I tested the first-ever diagonal blade blender and it turned a raw carrot into juice instantly – but is it worth the $400 splurge?
Here's my slant on the Tiger Diagonal Blade Blender
I really wanted to rate this five stars, as there is so much to love about the Tiger blender. It's slender and sleek, with a unique angled blade that can blitz tough ingredients into a fine pulp. I just wish it could handle hot ingredients and crush ice without liquid; then it would be worth that premium price tag.
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Classy, compact design
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Lightweight
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Effortless to use
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11 speed settings
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Blends hard ingredients like raw carrot and apple
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Pretty quiet
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Easy to clean & dishwasher-safe
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Can't handle hot ingredients
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Can't crush ice without liquid
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Wide-mouth pitcher
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No preset programs
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Just too expensive for what it is
You can trust Homes & Gardens.
As a seasoned product tester who has tested so many best-selling blenders on the market through their paces, I rarely come across something that truly breaks the mold. Most blenders fall into familiar categories – large countertop models, compact bullet blenders, and cordless portables. While they may differ in features or aesthetics, many of the best blenders have the same core designs.
Then, I heard about the Tiger Blender. From its unique lid to its curved, unconventional shape, everything about it felt different. But the real game-changer? A diagonal blade inside the pitcher – moving up and down like a sharp kitchen knife, rather than the typical horizontal spin.
I couldn’t wait to put it to the test. Was this innovative blade a genuine breakthrough or just a flashy gimmick? The results were astonishing. It delivers exceptional performance – but at $400, is it worth the splurge? Here’s what I found in my test kitchen and why I think this blender is impressive, but best bought on sale.
Specifications
Colors: | Black |
Type: | Countertop blender |
Weight: | 9 lbs |
Capacity: | 1 liter / 32 ounces |
Speed settings: | 11 speeds |
Material: | BPA-free plastic |
Dimensions | 12.9"D x 6.7"W x 13.8"H |
Motor | 120 volts |
Design
In terms of aesthetics, it's a very nice piece of kit. It's slender on the counter, lightweight, and easy to move around. I love the smooth, curved edges. The small blending jug slides into a shiny stainless steel frame, then the lid slots on top and locks into place. This is a thoughtful touch, as many blender lids can be really stiff and hard to remove. The Tiger blender lid also has a double-locking feature, ensuring that your kale smoothie won't end up on the ceiling. However, this does mean you can't easily add ingredients midway through the blend.
Inside the pitcher, you'll see the blade is on a 45-degree diagonal angle. This is totally unique, and Tiger say it blends upwards and downwards, allowing larger pieces of frozen fruit to get evenly blended. I loved the simple, analog dial on the front of the motor, which you can twist to adjust the speed of your blend. It's not a fancy touchscreen, but it's incredibly intuitive to use.
I was disappointed by the lack of accessories, especially given the high price point. Other brands I've tested include travel cups, sealable lids, straws, and tampers – which are always nice to have. I was keen to see if the blending performance made up for this.
Blending performance
The Tiger blender was astonishingly powerful and quick to blitz, blend, and puree my ingredients. Here's how it performed on my standardized tests.
Test 1: Berry breakfast smoothie
My first test is a challenging blend of frozen blueberries, strawberries, jumbo oats, chia seeds, protein powder, yogurt, banana, and milk. I also added an extra tricky ingredient this time: a whole Medjool date.
There aren't any automatic programs to choose from, so I selected a high speed setting and the blender got to work. I was impressed by the noise level, which never surpassed 88 decibels. Even high-end blenders by Vitamix get to around 97 decibels on this smoothie test, so the Tiger blender is ahead of the curve here.
On the taste test, my berry smoothie was smooth and silky. There wasn't a grain of protein powder, oat, or even date in my blend. A brilliant first performance.
One small irritation: the wide-mouth blender pitcher. As you can see in the picture above, the Tiger blender doesn't have a typical jug design, which makes it more difficult to pour accurately. It wasn't a massive problem, but I didn't love it.
Test 2: Kale & pea soup
I was slightly confused about whether the Tiger blender could handle hot ingredients. When I referred to the manual, every soup recipe instructed me to let the ingredients cool before adding to the pitcher. Then I read: 'Do not insert hot ingredients or hot water into the container.'
So, I followed suit, simmering some onions and curly kale, then waiting a good 5-10 minutes to let them cool down. This was slightly annoying, as I didn't have any other tasks to get on with. Most other blenders around the $400 mark can handle hot ingredients and even heat them up from raw, using high-speed blade friction.
The texture of my soup was so smooth and silky, that I almost felt inclined to forgive and forget. I had added frozen peas and frozen garlic too, which totally disappeared into the creamy blend. It was lovely, but just not quite up to scratch for this price range
Test 3: Carrot, ginger & apple juice
Juice is not usually something I test in blenders, but I read in the instructions manual that the Tiger Blender could handle it. I followed their recipe, adding chunks of peeled carrot, apple, frozen ginger, some honey, water, and a handful of ice cubes to the pitcher (this blender can blend ice when accompanied by liquid, but it can't crush dry ice into powder).
I selected a high speed setting and was astonished as the sharp blades pulverized the raw carrot into a bright orange juice. On the taste test, the juice was a bit pulpy and would definitely benefit from a straining instruction in the final step. That said, there wasn't a single, large chunk of carrot or apple floating in the juice. It was consistent and thoroughly blended, which is so impressive.
Test 4: Hummus
Finally, the dips and dressings test. I was already confident that this blender could handle hard ingredients, but I wanted to see how it performed on drier dips.
I added garbanzo beans, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of frozen garlic, then used the pulse blend to get things moving. Again, I was really impressed by the power and thorough motion of the diagonal blade. At a certain point, the hummus started to get a bit stuck, so I added a drop more olive oil to loosen things up.
In the end, I had a large batch of velvety, delicious hummus. Where some bullet blenders have failed on this test in the past, Tiger's unique blade design passed with flying colors.
Cleaning, storage & maintenance
The angled blade is positioned at quite a height, which ensures that pesky lumps of carrot or chickpea don't become wedged in at the bottom. This made it very easy to hand wash, with plenty of space to gently slide the sponge around the blade without risking cuts or scrapes. The Tiger blender is also dishwasher-safe, which makes things very easy if you're in a rush after making that morning smoothie.
In terms of storage and maintenance, the Tiger blender is a dream. It's not very wide or tall, so you can easily slide it away into a cupboard or shelf. This is one of the big plus points, if you're looking for exceptional quality in a small size. It would really suit petite, city apartments or beach houses.
How does it compare?
If you just want a small blender for morning smoothies and protein shakes, you might want to opt for a cheaper bullet blender instead. Bullet blenders don't excel on dips and drier ingredients (I certainly wouldn't trust them to blend a carrot) but they're much cheaper than the Tiger blender. Plus, they often come with travel lids for portability which adds extra value. If that sounds up your street, have a look at the Nutribullet Ultra, which is the best you can buy for super smooth drinks and around $150 on Amazon.
If you are willing to pay $400 for a blender, you'll want to consider the versatile Vitamix Explorian E310 which is around the same price as the Tiger blender, but has more bang for your buck. It can go the extra mile by crushing ice and turning cold ingredients into hot soup, with classic Vitamix power and a large pitcher for big batches.
What do customer reviews say?
The Tiger blender only came out in April 2024 and it hasn't amassed many customer reviews. On Amazon, it's averaging 4.5 stars with customers enjoying the sleek design and easy-to-use controls. They love how compact it is, praising the fact they can get high power on a relatively small machine. Many customers have shared pictures of their super smooth soups and smoothies.
However, some reviewers didn't like the wide-mouth pitcher and complained about needing a funnel to pour into narrow-neck bottles. A few customers also thought it was too pricey for what it delivers – and I'm inclined to agree.
Should you buy it?
If this blender was around $200, I'd say absolutely go for it. It's compact, good-looking, and ultra powerful, with the ability to make perfect drinks and dips. However, it doesn't go the extra mile by crushing ice or handling piping hot ingredients and therefore, I'm not entirely sure it's worth the steep $400 price tag. If you've got money to burn, go for it, otherwise you'll be better off looking at a more versatile Vitamix or simple and effective, cheap bullet blender.
How we test blenders
We have a meticulous and rigorous process for how we test blenders.
Smoothies: For the first round of testing, we stick to a classic breakfast smoothie – making sure it's packed with challenging ingredients. We start with frozen berries to see how a blender can cope with frozen textures, tough skin, and seeds. We then add frozen banana halves to see whether it can break down larger frozen solids. Then, we add jumbo oats and gritty chia seeds. Finally, we add my favorite tricky ingredients: protein powder and creatine, because these powdery textures can easily add unappetizing grit to a smoothie.
Soups: We like to make root vegetable soups when testing blenders, since they have a fibrous, starchy texture. The ingredients we choose will depend on the season, but they can range from butternut squash to artichokes and beets. Of course, there will also be onion and garlic. We also like to add bright spices (like turmeric) to test whether they stain the pitcher. The pass/fail criteria here are simple. The blender should fully incorporate every ingredient into a single liquid with no lumps or grittiness. If the blender claims to make hot soup, the resulting soup must be piping hot.
Ice: Next, we check if a blender can crush ice - and not all of them are suitable for this task. However, a powerful, premium blender will be able to mist ice cubes into fine white powder and some portable blenders can even do a half-decent job. If a blender can't handle ice, then it can't earn a perfect score.
Dips & Dressings: Technically, food processors are much better suited to making dips and sauces than blenders. Blenders are for liquids, not sauces, and their small blades aren't as thorough at mixing and emulsifying as food processors. That said, plenty of blenders market themselves as being able to make homemade dips and sauces - so we have to try it. Some of them really excel, making creamy hummus and delicious pestos.
Extras: We then test for any other extras advertised by the blender, such as frozen smoothie bowls, nut butters and plant milks.
Design & decibels: A blender will score extra points in our tests if it looks beautiful and operates quietly. We monitor the decibel levels on every test. We're conscious that you're looking for quiet blenders that don't wake up your family, disturb your neighbors – or simply whirr quietly to calm your nerves – so we note our personal reactions to the noise levels, too
Cleaning: A great blender is one thing, but it can be annoying if lumps of food can lodge themselves in nooks and crannies. We clean every blender by hand to see how easy and safe it is. We also test dishwasher-safe blenders and self-cleaning settings, if they are on offer. In terms of storage, we see if we can fit the blenders in cupboards and pantries, and how easy they are to lift and access.
Value for money: We then collate the results of online reviews to evaluate long-term reliability. We also take into account the warranty, price and overall value for money. Finally, our team compares the blender to all of the others that we've tested, so we can let you know where it sits in the market.
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Lydia is the Kitchen Appliances Editor for Homes & Gardens, testing everything from air fryers and mixers to juicers and coffee machines. She trained in Culinary Arts at Leiths School of Food & Wine and previously served as the Recipe Editor for Mindful Chef.
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