Recommend a Blender?

Our Krups is dying. Waring looks to have stopped making their consumer-level stuff, taken over by Cuisinart?

We'd really like all metal and glass, to the extent it's possible.

Go!

BlendTec? I have no experience with them but their YouTube series is amusing.

Wally said:

BlendTec? I have no experience with them but their YouTube series is amusing.

Exactly what I came here for.

Thirded. I'd buy one just because of the videos.

I believe the LS version that Top Gear tested  is capable of most task asked of it.

Vitamix

Vitamix or blendtec. Buy once, cry once. Expensive, but worth it if you use it regularly. Especially if you make smoothies. 

Ninja IQ if you're on a budget. Got mine for under $150 at Sam's club. Only been using it about a month,but it's been pretty great, and didn't cost as much as a beater car.

I bought a cheap oster around xmas time from target. It blends things. Seems to work good enough. My stick blender cost more than that. 

Given the choice and lack of berkeleys given for my budget, I would buy a blendtec. I dont trust anyone that does live infomercials in Costco- like vitamix. 

Vitamix if you want to spend $500.  Ninja if you want to spend $150 or less.  I bought my ninja pro about 7 years ago and it is still crushing ice and making smoothies like a champ.  

We love our Blendtec but it is loud. I like the fact we've made snow cones, flour, and powdered sugar using it. Things I didn't think we'd do when we started.

We got a $30 Oster as a wedding present in 1994. Still makes big things into small things. I've never understood spending hundreds of dollars on a blender.....

I have used a ninja for the past ~6 years.  I can't recommend one.  

It functions great, but I cracked the first 'pitcher' after a few years.  I tried to buy a new one, but it was NLA.  Thankfully they sent me a replacement that works for free, but that is likely NLA by now.

I don't like buying E36 M3 that breaks from regular use that I can't repair.

Someone brought a blendtec into work.  Its GIANT, so I would have a hard time going with one of those, unless they make a small model.

People who live on smoothies and protein shakes swear by Vitamix and Blendtec.  I mean really live on them, like 2 meals a day with chia seeds and whatnot. For heavy use, you get what you pay for apparently. 

Tom_Spangler said:

We got a $30 Oster as a wedding present in 1994. Still makes big things into small things. I've never understood spending hundreds of dollars on a blender.....

So refreshing to hear the voice of reason amid the insanity of these times of materialistic orgy.

1988RedT2 said:

Tom_Spangler said:

We got a $30 Oster as a wedding present in 1994. Still makes big things into small things. I've never understood spending hundreds of dollars on a blender.....

 

So refreshing to hear the voice of reason amid the insanity of these times of materialistic orgy.

Because we had 2 $30 Osters, purchased in 2012 and 2014, and both have broken. They don't make them like they used to. 

In any case, the real good ones are just... better. For something that we use every single day, it is absolutely worth the money.

EDIT: This, (although we only use it 1 meal a day): 

pinchvalve said:

People who live on smoothies and protein shakes swear by Vitamix and Blendtec.  I mean really live on them, like 2 meals a day with chia seeds and whatnot. For heavy use, you get what you pay for apparently. 

Fair. Ours gets used maybe once or twice a month, if that. Maybe that's why it's lasted this long.

I got my wife a Blendtec for christmas one year, and while the price seems high compared to a $30 Oster, it's not the same appliance other than the name and general appearance. You can blend things that an Oster can't, and you can blend things way more thoroughly. She uses it to make smoothies which an Oster couldn't dream of doing. I think it spins at 25,000+ RPM and the blade is bigger and harder steel than an Oster's.

That said, ours burned through the bearing recently. It has a counter on the blender, telling you how many times it's been used - ours is in the 1100+ uses range. The bearing in the jar apparently just can't handle years of heavy use. The warranty is 3 years, and once you're outside that warranty a new jar is $120. Ugh! Well, that's only about $.10/smoothie, but still.. kinda sucks to have it fail.

I got my wife the top Ninja sold at Wally World.  She likes it.

negative on the blendtec.

have one, same issue with the bearing on the jar, at about the same count. mine might be 1200 something. 1200 may seem like alot, but when dealing with a 300$ blender, I expect more than 1200 uses.  not spending 120 on a hunk of plastic, so it sits. 

Blendtec warranty is 7 years though, so if you're still in that window they will send you a new jar. 

https://www.blendtec.com/blogs/news/blendtecs-7-year-warranty-what-you-need-to-know

In reply to lnlogauge :

Holy cow, thanks! The manual says 3 years warranty, but the Blendtec site says if the blender was bought after 2011 then it has a 7 year warranty. We bought ours in 2014 so it should be covered. Well posting in this thread saved me $120. I owe you a beer.

The folks that research, test, compare, etc say to get a Vitamix: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-blender-for-smoothies/

Or one of those small individual-serving-size NutriBullet blenders.

This is interesting. Thanks for all the info!

We have smoothies almost every morning. Our cheap Krups was probably nearing the end of its life (20 years?) of more normal blender usage before we started this.

It still makes smoothies, but it's got a dying bearing, and a crack in the blade housing that looks like Article A from a food service no-nos list.

Anything with a plastic jar is right out. I gotta say, I'm floored by the prices on these things. If I could get a new motor and blade unit for the Krups, it would be dandy. We don't put greens in our smoothies, but I'm baffled at the idea that the power is insufficient. Maybe it needs more motor to last longer, but I have no complaints the smoothness of our smoothies.

I do like the idea of the tamper that some of them have, as that's the one thing that's a bit of a struggle: getting a fruitberg or air pocket.

My wife makes tons of smoothies with ice and also blends lots of hot stuff like soup. 

Had a Cuisinart which melted with heat. 

Had a Ninja which we got at Costco and did not last over 6 months. 

Bought the Vitamix at Costco and have put everything through it for the last year without problems. Its tough. They have it on sale every now and again. 

I’m going to further support the $30 Oyster. It makes smoothies out of frozen fruit and ice, although I’m sure it takes longer than a $500 Vitamix (and it better, otherwise what are you paying for). We use it for smoothies about twice a week, and we have had it for at least 3 years. I would recommend it for any casual user or as a trial for anyone getting into smoothies to see if you want to stick with it.

It replaced a 30+ year old Oyster, which started to get the burning motor smell (although it still spun). Also the Oyster is the only one to meet your glass container criteria, because all the high end ones spin too fast to safely use glass.