MixMate self-cleaning cycle: does it really get all the residue out?

I used one for about three months last winter, mostly for coffee and the occasional hot chocolate at work. The self-clean thing is real but it is not the magic “walk away” situation the box implies. What actually happens is you fill it with warm water, drop in a bit of soap, hit the button, and the stirring bar does a decent job on the sides and the loose stuff. Then you dump it and you are supposed to rinse. That rinse step is where it falls apart for me. If I only did the cycle and dumped it, the bottom still had a faint film and the lid gasket held onto a smell after a couple days of cocoa. I started pulling the gasket out and rinsing the lid by hand anyway, which kind of defeats the point.

The bigger issue for me was timing. If I did not run the cycle within maybe an hour of finishing the drink, the dried stuff at the bottom did not come off with just the spin. I had to scrub it with a bottle brush. So it is less a replacement for washing and more a way to loosen things up before you actually wash it.

Where it did help was protein powder. That stuff clumps and sticks, and the cycle broke it down enough that a quick rinse got it done. So for lighter drinks it is close to what they promise. For anything thick or sugary, not really.

I still hand wash mine most days. The feature is nice to have but it did not make me less lazy about dishes, which was my whole reason for buying it.

Mine gets the bottom fine but I still wipe the lid gasket by hand every couple days. The cycle is more of a rinse than a real wash in my experience, so it cuts down on scrubbing but doesn’t fully replace it. For protein shakes I’d still plan on a quick hand rinse now and then.

Mine still leaves gunk in the lid threads.

I keep looking at these self-cleaning mugs thinking the same thing. My brain just refuses to believe a soap and water swirl does the same job as actually scrubbing with a sponge, especially after something thick like a protein shake. I’ve watched a bunch of videos on the MixMate and similar mugs and the cleaning clips always look convincing, but those are probably with light stuff like coffee or juice. Nobody’s filming themselves cleaning out a shake that sat in there for a few hours.

I don’t have one yet, still on the fence. The lazy part of me wants the self-clean to be the whole reason to buy it. The realistic part of me figures I’ll still end up rinsing it right after I drink so nothing dries on the walls, which kind of defeats the point of a self-cleaning feature in the first place.

Honestly for the price these things go for I’d want the cycle to handle basically everything short of baked on stuff. If I still have to babysit the lid and the bottom corners then it’s just a fancy cup with a button. Curious how it actually handles thick residue though because that’s the one thing that would push me either way.

I’ve had mine a few months and the cycle does enough that I don’t dread it, but I still rinse right after drinking instead of letting stuff sit. If I forget and it dries overnight, the cycle alone doesn’t cut it. As long as I don’t let it sit, it’s basically a dump and press situation.

I wouldn’t buy it for that feature alone. It handles light stuff fine, but anything thick or sticky still needs a real wash after. The battery thing bugs me more than the cleaning honestly.

I actually prefer a quick hand wash over the self-clean cycle. Takes me like ten seconds and I know it’s actually done. The cycle works okay for light stuff but I’d rather just do it myself than trust it and find out later.