The internet made me do it. I’m a sucker for cute gadgets – clearly I’m a marketer’s dream! I resisted for as long as I could, but then my curiosity, coupled with some requests to do a review led me down the path that has us here today.
I purchased this and my opinion is my own.
What Is It?
Vejo is a portable blender that used premixed pods to create on-the-go smoothies. It holds a scant 8 oz of water. It’s marketed as convenient smoothies on the go for gym, car, etc.
I can see this being very useful for travel and will in fact give it a test run over the holidays when we drive to visit family!
The Pros
It has a great form factor. Is this reason enough to buy it? Perhaps not, but the happy colors allow for the perfect amount of personalization and the silicone skin has a great touch.
I have very small hands, the diameter of the blender makes it really comfortable to use.
The pods are biodegradable and come in a variety of blends and flavors. A quick blend of 30 secs is all it takes to have a decent tasting smoothy (not too sweet).
There is an upgraded service (I did not try) called Vejo+ which customizes vitamin pods to your body’s specific needs. I find the idea intriguing and it could be very convenient. I find swallowing pills very difficult so I could almost justify this if I could get the blend of all of the things I take now.
The Cons
I think the price for the unit and ongoing pods could be a bit daunting. I’d have to squarely swap my Starbucks for a smoothie.
Although the pods are biodegradable, if you put them in the garbage, they will still end up in a landfill. I wish/hope Vejo will consider a recycling approach or different material more akin to Nespresso where they are separated and recycled by the company…for free!
The blender will ONLY work with their pods. I wish there was a blank pod you could fill with mix from a larger container to start to reduce the materials – or that would allow you to also use other powders – but this is a one trick pony, so you have to really be committed to it.
I’m a bit of a lazy smoothie maker, I’ll admit it. I’m prone to giving my containers a vigorous rinse for a day or two until I really get in there and clean. It looks like it rinses clean after all. I am drinking these smoothies directly from the blender (which the makers encourage to reduce waste) and you really want to use the bottle brush they provide EACH time. There’s an inner rim that doesn’t really rinse clean otherwise.
This is a silly one, but I would have loved a beautiful blush pink color blender. Of course, now that I have one, I have to hope they DON’T come out with my cherished color…or what will I do?!
Flavor Pods
I did my best to get a smattering of the flavors that most appealed to me. I had to avoid a few for allergy reasons but here’s my run down on the vejo blends. They come two to a packet, sealed for freshness.
- Strawberry Banana (90 calories) – Very tasty and exactly as expected. Not much nutritional value beyond filling me up but it’s delicious. I’ll give it an 8/10.
- Pina Strawberry (80 calories) – Very nice. Just as expected. Flavor is well balanced between the two. 9/10
- Mixed Berry (70 calories) – Didn’t have this to try this but I suspect I would like it. Their berry blends are very good.
- Tart Berry (100 calories) – My favorite so far. Though it says Tart it’s really just not too sweet. This one is spot on and perfect! 10/10
- Clean Greens (80 calories) – Wow. I struggle with green juice because I know it’s good for you…but let’s face it, it doesn’t always taste good. This one has just enough sweetness to keep it from tasting like grass clippings but not so much that it tastes like green apple. I thought it might be gritty and it’s not. 9/10
- Pina Greens (90 calories) – Delicious! It’s not too citrusy but makes the greens go down smoothly. 9/10
- Tropical (90 calories) – Tasty. It’s much creamier than I expected. 9/10
- Matcha Latte (40 calories) – I like this one. I prefer my matcha hot but on the first one I poured it over ice. I’ll have to try to heat the next one. 9/10
- Banana Almond (100 calories) – I’m allergic so I had to pass on this one.
- Spiced Chocolate (100 calories) – I haven’t tried it yet, but I will post the specific review to Instagram and update this blog.
- Cold Brew Coffee – A delightful and pleasant surprise. I think the most shocking thing to me was how foamy and creamy it was. Sorry Starbucks, but I prefer this cold brew to the instant singles you sell. Not bitter but a little bite. This might have been enough to get me to commit to Vejo but I just read they are discontinuing this flavor. Too bad. For me it’s 10/10!
- Whey Coffee (50 calories) – Didn’t try this one yet. When I do I’ll post a review to Instagram and update this post.
- Whey Mocha (50 calories) – Didn’t have it to try.
- Pre-Workout (50 calories) – Didn’t have it to try.
- Post-Workout (30 calories) – Didn’t have it to try.
- Earthbar Vanilla bean (90 calories) – Didn’t have it to try.
- Earthbar Chocolate (90 calories) – Didn’t have it to try.
- Daily Recovery (30 calories) – Mostly Vitamin C but refreshing. The taste is a little odd, but not undrinkable or unpleasant. 7/10
- Sleep (Tart Cherry) (30 calories) – Didn’t try this one yet but when I do I’ll post a review to Instagram and update this post.
- Sleep (Lemon Tea) (30 calories) – I like this. I skipped my regular melatonin and did this instead. I fell and stayed asleep even better than with my melatonin. My only caution is to use cold water or put it over ice. There’s a slight grittiness to it that isn’t great at room temperature. II believe this one has been discontinued as well. 7/10.
- Stress Support (Lemon Lime) (30 calories) – I liked this one. It’s exactly what you think it is going to be. I feel like the vitamin blends could be a little more robust in content. 8/10
- Immunity Fuel (Orange) (30 calories) – It has a slight creamsicle taste to it, but I found it a little gritty as well. I would use it but I prefer the blueberry flavor. 7/10
- Immunity Fuel (Blueberry) – It’s nice. A little redundant for me and my current set of vitamins but I would consider including it in the mix if I rearrange my vitamin regmine. 8/10
- Collagen Glow (Watermelon Fresca) – Tastes too “collagen-y” for my liking. I will probably have to mix it with something else to get it down – but that’s generally been my issue with dietary collagen. 2/10
- Collagen Glow (Strawberry Lime) – Manageable. It still has a noticeable collagen smell to it, and the taste feels like it will be too sweet, but it’s not. The lime balances it out well, though it almost feels like I’m drinking unset jello mix that isn’t very sweet. It’s odd but I can drink it and may get used to it. 5/10 generally but 8/10 for being collagen.
What Does It Cost?
As noted int the Cons, the price is a consideration. You can save money with coupon codes, subscriptions and other specials that they run so the costs listed are a rough illustrative estimate. If you look at the blends on the Vejo site, it will tell you the rough cost per pod. It differs pretty wildly based on the pod blend.
- Starter Kit (blender and a variety of pods) $130
- Flavor Sampler (30 blends) $85
- Individual pods (<$2 to >$6)
- Subscriptions (available in 8 pack or 30 pack) save you about 10% on the cost.
Is It Worth It?
Obviously that’s the big question, right?
If I’m a road warrior, I would say yes, the ease and convenience is nice. However, for the remote stay at home worker of today’s weird world, I’m not sure it’s that much more convenient than my nutribullet. It only holds 8oz of water which feels small in this day and age.
Perhaps that’s good for portion control.
I think if someone doesn’t already have a blender and wants smoothies, maybe this is a nice holiday gift. My only issue is the pods. I LOVE the convenience but you’re really tying someone to the company. The pods aren’t awful but they aren’t cheap and they certainly aren’t free. Though they say they are biodegradable, let’s acknowledge that they will end up the trash and in a landfill. I wish they made a reusable pod and sold the mixes in larger containers to reduce waste.
Would I buy it as a gift for someone? Probably not, unless they asked for it. Would I be happy to get it as a gift? Yea – I would probably have fun using it until I had to replenish the pods.
Here’s where I think the power lies – at least for someone like me. I hate taking vitamins. I do it. But I hate it. I don’t like swallowing pills or capsules. Vejo+ has me intrigued enough to check it out. Being able to DRINK my vitamins (if they are tasty) would go a LOOONG way to improving my lifestyle. Another bonus – I believe there are some advantages to having dietary collagen in your routine but I have never been able to commit to it long term in tea or coffee. Their collagen blends are a better alternative to messing up my daily coffee or tea.
I’ll plan on using this hyper specific blender for some hyper specific needs. I don’t NEED it, but now that I have it, I WANT to make it work. That’s some good product marketing!