Customer Reviews

Vita-Mix 1300 TurboBlend 4500

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have owned the Vita-Mix Super 5000 since 1997, and I love it. I can grind flour, make juice, soup, ice cream (the fruit smoothies I make with this are to die for)--in short, every kind of food processing you can imagine. This baby is built to last and has a 7-year warranty.

In 2004, a couple weeks after the 7 years were up, I was very upset when it broke down. I thought, "Isn't that just the way these things tend to go with warranties?" I searched for Vita-Mix on the web (the URL is their name, and there is a link on this page, to them, too). I clicked on the button for service, got their 800 number, and called them at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, and they were there. The service rep was friendly and knowledgeable. She asked me to describe in detail the symptoms of my ailing Vita-Mix. She then said, when I asked about it, that even though I was past the window period to do so, the company would still allow me to buy a three-year extended warranty for $120. I jumped at that, and found out that I could use it to cover the parts (and shipping) to fix the problem. She said I needed an "assembly piece" that sold for $75 without a warranty, a "drive socket" worth $12.00 and the shipping of $9.95 would be no charge to me. She said she was including a small wrench and instructions and I can fix it myself. So right off the bat I used most of the $120 to fix my first problem.

I've never seen anything like this kind of service. When our tabletop water distiller broke, we had to send it in for warrantied repair, which cost $50 shipping (we paid), and weeks to get back. I think shipping the Vita-Mix to the company might have cost nearly that much, so I was delighted to have this option of getting the parts in 10 days to fix it myself and have my beloved Vita-Mix back working within a week and a half.

If you are ever in the market for a food processor that is professional quality that works great with amazing customer service, this is it. The price is very competitive for what you get, and the product itself is fabulous. (Only one tiny little caveat--which is true for =any= blender--wear earplugs when you do the very high speeds or you could hurt your ears.)

Update March 23, 2009: I've owned the Vita-Mix 12 years now, and I still love it! See my comment to this review with today's date which contains information on my experiences with the sales personnel of the Vita-Mix company today.

Update December 23, 2011: My Vita-Mix is still going strong after almost 15 years!

I love this blender!! It seemed pricey to me, but I've had mine for about a month (down to about $10 per smoothie!) but I love it and expect it to last a long time, based on what friends have told me about their machines.

Two great things about this blender. First, it is so easy to use: no assembling to use and disassembling to clean. It is one piece. I find myself using it in place of my food processor also because I don't have to go through the hassle of putting the pieces together.

Second, I have become hooked on "green smoothies." I can put anything in this blender and it purees it into a smoothie consistency. I put spinach and raw carrots in and then add whatever fruit I want with some cold water and the blender can make it into the consistency of thick juice. I'm experimenting with broccoli next. My whole family is eatting tons more fruits and veggies and that makes it worth the price to me.

My wife uses this a lot more than I do. We have fruit/veggie juices most mornings. For the most part, you don't have to worry about peeling or seeding - this thing just chomps up whatever you dump in and about a minute later you have juice. I use it to make ice cream - a handful of frozen strawberries and a cup of half&half and forty-five seconds later you have a pitcher of ice cream. I also used it to puree cooked onions for a vindaloo sauce - thirty seconds in this revealed a far better product (smooth with no chunks) than I'd ever gotten with my other food processor.

There are some drawbacks. It's expensive for one. It isn't always easy to get stuff like ice cream completely out (the stuff hides below the blades). It is noisy, but since time of use is usually short, it's bearable. It sucks 11.5 amps! - That's about as much as my 10" mitre saw does.

Unlike some others, I've found cleaning it to be easy. Dump some hot water in, add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid and turn it on. Do it again with clear water and it's finished.

My wife swears by it, and I find it pretty handy.

Regarding if this is overhyped or not---

The vitamix does do a bunch of "stuff," but you really shouldn't buy it as a food processor or ice cream maker or even bread maker.

What I REALLY use this blender for is whole juicing for health purposes. Because of a number of health problems I have, I find that eating a large number of raw fruits and vegetables really keep me healthy and keep my weight under control.

Because of the VITAMIX and ONLY because of the Vitamix-I'm able to whole juice(NO juice extraction-it pulverizes the fruit or vegetable whole and includes the fibrous pulp)the equivalent of 16 cups of raw fruits and vegetables a day. There is no other way I could ingest sucn a large amount, and eating this way has been such a health blessing for me.

SO, if you are buying this appliance for a food processor or an ice cream maker-no, that's really not thee best reason. But if you are interested in juicing fruits and vegetables whole for the health benefits, this is the only type of appliance(there's some other brands too out there, but I prefer this one)that will do the job. This appliance literally changed my life in terms of my eating habits.

First off, I bought mine in 1997 with the intention of just trying it out for a month and returning it for a full refund if I didn't like it. And for it's price, I really thought I wouldn't like it enough.

Man, was I wrong! I've had mine now for 8 years and I can honestly tell you I've used it AT LEAST once a day. I make baby food, I make frozen yogurt, I make smoothies, I make frozen coffee treats, I make juices, I make soups, I grind whole grains to make fresh flour and even breads with mine(I bought the dry blad container as well to do the breads and grind grains).

I can honestly say my diet has become MUCH healthier and it's so easy to just fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables by juicing the VITAMIX way. I went from just juicing fruits to making alot of veggie-fruit or veggie juices at this point that really work great! I notice the difference in terms of my energy, health, hair/nail/skin, and weight when I'm Vitamixing juices alot in my daily routine.

Do yourself a favor a buy yourself this product-it's easily my most cherished appliance in my kitchen and it really promotes a healthy diet for all family members!

AMAZING MACHINES. WE have two from the 1970's, I've upgraded them with better gears and blades a few years ago - these are truly awesome machines. Soups, breads, baby food, sorbets - I can't rave enough. In fact, when the COSTCO road show for Vitamix rolled into town, I upgraded to the 5000 model - AND HAVE USED IT EVERY DAY - a nice hot vegetable soup for dinner - EVERY night - a protein shake during the day - and a great fruit sorbet for a dessert. Figure if this machine saves you $20 for each meal you eat in - you can pay for the thing in a month or two. If you are spending eighty cents to $1 on EACH jar of babyfood - that is primarily SUGAR based - imagine how much you can save on blending up 40 ounces+ of vegetables, some pasta, some organic cheese - pour it into 1 ounce ice cube trays (Rubbermaid - $2 plastic kind) and you have 40 servings - for less than $2 or $3 of raw materials - you have saved yourself AT LEAST $25, more like $35! Do this once a week - and this is just your baby food, not even your dinners, bread, desserts - and you will begin to see the magic of this device. It puts money in your pocket. And they LAST FOREVER - the people that work at Vitamix and the entire Vitamix company have achieved a cult-like status for a really good reason. I just can't rave enough about these machines. And if you have an old one, Vitamix will even buy it back from you for an upgrade. AMAZING!

Ok, so I bought this blender even though I read the previous review and didn't get a warm and fuzzy. I was tired of watching my old Oster bounce around on my counter in the morning trying to handle the fresh fruit smoothies I have come to depend on as a substitute for coffee. First I went out and purchased a brand new Kitchen-Aide and on my way out the door a guy told me how great his Vita-mix was. He said he'd had it for seven years and it never missed a beat. Seven years seemed like a good deal to me but I figured I'd save myself the extra $250.00 and try out the Kitchen-Aide. The first time I used it, it bounced around my counter much like my old Oster and I immediately took it back. I came home and went on line and ordered a new Vita-Mix. This thing is fantastic! If you've been using a standard home-version blender this will blow you away. It's about as sturdy as they come. No frills, just a liquefying monster. I haven't had it in high speed yet and I have been able to liquefy everything. A little noisy but it's heavy rotating machinery. Because the base is so heavy and solid it's actually quieter than both my previous machines but it's running about 200 MPH. If all you want to do is mix some items together occasionally this is probably more blender than you need but if you're an everyday user like me, it's well worth the investment. More comments to follow in seven years.

An avid home cook that is a collector of both cookbooks and cooking gadgets writes this review. My family has been following the "Eat to Live" plan for a little more than 4 months and we were looking for way to make healthy food more quickly. We eat a lot of frozen fruit smoothies and destroy blenders fairly quickly. This blender is absolutely unbelievable! I am thrilled with my purchase of this blender.

I have summarized my observations of this product below:

Pros:

1. Very easy to make vegetable juices that retrain all the fiber and nutrition

2. Has no difficulty pulverizing rock hard frozen fruit right out of the deep freeze

3. Recipe book is jammed packed with recipes and ideas for a healthy lifestyle

4. Simple to use, excellent directions in the included cookbooks

5. There is an optional container for grinding flour

6. Buy whole organic wheat berries and make your own flour in 1 minute

7. Make your own organic brown rice flour at home in 1 minute

8. If you have ever looked for garbanzo bean flour you know how difficult it is to find (make you own in from dried beans in about a minute)

9. Use the machine to make your own gluten free flour

10. Extremely easy to clean you simply add 5 cups of water and a few drops of dish soap and run for one minute, then rinse

11. Make hot soup in less than 10 minutes

Cons:

1. Price

Overall I recommend this product to anyone that is looking for a way to make maintaining a healthier lifestyle easier and faster. This machine is fabulous!! This product has many more uses than I imagined when I first purchased it. I highly recommend this product to anyone that is trying to prepared healthy foods for their family. This product deserves many more stars than 5. I highly recommend this product.

If you are in need of a new blender, don't even hesitate with buying this one! I have gone to cooking classes where the chef would continue to rave about his Vitamix and now I know why! It is so powerful it blends ice down in seconds! You don't have to worry about overheating the motor. Sauces and soups come out so smooth. The second best thing about it is it is so easy to clean! You don't have to take it apart - you would need tools for that. You just add soapy water and whip it up and give it a quick swish with clean water and you are done! That alone could be worth the price! You may even use it more often like I do now as I no longer fear having to wash it out! You can't go wrong, you will absolutely love it! Don't even think about prettier blenders unless you are more interested in how it looks than how it works.

First, I am not an employee or vender writing commercial hype.

Yes its a good blender - A BLENDER, nothing else. It has a powerful AND VERY NOISY motor, such that its unpleasant to use for very long. For the store demos you dont hear this since the ceilings are 30 feet high, and their demonstration table is also high, with bowls of fruit etc blocking some of the sound along with a megaphone sales pitch.

Second at least mine 5000 series did an incredible job- ice would become invisible and freeze a drink, strawberries would be blended so thoroughly that there was no evidence of seeds. HOWEVER after about 3 months of casual use, ice blending was quite incomplete, and any fruit that was blended left tiny fragments of seeds etc - even after 5 minutes of auditorially painful turbo speed blending. Note - I even put the unit on a folded towel to help with the noise, it helped but not enough to make this a good kitchen device.

Third, for those bragging about cooking soup in the machine - thats baloney! If you start with hot water, yes it works, but dont think about using filtered tap water, because it will take forever and never be that hot. Does it really make sense to use a blender as a heater?

Fourth, you will notice during the demos how nice and shiny everything is, and how easy it is to clean. Well its almost easy if you rinse right away and that means not waiting 3 minutes! Other wise it will take some effort to remove whatever has stuck to the sides. The container also becomes permanently cloudy quite quickly and is really to large to fit nicely in the refrigerator (they dont recommend that) or easily under most kitchen faucets for cleaning.

Fifth, the white color fades into a yellow white, even if never exposed to sunlight. So a sligly yellow look makes it look cheaper than it is.

Sixth, if you use it to chop food, because of the depth of the container there is some moderate waste - hard to get the food out, it also sticks the the vertical ridges on the side.

Would I recommend a $400 blender - not quite. There are many nice units with a lot of power for around $50 and glass containers that really do clean nicely. A food chopper will do a better job then a blender, be easier to clean and zero waste; use a saucepan for soup.

Mine had or has a 7 year warrantee, which is nice but I could buy a new blender every year for the price and have money left over.

Overall: Good quality, Very Noisy, Blades dull fast, Container clouds quickly and looks unclean, awkard size and over priced.
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Update: Months later, I got of my okole' and contacted the company. The CSR was very nice, and after putting her ear to the phone decided the motor might have a lose bearing. Regardless she arranged for pickup, and the repair folks basically replaced the unit. While the "appearance" is corrected I really cant tell that it makes things super smooth - my guess is that the blades are made of lesser quality and dull fast but that is just a guess. Hot water from the tap is probably not healthy, but if that works for you why not? All my other comments stay the same but I will say I am VERY IMPRESSED with the Customer Service. Bottom line, as with most purchases, would we do it again? For me, not. Glass, quiet and a small easy to clean blender (Oster comes to mind) will do the trick. However I do love the VM store demos.