Herring, how is the Breville? Any other Breville owners? I would prefer not to have the VM counter space concern. Breville with a 20% BBB coupon seems to be a possible solution. Are there things the VM or BT can do that the Breville cannot. Such as make soup? Do I need a blender that can make soup? Thoughts? Loved reading through this thread. My trusty Oster of 10 plus buttons and 10 + years did not make it through the second can of garbanzo beans for hummus the other night and gave up in a blaze of glory (or at least a spark!) It worked so well and I keep wondering if I had just let it rest a little...My children keep telling me I should not blame myself but honestly who else? It feels like the end of an era but I amazed it has made it this far given what I put it through, weekly sometimes daily smoothies with any and every vegetable I could find. I tried a juicer but I the juice without the fiber made me too hungry. I still have the juicer which my kids actually like using for apple juice when they are in season. Supposedly I can make nut butters with it but I have never tried. So now I seek an Oster replacement. When I first started emulsifying fruits and vegetables (I make a beet shake that I swear by during cold season) in summer 2011, I went to a Blendtec demo at a Costco an hour away. I really thought I would buy it. I went just for the demo. However, the one issue I had with the Oster was raspberry seeds. I was surprised that in theBlendtec sample they made, you could still feel the seeds. They lost me after that, plus I did not want the expense or counter space clutter. Especially when my $25 Oster seemed to do the job. My smoothies until two nights ago, were smooth!I have been expecting the Oster to give up eventually and I am surprised it took this long. If I had not done the garbanzos I think it would have been fine. I originally thought of just getting a new Oster but I thought why not get something more. However, I am still not entirely sure what more I am getting. I mostly blend whole frozen fruit like mango, leafy vegetables (yes the ubiquitous kale), and garbanzo beans for hummus. I was also blending sweet potato type soups however I will no longer need that I hope. To tide me over I have already bought a Breville immersion wand and chopper bowl (one limitation is it only has one blade so seems to chop everything one way!) Which I used to puree soup and make a smoothie yesterday. So far ok although the smoothie took longer than I would like. One thing I am curious about since I have been making a lot of mung and azuki bean soups lately (feel free to put this in the kale category, I had never heard of either before a year ago!) I did try the Blendtec 3 ingredient soup at the demo. For those who own either machine, how often do you use it to make the type of soup they hype at the demos? Not to blend ingredients before or after but to actually cook the soup in a short amount of time?I would not imagine the Breville can do that or can it? Do I even need that feature? Thank you for any thoughts and opinions

Good evidence that your DH likes you. Those are serious toys. Take the blender for instance: On another thread, people talk about using a hand stick blender for making soups or smoothies. Let's take a look at the reality: A hand blender has a low power (300w) motor running at less than 16,000 RPM with a 1.5 inch blade. A counter top blender has a 500w motor running at 20,000 RPM with a 2 inch blade. A Vitamix has a 1,800w motor running at 38,000 rpm with a 3.5 inch blade. What makes a blender effective is the maximum blade speed. The faster the blades rotate, the better the food gets chopped. It works out that: The hand blender can go up to 80 miles per hour no-load, with load probably 40 miles per hour. The typical counter top blender can go up to 119 mph n-load, with load probably about 60 mph. The Vitamix blender can get up to 350 mph, and maintain close to that speed under load because of the high power motor. You will find the Vitamix doing wonderful things for you, more than just soup and smoothies. How about making your own flour from grains? If your model does not come with an acoustic shield, you may want to figure out a way to cut down the noise. It can cause cumulative hearing damages, especially around children. The Vitamix is very noisy. dcarch

Oh dear - let's see what I did :-) Basically, I started with the Gazpacho recipe in WS but wanted it chunkier and easier. Chopped 1 red onion in Vitamix - saved 1/4 cup for another recipe. Put 3/4 to 1 cup in a bowl for later. Add 1 chopped seedless (skinned or not) cucumber, 1.5-2 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes(or whatever you want - I used a mixture of Amish paste, heirloom, and regular tomatoes), 1 TB lemon juice, 2 tsp fresh chopped parsley, 1 TBS oil to this bowl and refrigerate Start a second bowl and put the rest of the onions in it. Core(if you want) another 2 lbs of tomatoes and quarter - put 1/2 in the bowl and the rest in another bowl.(or just combine them all - it works a well as you are going to liquify everything in the end). 1 large or 2 small garlic cloves Salt and pepper to taste (I keep things low sodium but added a bit for our guests) 2 TBS lemon 1/2 tsp fresh thyme 2 TBS Sherry vinegar (I didn't have any - so used 1 TBS Apple cider vinegar and 1 TBS port wine - LOL) Blend 1/2 of the tomatoes going from 1 to max until completely smooth. Then turn to level 1 to "burp" it. Pour into a dish Add rest of the tomatoes and another cuke and repeat. Just before serving, add the fresh veggies to the soup or ladle soup and have guests add the veggies. Now, the WS calls to use 2 cups of cubed french bread and blend that into the first batch of tomatoes(in the vitamin) but I didn't do that step - I didn't have any french bread and wasn't sure about how it would do. Serve with either plain yogurt or sour cream. Hope I didn't miss anything.

The Vitamix is a bit taller than the Blendtec, so it doesn't on the counter under the cabinet with the blender on the base, though getting the smaller container may help with that. I find that all the pieces that go with it, the lid, poker thingy, container, base, all end up on the counter. If it had a single convienent location to live close to where it was being used it may get put away more often between uses. I'm going to admit something here... My DH and I are not the most tidy people! There, I said it ;) ha Seriously, we are awful at putting things away and keeping things tidy. One of my goals with my new kitchen (and new house as we are building from the ground up) is to create spaces that are easier to keep clean and tidy. That said, I'm a messy person who hates mess, I know, it doesn't make sense! I would rather not have anything live on my counter at all if I could help it!