NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: A powerful all-rounder that looks the part but feels a bit cheap for the price

NutriBullet made a name for itself with those compact bullet-style blenders that became a household name just over a decade or so ago. They hit the mainstream thanks to them making blending feel quick, simple and accessible, and they've sold millions of them ever since.

However, the company has been pushing into bigger, more capable territory of late, and its newest addition, the SmartSense Blender Combo, is probably the most ambitious thing it's done so far.

Boasting a 2-in-1 setup, the appliance touts a 1,500W base that pairs with either a full-size 1.8-litre pitcher for when you’re blending in bulk, or two smaller personal cups (900ml and 700ml) for knocking up a single serving to grab on your way out. The stand-out feature, however, is the SmartSense auto cycle, which is supposed to detect what you’ve loaded in and what vessel you’re using, then sort out the speed, time and blending function all on its own without you needing to fiddle with lots of buttons.

I’ve been using it daily for the past few weeks to find out whether the “smart” part actually works or if it’s just a gimmick. Here’s how I got on.

NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: price and availability

The NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo is available to buy now from Nutribullet’s official web store in the UK, US and Australia, priced at £149.99 / $164.99 / AU$299.95 RRP.

At the time of writing, I found it on sale for around £129 from retailers like Currys and Robert Dyas. For context, a basic NutriBullet 900 costs around £70 to £90, so the SmartSense is asking quite a bit more. Still, it does undercut premium jug blenders from the likes of Vitamix and Sage while sitting just above Ninja’s entry-level options.

You get a fair amount in the box, too, with the pitcher, two personal cups and two to-go lids all included.

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NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: design and build

One thing you can’t take away from the SmartSense Blender Combo is that it does look pretty good sitting on the kitchen worktop, which is more than can be said for a lot of blenders. The gunmetal grey base has a clean, modern finish that suggests NutriBullet has put some thought into how this thing looks next to your kettle and toaster, and it’s also compact enough that it doesn’t dominate the counter the way some jug blenders tend to.

The controls on the front are lovely and minimal looking, five manual speed buttons, a pulse function, the SmartSense auto cycle button and a small, simple LCD display that shows you what’s going on. I had it all worked out within minutes of taking it out the box, without needing to keep checking the manual, which is exactly what you want from a smart kitchen appliance.

Where I think the SmartSense loses marks, though, is in how it feels in the hand. The 1.8-litre pitcher is entirely made from plastic, and while NutriBullet makes a point of saying it’s BPA-free and durable, there’s no getting around the fact that it feels way cheaper than a glass jug. There’s a lightness and flimsiness to this that you just wouldn’t find in a blender with a proper glass pitcher, and that just doesn’t feel right with the price tag it has. While the personal cups are plastic too, that doesn’t bother me as much since they’re meant for chucking in a bag and taking with you on the go, and to be fair they held up better against staining than I thought they would.

Something I did appreciate, though, is the flip-open spout on the pitcher lid, which lets you pour without having to take the whole lid off and risk getting smoothie juice everywhere (though you’ll notice form my images, I didn’t exactly dodge that). There’s also a food pusher included, which is handy for when thicker blends need a nudge toward the blades. I also loved that everything (apart from the base, obviously) is dishwasher-safe, which is a god-send when it comes to cleaning.

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NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: performance

The SmartSense Blender Combo’s meaty 1,500W motor is where the device really earns its stripes, because this thing has some serious power behind it. Ice gets crushed in seconds, frozen berries disappear almost instantly, and your standard smoothie ingredients come out smooth and creamy without much effort at all.

Over a few weeks of daily use, covering everything from fruit smoothies and frappucinos to frozen berry blends, the results were consistently good and I never felt like the motor was struggling with anything I threw at it.

As for the SmartSense auto cycle feature, this is the function that NutriBullet is banking on to justify the price jump over its simpler models. The idea is that you load your ingredients, hit the SmartSense button, and the blender figures out what’s inside and what vessel you’re using, then handles the speed, duration and function on its own.

For standard smoothie batches, I found it works well and ended up using it most days. Plus, there’s something quite nice about just pressing a button and knowing it’ll blend it to the right consistency (most times) without it needing too much babysitting.

That being said, it’s definitely not perfect. Frozen bananas in particular have a habit of wedging against the sides and just spinning round without actually getting pulled into the blades, which means you end up stopping the cycle, giving things a shake or poking at it with the tamper, then running it again. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it does mean you can’t always just walk away while it does its thing. I found that loading liquid in first and putting frozen stuff on top helps most times, but definitely not all.

I should also mention the noise, because this is a loud blender. While it’s not abnormally loud - especially for something packing 1,500 watts - you certainly won’t want to use it at 6am with someone asleep in the next room.

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NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: verdict

The NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo does what it says on the tin: it blends things, and does so well with a lot of force. The motor handles pretty much anything, the SmartSense auto cycle works well most of the time, and having both a pitcher and personal cups on one base gives it a versatility that a lot of rivals at this price can’t match.

But what I keep coming back to is the build quality. At the price it’s at, I’d expect the pitcher to be glass, and the fact that it’s not makes the whole thing feel cheaper than it should. It’s not poorly made by any means, but it doesn’t feel like a product with this price tag should when you pick it up, and that’s something I just can’t move past. Sorry ‘bout it, Nutribullet!

Nevertheless, if you just want something that blends well, looks decent and has a smart auto mode that does (most of) the thinking for you, the SmartSense is a worthwhile purchase. Maybe just try and grab it on sale so the cheap feel bothers you less?