Customer Reviews

Blendtec Home The Professional's Choice Total Blender

5 star:		(166)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I must give you a little bit of history before reviewing the Blendtec . . .
Our local Costco was having a Vita-Mix road show and i bought it knowing that I really liked everything I had ever read about a Blendtec. A couple of my friends raved about the Vita-Mix, so I felt I needed to pay a little attention. A large purchase like this deserved a little research so that I wouldn't have any regrets. I watched the demo, was impressed and took home the Vita-Mix that day. I was anxious to make a smoothie with it because I had been using the Magic Bullet for five months. I made my first smoothie with it, and it turned out great but the "honeymon" didn't last very long. I did not like the sheer size of the Vita-Mix! It sat VERY high on my counter, wouldn't fit under the cabinet and it looked like it belonged in a commercial-sized kitchen, not mine. I absolutely disliked everything about the lid, except the ability to drizzle liquids in from the opening. The lid was not easy to put on nor remove. And the tamper!!! A good machine should not require a tamper to push the food around. The blender canister has these decorative grooves on the sides and oh what difficulty to "get every last bit out" with a a rubber scraper. I felt like I was wasting food! Then, I made a vegetable pate and the 4-pronged blade made it extremely difficult to get the food hiding below the blade. By this time, I had had enough and was only too happy to take it back to Costco.

That same night, I ordered my Blendtec. It arrived promptly and have LOVED everything about it since Day One! It is so-o-o-o easy to "get every last bit out" because the sides of the blender doesn't have the unnecessary decorative grooves on the side. It makes a big difference if you're the type that doesn't like to waste. I feel that the Vita-Mix and Blendtec are equally noisy, but it does its job so quickly and efficiently that it really isn't on for very long. It is so efficient and powerful that it doesn't need a silly tamper to get everything blended well. It fits under my cabinet where I like to keep it and it is just perfect in every way. I make whole fruit and/or leafy green smoothies, sometimes twice a day, and it's always smooth and perfectly blended. As long as you add the proper amount of liquid, that "vortex" forms and everything gets pulled downwards. Everything i make just comes out absolutely perfect. I just can't say enough good things about this machine.

This is an awesome blender. It blends stuff like you've never seen before and I am really pleased with it. But holy cow is it LOUD!! The cat hates me. I got a pair of earmuffs from the shooting supply place to wear while using it. Maybe overkill, but I think that using it twice a day without them would result in hearing damage eventually. I wish they sold an enclosure for this one like they do for the commercial ones....I'd definitely buy one.

I bought this because I had a juicer and liked it. But I felt that tossing all that pulp and fiber had to be making me miss out on a lot of health benefits. And just trying to spoon some of it back into the juice doesn't work, it's gross. This blender blends whole fruits and vegetables wonderfully, I can still get the fiber and in a drinkable form.
After I bought this, I read a webpage where they talked about blending an avocado WITH the pit, and I tried it. It works, I ended up with an amazingly smooth mousse-like creamy pudding. Not something I'd do every day, but it was very interesting. I have been making kale banana blueberry smoothies for breakfast and it blends everything into one homogenous shake. No bits of leaves, chunks of stuff, etc. I'm enjoying it. I just wish it wasn't so loud.

I have owned this blender for about a month. So far it has worked great. It is a great tool to have if you expect to blend stuff on a daily basis. The larger blades and powerful motor makes my Oyster beehive blender feel like a toy. It will blend things that conventional blenders would not even begin to blend. Baby food can be puree very well. Much better than with the food processor. This machine can basically replace a food processor, a juicer, and a grinder.


Things I like:
1. It blends just about anything do to the large blades and powerful 1500 watt motor. And it does it much faster than a conventional blender.
2. It's built in the USA and the parts seem to be good quality.
3. One push button operation allows you to blend w/o having to time it or supervise it.
4. lifetime warranty on coupling and blade.
5. It fits under standard counters.

Things I do not like:
1. The base has a cheap feel to it because of the plastic. For the price, I think it should have been metal.
2. Has lesser warranty than its competitor (Vita-Mix).
3. I expect an expensive tool like this to have better dampening to absorb noise and vibration.
4. The plastic container (polycarbonate) scratches easily when mixing grains, seeds, etc.

I purchased this blender after reading THE CHINA STUDY, EAT TO LIVE, and GREEN FOR LIFE (all Highly recommended and if you are buying this blender you'd be missing out if you didn't read these books, particularly GREEN FOR LIFE).

All three books really drive home the importance of eating Greens (Swiss Chard, Kale, etc.)on a daily basis. For me, this was a challenge. The only way I could tolerate kale was to slather it with olive oil or butter and salt and cook it, thereby destroying most of the benefits. Even then I ate it dutifully and without pleasure. Then I read GREEN FOR LIFE and got the idea to blend up raw greens with bananas and other fruit into nutrient dense green smoothies.

You need the high power blender for this sort of thing, other blenders can't handle it. Thank goodness the Blendtec was mentioned in reviews for GFL, or I would have never even known about it. I ordered it with fingers crossed. It was a lot of money to plunk down for a blender and I was a little scared I wouldn't be able to drink the green stuff.

Not only did the blender perform like a dream, it makes a killer green smoothie--no taste of kale! The cost of the blender is worth it for this reason alone. Now I can get my daily intake of greens without having to endure it. It's actually delicious and gives you a buzz of energy way better than coffee.

I'm telling you all this because I think that Blendtec has missed a major market demographic. The recipie book that comes with the blender can be discarded for this demographic. A lot of people need these blenders for a vegan or raw food and greens lifestyle and I think most of them end up with a Vita-mix because of the way they are marketed.

I have had a Vita Mix and can tell you this is Way better. One thing not mentioned in the specs is that the blendtec is only about 15 inches tall (unlike the Vitamix which is 20). That means it fits on your counter under your cabinets--very important for an appliance you might be using every day. Mine now occupies the space where the coffee pot used to be and I use it at least twice a day.

You can make nut butters, various flours, breads, soup....etc. It's so powerful I think the motor could fly a small plane.

You can walk away from this blender and it knows when to shut itself off, it is not as loud as the Vitamix even though it is more powerful, and the clean-up is a cinch. This is the single best appliance I've ever purchased. The only thing I wish it had is a retractable cord and better customer service.

If you are on the fence about this--buy it!

I am a smoothie person who drinks at least one smoothie a day. I got tired of spending ten minutes a day making smoothie with one of the cheap blenders, so I decided to buy a more high powered blender.

The Breville 550 was my first choice for its reasonable price/power and great looks. Unfortunately, my first smoothie was a disaster. I filled the smoothie 2/3 with fruits and ice, and I stood there pushing the smoothie button three consecutive times to no avail. Then I smelled something burning and figured it was the motor. After spending 10 minutes getting the thing to make smoothie, the result was no better than my old cheap Cuisinart blender. Apparently, 610 watts is just not enough if you want to make thick, smooth smoothie.

I promptly returned the Breville. I then went on a mission to research for a real blender. Apparently, when it comes down to power and industrial strength blenders, it comes down to either a Vita-Mix or a Blendtec. A Costco near me had a demo for Blendtec so I decided to buy one there to try out.

Wow! Now this is a blender! This thing sucked the fruits and ice down into its vortex amazingly well. With the "Whole Fruits" button, I had great smoothie in 50 seconds or less. I usually just hit the button and go the bathroom. By the time I get back, I got instant smoothie! I've tried the the ice crush button and this mode literally makes snow; not just crushed ice, but snow!

There is a con though. Without a tamper, sometimes the fruits do get stuck and doesn't go down. When that happens, I take the jar out and shakes it a couple times and blend again. It works every time. It's an extra step, but it sure beats standing there and holding a tamper to push the fruits down for entire blending time. Many reviewers here claim that they wished they had a tamper, but I think it may be due to their preference and how they've always done it with their Vita-mix. It isn't wrong, but there are more than one way to skin a cat, and for me, shaking it is much easier than using a tamper.

It's also very easy to clean. Instead of disassembling the jar like the Breville and other blenders in its class, I just put a dash of detergent, fill it 1/3 with water, and pulse it for 5 secs. I then wash it out further with water, no dishwasher needed.

Since I bought this at Costco, I got a full 7 year warranty. It's a lot of money, but since there are no alternatives at a cheaper price, it does make my decision easier. Considering the Breville blender probably would've smoked and blown within 6 months of the abuse I'd subject it to, a $400 blender that lasts a minimum of 7 years is not a bad deal. So far after a week of use, I've blended a total of 38 times (the LCD displays the # of uses on its front.). I think I may just keep it.

Pros: It blends virtually anything!
Lots of power. Doesn't smoke when it gets stuck.
Easy to clean.
It doesn't require you to stand there with a tamper.
Great warranty.
Makes amazing smoothies and margaritas and mixed drinks.

Cons: Occasionally requires a good shake to loosen things up.
Expensive.
Loud. (although with a 3HP motor, it's actually quiet compared
to my lawnmower. LOL)
Have to buy it at Costco for the 7 year warranty.

I got my Blendtec about two months ago, and I wanted to wait until it got through one hundred cycles before I posted my review, just to make sure the 'honeymoon' stage was over. For those that are not familiar with the blender, the LCD screen on the base keeps track of how many cycles it has been through. A cycle is basically pushing any button on the blender except pulse.

Initial Impressions:
I quickly figured out that the blades on the Blendtec work slightly different than the blenders I was accustomed with. The blade doesn't really have an 'upward' angle to it, so if what you're blending will not fall to the bottom of the jar, it will not be blended. The best example I can think of is an orange: previous blender's blades would pull it down into the blades and then keep chipping away at it, but on the Blendtec it would just balance between the center bolt on the blade and the jar wall. But boy, when that fruit was sliced and did get into the blade, there was little left of it. Previous blenders had left me accustomed to fine chunks of whatever I was blending, but the Blendtec could turn a whole unpeeled orange into what looked like orange syrup.

I have seen several reviews cite the Blendtec as being excessively loud, but I did not really think that. It IS loud compared to a $12 Durabrand 200 watt blender, but it is not much louder than a higher end (~$60) consumer blender. And the preprogrammed cycles mean you can just start a cycle (around 40 seconds) and walk away.

While Racking Up the Cycles:
I have primarily used the blender about once a day in an effort to help me work some fruits and veggies in my diet. I have also used it a few times for things like pancake batter and iced drinks. I'm still amazed at how this machine can liquefy a leaf of lettuce or kale. I had tried a few times with other blenders to blend up greens but was usually turned off at how chunky the end result was.

One thing I really grew to like was the preprogrammed buttons on the base. After pushing a button, the LCD will start a countdown timer and you can hear the blender running at different speeds to make sure everything in the jar is getting into the blades. This works pretty good 95%+ of the time, but when it doesn't the one piece lid does not allow you to prod the offending piece of matter into the blades. Sometimes I wonder if Blendtec should have integrated a tamper like Vitamix, but for few times it would be needed it would probably just be more of a hassle than a help. If larger things like apples, oranges, and lettuce leafs are diced or chopped before blending it is much less of a problem.

Cleaning the Blendtec is by far the easiest blender I have ever cleaned. Because the blades are integrated into the jar, it only has two pieces (jar and lid) compared to traditional blenders that have around six. For the most part after using the blender I just put water and a small amount of soap into the jar and pulse it a few times, rinse it out, and then set it out to dry. The base is also easy to clean since the buttons are not raised, just a quick swipe with a rag.

-Conclusions-
I give the Blendtec 4 stars because there are a few things that keep it from being perfect. While some of the "don't likes" were not mentioned in the main review, I still feel they are important enough to keep from mentioning.

What I liked:
-Preprogrammed cycles allowed me to just push and walk away (but still stay close, see below)
-The blender's ability to pulverize anything placed into it
-Super easy to clean
-Very few parts
-It is aesthetically pleasing enough that it doesn't seem out of place on a counter if it is left out

What I didn't like:
-Occasionally all items in the blender would fail to enter the blades, chopping with a knife ahead of time could usually prevent this... But part of me hates dicing food before putting it into a blender.
-After about 50 cycles when the blades were spinning down after a cycle it would squeak like an old car's engine. This would only last about a second or two, and I'm not sure if it is even a problem, the blender performance has been unaffected. I just hope it isn't a symptom of a bigger problem.
-Of the 100 cycles, once during a cycle the blender starting vibrating violently, causing the blender assembly to rotate on the counter. It then blew the lid off and propelled green liquid on to my upper cupboards and counter top. I am still unsure what caused this, as I was using the same ingredients and cycle I had in the past. I have since kept an extra eye on the blender and refrained from leaving the kitchen completely.

What I'm Indifferent About:
-Price: If you are reading this review, you already know how expensive the Blendtec is compared to other blenders. While I would not classify this product as a 'must have' kitchen appliance, I still think its performance is far superior to the traditional blender. I realize that this would not come without a price premium. This blender is not a deal, but I also do not feel like I was ripped off either.

This is the most amazing tool for my kitchen. Flour from wheat grains in two minutes!! Try tossing a few tomatoes,a stalk of celery, half an onion, and whatever else you like with a little coconut milk, whip it up for a minute and you have a hot cream of tomato soup not to be believed.
I use it 4 or 5 times a day, have retired my stick blender and juicer as this does the job better and faster.
I like that I can push just one button, one time, and let it do its thing without supervision. I can hide spinach in banana bread and no one has a clue. It takes some experimenting to learn just how much more flavor some things have when liquified - a clove of garlic has a lot more impact when liquifed than when merely minced, for example - but with a little practice I am now winging it with very nice results.
My sense is that having the veggies broken down so completely allows
more nutrition from each piece of food than simply chewing would yield. So not only am I ingesting more fruits and vegetables than I did before because it's so fast and easy, but I'm getting more benefit from each bit. It's not costing me any less, but I'm finally getting my value from the foods where it counts.

I have diverticular problems, but now I don't have to worry about raspberry seeds in my smoothies because they disappear, flax seeds are now safe for me as are many other similar foods.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that I feel this to be the best money I ever spent on my health and my palate as a delicious, nutritious liquid is only 45 seconds away; a minute or two if I want it warmed.

If you're serious about getting a real blender, it comes down to Blendtec and Vita-Mix. I don't think you can go wrong with either of these "real" blenders. All the others are fine, I guess. I'd been making do with a classic Waring and a cheap new thing that promised to circulate the contents in some kind of wave motion. Whatever. They both made enough noise to drown out a helicopter landing on my roof, and I seriously feared they'd fly apart and I'd die from shrapnel wounds. And they were such a pain to clean that I regretted pulling them out of the cupboard in the first place. I needed something better, and man, did I find it!

I chose the Blendtec for the following reasons:
-it's smaller
-no knobs or crevices to clean or gum up
-square pitcher pours better
-3 HP motor (!)
-excellent design and choice of materials
-Vita-Mix is incredibly ugly -- I wonder if that was on purpose or just some unfortunate accident?
-relatively quiet -- if you want to hear loud, come over and I'll dig out my old blenders and make you a smoothie
-Extremely easy to clean

Yes, I love it and haven't found anything about it I'd change.

After burning up my 5th or 6th blender since starting to make smoothies, I thought it was time to go for something a little more serious. While reading reviews here, I found out that a major coffee chain uses these to make their delicious coffee smoothies, and I LOVE those, so what the heck? Now I can make my own at home for a fraction of the cost, along with fruit smoothies and other recipes that would otherwise destroy other blenders or food processors. I'm VERY happy with the performance.

A few tips: Hold on to the lid when you start it up though, or it might pop off from the awesome power it kicks when the motor begins. Read the directions regarding frozen stuff to fluid ratios to get the best performance out of this blender. If you use the proper ratios of fluid to ice/frozen fruit, you'll make flawless smoothies by using the #3 button alone. Simple and efficient.

I've only had mine for a couple of months, but judging from the performance I think it MAY be my last blender forever!

Blendtec makes excellent products. I have owned this one (along with the 4 qt container as an extra) for a couple of months and have owned a Vitamix for about 7 or 8 years.

Both are great blenders. Comparison of differences:

1) Motor - Blendtec has a more powerful motor. Noticeably more powerful - 3 HP vs 2 HP.

2) Construction - Blendtec is not as substantial in construction. Vitamix feels more heavy-duty, and is heavier. Vitamix will not rock and shake as much. Both are made in the USA with BPA-free containers.

3) Noise level - I don't notice that much difference. Maybe Blendtec is a bit louder, but it doesn't bother me.

4) Controls - There are more controls on the Blendtec - slower/faster, pulse, and preprogrammed selections. For example: Smoothies is one of the preprogrammed selections. So this means the Blendtec will alter its speed on its own in order to make sure items get blended that might otherwise stay bouncing around on top. It is optimized for each setting. You can do the same thing manually with the Vitamix with the spin dial that controls speed. Physically the Vitamix manually spin dial is easier to use. The Blendtec has a digital counter to tell you how many times you have used it.

5) Warranty - the Vitamix warranty is longer - 7 years on ALL parts that can be extended to 10 for an extra cost. Blendtec is normally only 3, not including the containers. This can be extended to 7 at no extra cost if purchased at Costco. The Vitamix had to have its motor replaced once. They were happy to do it and paid for shipping BOTH ways. Customer service was excellent. I can't evaluate this yet for the Blendtec since I haven't had it long enough, but the warranty does not cover shipping both ways.

6) Height - the Blendtec is shorter and fits easily under the cabinets in the kitchen. The Vitamix, at 20.5 inches, does not.

7) Containers - Both are BPA-free. The design of the Blendtec containers, while less substantial, is better. Wider instead of taller, they are easier to clean and easier to get food out of. Plus, this design lends itself to better performance.

8) Performance - the Blendtec will spin and pulverize thicker food even when the Vitamix will sit there and spin with nothing moving on top. The Vitamix requires a bit more work in those cases. If the liquid is thinner, the Vitamix does not do this and spins fine. The Blendtec 4 qt 4 inch blade container is better in this regard even than the 3 qt 3 inch blade container. I don't have to push the food down much at all with the Blendtec. However, with the bit of extra effort, the Vitamix will end up blending just as well as the Blendtec.

9) Splashing - the Blendtec definitely splashes food more in the container than the Vitamix. Be sure to keep that lid on the Blendtec.

10) Guarantee - The Vitamix accepts a return within 30 days and pay for your shipping back:

Vitamix says:

"You get FREE return shipping as part of the Vitamix 30-day NO-RISK trial. Call Vitamix at 1-800-848-2649 for a pre-paid return shipping label. Contact Customer Service at 1-800-848-2649 option #2 to receive a Return Authorization Number."

Blendtec says this about their return policy:

"Any item purchased on [...] that is returned within 30 days of purchase is subject to inspection prior to a refund or credit being given. Shipping fees are non-refundable and in some cases a usage or restocking fee may apply. If a return is near the end of the 30-day satisfaction guarantee period, we ask that you please call a customer service representative so we can document what product is being returned. No refunds will be given after 30 days."



I have enjoyed them both. Both are great products. I like the Blendtec a little better in terms of performance, but the Vitacost did a good job, too. Vitacost customer service was really excellent.