some frozen blueberries, ice and milk thrown in.

I like to use a blender when making my shake, which prevents any nasty powder clumps and liquifies my ice cubes and blueberries into a delicious, weirdly blue drink.

I was expecting this to be the easiest task for the Nutribullet to handle. As a single-serve blender, it should be the sort of morning task the Ultra was engineered to handle. But while some of my shakes came out perfectly, I also encountered lumps of half-blended blueberries in a couple of the shakes I made throughout the week I spent with the NutriBullet Ultra.

It's really not pleasant to encounter an unexpected berry in what should be an entirely clump-free drink, and I was surprised that the Nutribullet missed a few. They were frozen, but they're hardly the trickiest thing I blended throughout the week.

Even in the lump-free shakes, I found that the blueberry skin and seeds were present in the texture of the drink.

This might be because I used the blender's pre-set mode to make my drink, which lasts for 30 seconds. Things would likely have been fine if I'd run the setting twice, but at that point, what's the purpose of a pre-set mode?

Crushing ice

We crush ice in every blender test. It's a good way to gauge how powerful a blender really is, and whether it's capable of breaking through firmer ingredients. I decided to pulse my ice cubes for this test, and found that this setting is a little sluggish.

It's still better than pulsing in the original Nutribullet, which requires you to lock the cup in and out of the base, but the blades were a little slow to respond when I pressed the button.

Despite that, the Ultra made light work of my ice. I was left with a snow-like consistency after just a few pulses, and I didn't need to shake or stir to evenly integrate all my ice cubes.

Chopping guacamole

To push the Nutribullet Ultra further, I made a quick guacamole. Single-serve blenders always struggle with more solid ingredients. The blending cup design is best suited to liquid bases, which can more easily integrate ingredients by creating a vortex that sucks everything in.

So again, I decided to make use of the blender's pulse setting to see if it could tackle cilantro, onion, lime juice, chili and avocado.

It took a few pulses and a bit of tapping on top of the blending cup, but everything was integrated into a relatively smooth (and very tasty) dip after around a minute in the Nutribullet.

After the middling performance on smoothies, I was surprised at how impressive the blender was at mixing tougher recipes. There were no lumps of onion or cilantro, just a smooth dip that I achieved without even having to open up the blending cup and stir the ingredients.

Pureeing tomato

You're not supposed to blend hot ingredients in the Nutribullet, and the brand also recommends that you don't blend for three minutes at a time. But I always make a savory recipe when testing a blender, usually a soup of some kind, so I roasted my tomatoes as usual and then left them to cool completely before putting them in the blender.

I blended this mix for three consecutive 30-second cycles and was left with a smooth and thick consistency. Tomato seeds are usually a nuisance to blend unless have an all-singing, all-dancing model like the Vitamix, but I was pretty happy with the texture of my sauce. It was about the same consistency that I'm able to achieve with an immersion blender.

Nutribullet claims that this is its quietest blender, thanks to "a specialized design that produces lower-frequency sound," according to the company.

I tracked the blender throughout my tests, and it consistently hit 87dB. Yes, that's loud. But it's a little quieter than the 92dB we hit in our Nutribullet Pro 900W review.

Nutribullet Ultra 1200 vs Nutribullet Pro 900

The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is just as good as the Pro 900. It's certainly more convenient to use, on account of the useful pre-set mode and pulse button.

But this improvement comes at a cost, and this increased price doesn't necessarily equate to an increase in blending performance. If you're a smoothie drinker or milkshake maker, I think you'll get on just as well with the Pro 900, at a much lower cost.

For a similar price, you could also buy the Nutribullet Smart Touch, which comes with four auto blend modes, three power levels and pulse settings, a jug, and a single-serve cup. That's a lot more value for money, if you can spare the space.

Nutribullet Ultra 1200 review: Verdict

The Nutribullet Ultra 1200 is a good blender. It's just that Nutribullet makes a lot of great blenders, and almost all of them offer better value for money than the Ultra.

I love the smart and sleek design, and the inclusion of backlit touch controls is a great improvement on the original Nutribullet. The Ultra's pulse button was effective at making crushed ice and guacamole, and while it took a few 30-second cycles, the blender did a decent job of making a (cold) sauce for some pasta. But in terms of blending performance, the elevated wattage didn't result in a better finished product.

There's one user who I think should opt for the Ultra over other Nutribullet models: if you're short on storage and kitchen space but want a powerful and capable single-serve blender, the Ultra would be a good choice. It's especially suited to someone who wants some help in the kitchen but doesn't want to splash out on a food processor.