Back to Basics Smoothie Elite

I have only used my smoothie maker a hand full of times.I thought it was going to be a great product and time saver but I was wrong.The motor is noisy and it has to be stopped and stirred to make a smooth blended drink. It has a hard time breaking up the ice too. The plastic stir stick doesn't seem to reach far enough around the container.The front has a curved spot to put your glass.Then you flip the tap to fill the glass from the spout. Doing it this way, will take awhile to get all the mixture out of the container. It's much quicker to take off the top and pour directly into a glass.The spout leaks all the time, even when you don't have it open and it is difficult to clean. I have found that after using it a few times the plastic container is scratched. Although this product is a good concept, I would recommend a blender instead.