Nutri Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-IQ Review: BL640/BL642

The Nutri Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-IQ is a quality product and easy to use. Most importantly, it blends with enough power and is reliable.

The blender is not designed to heat up liquid or make nut butter. Compared to most other blenders, it’s difficult to find many negatives which is why I rated it 9.0 out of ten.

As a Certified Health Coach and someone who consumes a lot of healthy foods, I use a blender often to research for my job and to make smoothies. Less powerful blenders aren’t as efficient and don’t last long. The Ninja blender is one of two blenders I own, use and recommend.

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Nutri Ninja Duo BL640/BL642 with Auto-IQ Full Review

At the time of this review, I’ve been using the Nutri Ninja Duo BL640 for approximately two years. It’s not a product I bought or borrowed for this review, I use it regularly.

The blender pictures are taken of my machine at home and are not from the Ninja website or a seller’s advertisement. Not many blender reviews can say that.

I have much to cover, so let’s get on with the review.

The Ninja Company

The Company is located in the United States, in the State of Massachusetts. They have been in business since 1994, 28 years. They started manufacturing kitchen system and appliances 14 years ago.

They have rapidly carved out a significant market share of the kitchen appliance business including blenders. Their powerful Ninja blenders offer quality at an affordable price.

The Nutri Ninja Blender Duo BL640 series is a more affordable alternative to the Professional Plus series.

What’s Included

The following is what’s included in the Nutri Ninja box:

• The motor base with the attached power chord.
• 72-ounce pitcher with locking lid.
• The main 6 blade shaft for the 72-ounce pitcher.
• 18 ounce Nutri Ninja cup with a lid.
• 24 ounce Nutri Ninja cup with a lid.
• 32 ounce Nutri Ninja cup with a lid.
• Pro extractor blade assembly for the Nutri cups.
• 75+ recipe booklet.
• Instruction manual.

What Can Be Made with It

• Smoothies
• Juices
• Infused teas and waters
• Soups
• Sauces
• Entrees
• Desserts

My favorite feature by far is the smoothies which I make by adding frozen fruit instead of ice. This increases the nutrient density of the smoothie. It handles the frozen fruit or ice with ease.

My second favorite is making juices. The blender is not a juicer but adding water or juice and vegetables and/or fruit results in some great juices.

My third favorite is making some of the soups from the recipe booklet using the puree feature.

How To Make Recipes

Many of you probably have your own favorite smoothie recipe in your heads. Sometimes I go with the flow and make a smoothie out of whatever I have left in the refrigerator and freezer. The 75+ recipe booklet has many great ideas.

The Nutri Ninja recipe booklet is broken down into 7 sections, 6 sections of recipes including:

1. Juices and smoothies
2. Infused teas and waters
3. Breakfasts
4. Soups, sauces & Entrees
5. Entertaining
6. Desserts

The 7th section, in the beginning of the recipe booklet, explains how to do the following:

• Cup conversion guide – For example:
  • How to convert a small 18-ounce cup recipe to a 32-ounce multi serve recipe.
• An explanation of the different blender buttons and which to use with cup sizes or recipes.
• Suggestions for food, seasoning and flavor combos.
• Meal swaps and substitutions – For example:
  • Instead of milk use 1%, nonfat or almond milk.
  • Instead of bacon use Canadian, turkey, smoked or lean prosciutto.

How about nut butter?

The recipe booklet doesn’t mention nut butter like peanut butter, almond butter and cashew butter. Therefore, many people ask, can it be used to make nut butter?

The Ninja Blender Duo can be used for nut butter. Just add the nuts and turn on the blender. It will have to be paused 3/4 of the way through to push down some small peanut pieces stuck to the side of the pitcher. Use a plastic, flexible spatula.

Cons

The blade system is not designed to make nut butter and why it’s not mentioned in the booklet. Therefore, make nut butter at your own risk but I’ve made nut butter numerous times and it works okay.

It takes longer than a Vitamix which is designed for nut butter. The Ninja may take approximately 6 minutes while the Vitamix will take about one minute. I also have a Vitamix blender which I reviewed here.

The blender will not make soups hot from cold ingredients.

Con of the recipe book. Id rather have a spiral bound book so the pages stay open while I’m following a recipe.

Motor Power

A powerful motor may be the most important feature. Without one, a blender is not worth buying. It comes with a 1200 watt, 2 horsepower motor.

This motor is powerful enough to handle all your crushing and mixing needs. It’s the powerful motor which separates it from less expensive options.

It’s a really high performance blender for the money which is needed for crushing power and durability.

It has an overheating feature which will turn the blender off when it senses the motor is getting warm under heavy loads. In the two years I’ve had this Nutri Ninja Blender, the feature has not activated yet.

Even though, it’s nice to know it will shut off when needed instead of overheating and ruining the motor.

Stainless Steel Blades and Total Crushing Technology

The Ninja blender has total crushing technology which combines the power of the motor with the blades that pulverize and crush through ice or whole fruit in seconds.

The main blade shaft has three tiers of 6 blades. The blade shaft easily lifts off its mount to remove it from the blender. Just lift the blade shaft up or back down to return it to the pitcher.

The blade attachment for the cups is the pro extractor blades. The blades combined with the cups provide complete juice benefits. Traditional juicers extract the juice, and the pulp is discarded. By using the cups and extractor blades, the whole fruit turns to juice.

The blades are made of high-quality stainless steel. They are rust proof and dishwasher safe.

The High Capacity Pitcher or Jar

The pitcher is:

• 72 ounces
• Made of BPA-Free plastic.
• Lightweight and easy to clean.

The pitcher is placed down on the base diagonally and then twisted clockwise locking it in place, you will hear it click. The blender will not operate unless its locked in place. The power light on the on/off button will stop blinking when the pitcher is secured.

Ninja Cups

Three Ninja cups are included:

• 18-ounce
• 24-ounce
• 32-ounce

Each cup which is also BPA-Free, comes with a screw on travel lid and spout. Each cup can be used for blending instead of using the large pitcher.

The extraction blade base attaches to each cup and then to the blender duo base. Line up the tabs with the slots in the base, press down and rotate it clockwise securing the cup in place.

The cups can be used to make:

• Excellent for single-serve smoothies
• Juice
• Salad dressings
• Sauces
• Dips
• Frozen desserts and more (check the recipe book for everything else which can be made)

The Ninja cups are designed to be taken on the go and fit in most car cup holders.

Locking Lid

The lid for the 72-ounce pitcher has a lever which must be pressed down and clicked closed. For safety, the motor will not turn on unless the lid is secured in place. Once secured the power light on the on/off button will stop blinking.

Since the middle blade shaft has blades higher up in the pitcher than traditional blenders, this feature is important.

The lid also has a clear plastic lid cover which can be popped open allowing the contents to be poured into a glass without removing the lid. In addition, the spout is drip free. While using the Blender Duo, additional ingredients can be added through the spout.

The bottom of the lid secures the top of the blade shaft.

Whenever pouring the contents from the pitcher without the lid in place, always remove the blade shaft first. Without the lid locked in place, the shaft may lift and fall out of the pitcher when pouring. Its always best to pour with the lid locked in place.

The following video demonstrates how to use the blender.

Ninja Auto-IQ Technology

Auto-IQ is one touch buttons which activate intelligent programs designed specifically for each size jar attachment. The programs combine unique timed pulsing, blending and pausing patterns.

For example, when making a smoothie containing ice. Press the frozen drink smoothie button for the 72-ounce pitcher, or the Nutri Ninja ultra blend button for one of the cups, the program will start, pause, pulse and stop on its own.

The timer will turn on and count down how much time is left in the program.

Don’t worry about pressing the wrong button because the Ninja Auto-IQ blender detects which pitcher or cup is attached and will only light up the buttons which can be used for that attachment. Even if you press an unlit button, it won’t activate the motor.

Auto-IQ can also be activated for puree or pulse by pressing those particular buttons on the front control panel.

Auto IQ makes a fine smoothie with minimal effort on your part.

Blender Duo Front Panel Control Buttons

The front control panel has nine buttons and the digital display.

• Choose which button suits your needs and press it to start the blender or program.
• If an Auto-IQ button is selected the program will automatically stop when finished.
• To pause the blender, press the chosen button again which will pause the motor. When paused the light on the button will flash until it’s pressed again to resume.
• To stop the blending, press the power button to turn off the motor.
• The IQ buttons will start a program and stop automatically.
• The low, medium and high buttons start the blending at the desired speed.

The Motor Base Suction Cups

The bottom of the Blender Duo motor base has four suction cups, one in each corner.

• Place the motor base down on a dry, clean, level surface.
• Press down slightly making sure the suction cups adhere to the surface.
• This helps keep the base from shifting and lessens vibration.

Usability

The Ninja Nutri Duo is very simple and easy to use. At first the nine buttons look overwhelming, but it’s really not. Five of them are blender speed, pulse and on/off. The other four are for the IQ programs.

• The blender container is easy to clean. Always remove the blade shaft first and be careful handling the shaft as the blades are very sharp.
• The cups, pitcher, blades and lids are dishwasher safe. It is recommended to use the top rack.
• Use a damp cloth to clean the base and control panel.

The height of the base and pitcher combined will fit under most standard size cabinets on the countertop. Therefore, it can be positioned to the rear of the counter and out of the way when not in use.

Ninja Blender Durability

The powerful blender Ninja motor is less prone to overheating.

The control buttons are sturdy with well-built mechanisms.

The gears that transfer the power from the motor base to the blades are not made of steel. They appear to be some kind of hardened plastic.

When the pitcher or cups are locked in place, the gears don’t seem to have a way to slip due to the deep grooves.

Con

Hardened gear attachment material is not steel. The Vitamix blender I use at home and also recommend has a steel gear which I prefer.

Optional Accessories

Some people who purchase the blender like adding the following accessories:

• 48-ounce Nutri cup attachment with side handle.
• A coffee and spice grinder attachment.

Warranty

The blender comes with a 1-year limited warranty.

Compared to Other Blenders

The Ninja IQ blender has a similar design and performance to other Ninja blenders. It comes with more cups and the largest size pitcher available.

It has all the versatility needed with Auto IQ which some of the other blenders don’t include. If you want to blend hot ingredients, you may want to check out my other blender, Vitamix Blender review.

• Condition: Excellent
• Durability: Nothing has broken, and I haven’t replaced any parts.
• Motor: Has not overheated once.

I’ve had other more affordable blenders in the past and the Ninja Nutri Duo is worth the extra money. The more affordable blenders won’t hold up to ice or frozen fruit. This one won’t jam or overheat like those others. It’s held up reasonably well.

When reviewing a product or asking people I know about theirs, I always ask a particular question. If you could travel back in time, would you buy this blender again, knowing what you know now? My answer is yes!

Disclaimer: Some links in this article are affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate and eBay partner I earn from qualifying purchases.

If the Ninja Nutri Duo BL640/642 is unavailable new on Amazon, you may find it on Ebay.

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( The video above is a demonstration of the Ninja Nutri Duo using the Auto-IQ technology with the 32 ounce cup )

Article Resources¹²³⁴

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1. Ninja: BL640 Series Nutri Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ – FAQs [↩]
2. Ninja: About Ninja [↩]
3. Ninja: Replacement parts & accessories [↩]
4. Ninja: our company [↩]