Keep That Summertime Feeling All Year Long with Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Makers
Yes…we really do read your emails; and it seems that with the holiday season upon us, many of you wanted to know what our favorite gadget of the year was. While it may be hard to choose one favorite gadget for the entire year, finding our favorite piece of gear for the Summer was an easy call–and since it also makes a great holiday gift, we figured this was the perfect time to share. So what is it—a phone? A tablet? A video game console? Not even close. As we’ve told you before, sometimes the best gear takes a simple idea, and executes it brilliantly and beautifully–and that’s exactly what the Fiji Frozen Concoction Maker from Margaritaville does. So sit back, relax, and grab a small paper umbrella, as we tell you why the Fiji Frozen Concoction Maker may be the one appliance you never knew you couldn’t live without…
Its concept is simple: Make the best ice-blended drinks you’ve ever tasted, at home, with restaurant quality and consistency–all with the flip of a single switch (more on that later). Now before you start saying “What’s the big deal? It’s just a blender with a fancy name!”…stop. The Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Makers are much more than blenders, even though they’re all able to handle any of your blending needs without breaking a sweat. These machines are designed for making frozen drinks (including smoothies), and because of this, need to do more than simply grind up ice cubes…
The key to what makes every Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker so brilliant is its dedicated ice shaver. In addition to the blending blades at the bottom of the unit, they all have a built-in ice shaver (with its own motor) that takes care of the dirty work. This accomplishes 2 things: First, because the upper housing is dedicated to shaving ice, its blade is specific to this task, giving you the perfect consistency to all of your drinks; secondly, because the 2 tasks (shaving and blending) are divided between 2 motors and 2 sets of blades, it saves an enormous amount of wear and tear on the device itself. Now that you know some of the basics, let’s get to know the Fiji…
When you see the Margaritaville Fiji in person for the first time, you realize that this whole “restaurant quality” thing isn’t just lip service–its solid build and classy design truly make it look like something you’d see at a restaurant or juice bar; its combination of metal switches, glass jar, and metal housing with plastic accents not only inspires confidence, but leaves you with the impression that this is one appliance that’s going to be around for a while; its retro design also compliments the unit perfectly, with simple dials and flip-switches used only where needed. At the top of 
the unit is the ice reservoir; and though different Margaritaville models have slightly different features, the Fiji is able to hold enough ice to make 3 pitchers of frozen drinks before refilling–a definite advantage when hosting a party.
So how does it work? With the flip of a switch. Seriously. All you have to do is select the type of drink you’re making (Margarita, Daiquiri, Slide, Smoothie), choose the number of servings (1, 2 or 3 drinks) add the ingredients, and flip a single switch–the Fiji will then add the perfect amount of shaved ice and blend everything automatically. Assuming you’ve added the proper amount of ingredients, you truly are treated to a perfect concoction each and every time. Should you like to get a bit more creative, there’s a separate switch that lets you either manually add more ice or do a bit more blending–which came in incredibly handy once I made a fantastic discovery…
To my surprise (and my wife’s delight), the Margaritaville Fiji does an incredible job of making ice-blended coffee drinks! After a quick trip to Coffee Bean to buy some cocoa powder and coffee extract, I was making my wife enough ice-blended mochas to put her in a caffeine coma–and she couldn’t be happier. Being that I’m not a big drinker, having the ability to make smoothies and 
coffee drinks only added to the value of the Fiji.
At $349, the Margaritaville Fiji may not be cheap–but since the definition of value is a measure of not only price, but also what you get out of what you’ve purchased, I found the Fiji to be a bargain. Whether you’re hosting a holiday Margarita bash, or simply craving a morning smoothie or coffee drink, the Margaritaville Fiji Frozen Concoction maker is our favorite gadget of the Summer, that you can enjoy all year long.
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