<p>I am considering buying a blender. I make smoothies all the time for DS, who is a vegetarian. I am using my immersion blender, but it is not really powerful enough to cope with the frozen fruit, nut butters, etc., that I am using. It takes a while to combine everything, and it is never really smooth. I will probably be making him smoothies every morning for the next school year, and he has to be there at 7. So I’m looking to reduce the time.</p>
<p>Some brands are extremely expensive. Even so, I’ve seen complaints that it is hard to get the smoothies out because the sides of the jar are ribbed, or because it’s hard to get stuff out from underneath the blades. Any recommendations?</p>
<p>Or should I get a more powerful immersion blender? </p>
<p>I have a pretty powerful Bamix immersion blender, but I cannot imagine that I would want to make smoothies with it on the ongoing basis - it is a hassle. When my family was into smoothies, we got a Vitamix, and even with washing the blades, etc., it made the smoothie maker process way easier. </p>
<p>I love my Ninja - the lowest one on the line, I think I paid $40. Two different size containers, blends everything with ease. Super powerful. I find it easy to extract the smoothie - you take off the top, pull off the blade assembly (it slides right up) and then pour. Everything can go in the dishwasher (I use the top rack - the containers are plastic not glass). I freeze banana pieces in one of the containers ahead of time (with top on it and blades in) to make low-cal ice cream.</p>
<p>I love the Breville one I have. They don’t make the same model anymore with a glass bowl, only with plastic but it is very powerful and has a large (about 1/2") cog that connects the blades assembly to the motor. I had a problem with it and called them and they sent me a new part with no questions asked.</p>
<p>If you’re getting a cheaper one, don’t get Cuisinart. You would think that it spins around just like a food processor so they would do that well, but no. Pick up the blender and look at the underside where it connects to the base. Is it plastic or metal? How big and sturdy is it? </p>
<p>Vitamixes are great, I don’t have one but I would love to get one. One thing that drives me crazy is that they don’t put the power value on the box. You want to know how many watts that motor is!</p>
<p>Very happy with the Kitchen Aide blender. Pricey, but heavy duty. Best thing is that the jar completely comes apart (unscrew the bottom) for complete cleanup.</p>
<p>DH makes smoothies every morning,using frozen fruit usually. He literally drove us all crazy with that blender-he would run it and run it and run it, for a LONG time. Loud, annoying, D2 at times wanted to scream. I finally had enough and got him a Vitamix. Pricey, yes, but now his smoothies are perfect after about 30 seconds and it’s much quieter. Worth every penny.</p>
<p>OP - one trick for cleaning is to empty the blender, fill with a cup or two of water and blend again. Then it will clean out much easier in the dishwasher especially if you had anything oily, starchy, or full of seeds in there. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies! I’ve looked on Amazon and found a Breville model with hundreds of positive reviews and a KitchenAid model with over a thousand positive reviews. The Ninja models also get over a thousand positive reviews. I’ll have to do a lot of reading…</p>
<p>The two main top of the line blenders are Vita-Mix and Blendtec. Both have motors that are much more powerful than the rest of the blenders. Like someone mentioned up-thread, a smoothie can me made in less than a minute, even when using frozen ingredients. I have a Blendtec and absolutely love it. I can make nut butters (even almond butter) in a couple mintutes. Other blenders can turn peanuts into peanut butter (but it takes longer) but most choke on making almond butter. Whatever you put into one of these blenders will come out extremely smooth (no chunks, unless you deliberately shorten the blend time). </p>
<p>Also, the other blenders, if they get frequent use, tend to have a shorter life span than either the Blendtec or Bita-Mix blenders. </p>
<p>So, you really need to know what you plan to blend. Soft foods can work in any blender. Frozen foods (say frozen strawberries or ice) for smoothies, require a more powerful blender. </p>
<p>We have a Blendtec. It makes great smoothies–bananas, fresh ginger, celery, kale, frozen fruit. Had a few ninjas that inevitably broke. Became tired of replacing those, so got the Blendtec, which is less expensive than a Vitamix. Had it been in the budget, we would have purchased a Vitamix. However, we are happy with the Blendtec.</p>
<p>If you aren’t going to use it for much else you might try a Magic Bullet. They are pretty cheap at Costco. When my D lived at home she used it for smoothies daily. The nice thing was she would make the smoothie flip the cup and remove the bottom and off she would go with the same container the smoothie was made in. I now use it for salad dressings. It is a one smoothie operation so doesn’t work if you are making for multiple people at one time. </p>
<p>Saying that I would love one day to spring for a Vitamix. Will look into a Blendtec. </p>
<p>I’ve looked at the Blendtec, and it does look good. I’m inclined not to get a light-weight blender like the Magic Bullet. I do need enough capacity to make 2-3 servings, I’d like to be able to use ice cubes (not possible with the immersion blender, even frozen fruit is difficult) and nut butters. And it would be nice to make green smoothies. I’ve made them a few times with the immersion blender but they come out with pieces of leafy greens in them. It would be nice to have more thorough blending. I am not willing to spend enough to get a Vita-Mix. $300 is about the top of my budget. From what I can tell, that would buy a Blendtec, and $200 would get good KitchenAid or Breville models. At this point, I’m probably leaning toward the Breville because I like the unusual blade design.</p>
<p>I think that price-wise, the cheapest way to purchase a Blendtec or VitaMix is at Costco - esp when they are doing a roadshow. That is how I purchased my Blendtec. Costco seems to flipflop on offering the Blendtec for a time and then the VitaMix for a time. </p>
<p>I don’t belong to Costco. I did for a year once but found that we didn’t eat enough for their huge quantities to make sense, and I made way too many impulse purchases in that center section full of tempting things I didn’t need. Maybe I’ll find a friend with a membership and ask her to pick one up for me?</p>
<p>That would be a good move! If I lived nearby, I would go shopping with you. I just checked WS and Costco online pricing, and Costco comes out ahead. In-store pricing could be even better, in my experience.</p>
<p>I purchased an Oster for $29 about 5 years ago at Costco just to be able to make smoothies for my kids. It has a ‘smoothie’ button and I use ice and frozen berries in addition to other ingredients. I don’t really use it for anything else which is why I decided against buying a Vitamix at the time ( although I was tempted ). It’s still working and we probably use it 2-3 times a week. </p>
<p>I bought a refurbished Vitamix directly from their site. It comes with a 5 year warranty rather than the 7 year warranty new blenders come with, but it was substantially less expensive.
I got mine over 4 years ago, use it daily, and have never had any problems.
I LOVE my vitamix!!</p>
<p>I have a magic bullet (on sale and with coupons I paid $20) but just bought a nutri ninja pro (see the “good deal of the day” thread). ITs 900 watts and very powerful. Got it for $77 plus got $10 in Kohls cash back. YOu can get it for $80 at BB&B with their 20% off coupons. Its very good.</p>
I just checked WS and Costco online pricing, and Costco comes out ahead. In-store pricing could be even better, in my experience.</p>