The Vitamix has been great for my morning green smoothy - even the full stalks of celery get puréed smooth. And margaritas and making almond milk too. We found the best buy at BJs. It is the most basic model but a huge improvement over other types of blenders.

I got a refurbished vitamix from their website. It is one powerful machine. I will never use another blender.

Jamba Juice sells blenders

I agree with other posts. I have a Vitamix and would never buy another. I use it everyday to blend my green smoothies....kale, spinach, whole celery stalks, pear, banana. I also use it to make homemade almond milk. It blends almond and other nuts so effortlessly. It is awesome!!!

Ditto, I bought one quite a few years ago at Costco. The beaker is very tall and wouldn't fit under my upper cabinets. They then came out with a shorter one which I bought and is great for smoothies for two. The large beaker still gets used when I make soups. It does wonders to pulverize things - no need to strain anything. My only complaint is: it's loud enough to wake the dead and I feel I should be wearing ear protection.

Inga

We've owned a Blendtec for a year and have had zero complaints. It's pretty big, and can do it all. I use it constantly.

If you want to go the cheaper route and your fiance is willing to make smoothies in batches, look at a Nutri Ninja Pro; got that for my mom for Christmas and she loves it.

Vitamix. We used them exclusively at the Culinary Institute of America. They are the prefer tool of choice the in the food service industry. Professional won't have anything else. Family owned American business. Their warranty is excellent. 7 years for home use, 5 for industrial. Used ones are impossible to find on Ebay. No one ever sells one.

If you want the easy monthly payment plan, you can get it at QVC. Watch for them at QVC and watch the sales pitch show. They will demonstrate all kinds of ways to use one and lots of recipes. The recipe book you get with it is excellent. If you want to grind your own flour or nut pastes, I suggest you eventually order the specialized mixer jar for this purpose. It has a special blade that is designed for this task. The basic mixer jar will work for everything else.

The most basic version is wonderful. You don't need to spend extra money on any of the timed setting features. Rather, the manual dial system with high and low settings will do anything you need.

We use our Vitamix every day. I love my Vitamix more than my Bluestar range top. That's how much I love it.

^^Vitamix^^

Tonight for "dinner" we made espresso smoothies and a spinach salad. First I grind raw oats, then add 2 tbls each of flax and chia and grind. Then 2 shots of espresso, some yogurt, and a LOT of ice. The oats have to be powder. It thickens the mix and provides fiber. Lots of protein in the flax and chia.

Last night - Broccoli cheese soup. Favorite around here.

We've been increasing the number of vegetarian dinner nights around here.

Having used both a Blendtec and a Vitamix specifically for smoothies with hard ingredients, I strongly recommend the Vitamix.

My Blendtec was never capable of creating a very fine texture and I blame the results on its blade design - unlike Vitamix, the blade is blunt, therefore all the action happens as crushing and not slicing.

Maybe the commercial Blendtec is different, but the model sold by Costco cannot produce smooth smoothies at the same level the Costco-bought Vitamix can.

Another vote for Vitamix. Love it!

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing well. I am still looking for a blender, and came across a road show/special event at Costco.

They are selling the Vitamix 6500 Package Platinum - for $459.99

Is anyone familiar with this model? Is this a good price?

My fiancee uses the blender DAILY to make smoothies for breakfast.

She usually puts in fruit, nuts and juice or water. As she makes a large quantity every morning, and uses some ingredients that are tough, e.g apples, aloe vera and others, she wants to buy a blender with a larger capacity and one that is a bit tougher.

I look forward to your advice.

Thank you,

Oxonian

I agree with homechef59's recommendation of getting the basic "C" model Vitamix. In other words, I would save myself $100 and buy the Vitamix 5300 model which is in regular stock at at the Costco stores. (It was about $350 at Costco when I was there yesterday.) BTW: The current 5300 models at Costco now have the shorter container that fits on kitchen counters underneath the upper cabinets.

IIRC, the main differences between the 5300 and 6500 are: (a) slightly different control interface with the 6500 having an additional dial with three quick presets; and (b) the 6500 package comes with some accessories. I do not care about presets but you might like/need/want them. (IIRC, the presets were "soup," "smoothies" and "fozen desserts." Also, IIRC, the manual speeds markings on on the 6500 will give slightly different motor speeds than the ones on the 5300. ( My memory is that the 6500's dial adjuster goes all the way to maximum high where the 5300 has a separate toggle for switch for max high.) For the accessories, take a hard look at them and consider whether you would actually use them. You always can get the ones you want later if you develop a need for them.

FWIW, I bought my my 5200 from Costco 4 years and and have been pleased. Far and away the best blender I've owned. (The tall cannister/blending jar is not a problem in my kichen --- the current 5300 model is essentially the same product with a shorter cannister/blending jar). The thing is strong enough to mix concrete. Tried a Blendtec (Costco roadshow) and thought it equally capable, but the roadshow Blendtec unit was more expensive than the VM5200 on the shelves at Costco at that time.

I do not care about smoothies but, as ifoco mentioned above, the VM lets you puree soups without needing to strain them. Basically the same idea as smoothies except for being hot.

My biggest tests for making soups I do not have to strain: (a) ginger carrot soup (also use VM to make carrot juice for this recipe in addition to getting a creamy soup when everything is cooked together) and (b) creamed pea and spinach soup. All my previous blenders required straining from the blender to get these soups creamy smooth. The pea soup has a lot of fiber in it: petit pois (from Costco) with lightly cooked fresh spinach (bags from Costco with the stems), sweated onions, cooked rice (cream substitute for my aging lactose intolerant friends), chicken stock and secret herbs and spices. (Okay the herbs and spices are curry powder, white pepper & lemon zest).

For checking out earlier reviews, the current 5300 is a slightly newer version of the 5200 and the 6500 is a slightly revised version of the 6300. For further reviews from users, search the "cookware" forum at chowhound and the "kitchen consumer" forum at eGullet.

I have the same as JWVideo, 5200 from Costco. When I remodel I will have slightly lower cabinets so I will need to buy the shorter jar. But the vitamix awesome, loud but can blend anything. You can also buy a dry goods container to make stuff from nuts. Check the vitamix web site. I like the analog switches on mine, touch buttons tend to wear out over time through the plastic covers. I think Jamba Juice uses the Blendtec but I researched a few years ago and settled on the Vitamix. It's what you see in most of the professional kitchen on foodtv.

Costco used to stock a vitamix cookbook you can now find on Amazon.

the vitamix and regular jar will have no problem blending up apples, oranges, nuts etc in smoothies. It pulverized them so there are no seeds to be found from fruits like raspberries or strawberries. Sometimes you use the tamping tool to push them down to the blades. Keep in mind the jar is not to be put in dishwasher, but all you do to clean it is to add water to around the 5" mark, a couple drops of dish soap, blend it up and rinse.

I believe one of the various cooking magazines or websites did a test on blenders, including the Ninja, Vitamix and Blendtec. As I remember reading, the Blendtec did certain tasks better than the Vitamix. But for smoothies, the Vitamix won over every other brand, hands-down.

They suggested the Ninja as a lower-cost alternative, but said it was clearly not made as well, and thus would probably not last as long, as the Vitamix and Blendtec machines.

Hello friends,

I hope everyone is doing well. I was wondering if anyone has experience with the Vitamix Standard Blender Refurbished?

https://www.amazon.com/Vitamix-Standard-Blender-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00LBFUKIA

I am able to get it for about $250 with a 5 year warranty.

Does anyone have experience with this model?

Thank you very much,

Oxonian

It appears to be a reconditioned 5200. Go for it, it's a very solid design and the 5 years warranty provides enough confidence when using a "like-new" refurbished Vitamix.

Has anyone tried the "new" Wolf blender? I am getting one with their "complete your kitchen event" they ran this summer. I would have liked a Vitamix but this was somewhat free.

My son worked at Starbucks, and they use Vitamix. I worked as a bartender, and we used Vitamix. In fact, most restaurants (particularly high-end, but others as well) use Vitamix. I had a VM for several years, and when I changed the color scheme in my kitchen, I gave it to my son, who's still using it. The thing is about 10 years old, way out of warranty, but humming along. I have a new one and it's as dependable as you can get. Blendtec is another good brand, but they don't process *quite* as smoothly as a Vitamix, IMO. They are both made in America and are the gold standard. And no, I don't work for them in any way! Just a happy customer who wishes that every appliance I bought was as dependable!

We had a blendtec for a long time, my wife wanted something "different/newer". My sister in law had a vitamix and swore by it, so my wife bought one.

With in a week (she uses blender 3 times a day) she said that the blendtec did a better job but the vitamix was still a great machine. UNTIL after about 5 months it started making a "new" noise. They replaced the jar and belive it or not the noise got worse. After using a ninja loaner from a friend while the vitamix was being repaired (it was a fast turn around, they ended up replacing the unit, but sending it back with no jar when we sent them 2, but they remedied that quickly also), my wife decided to cut her losses, sell the now new vitamix on ebay and buy a blendtec designer series, I am not a fan of digital complicated controls but its 3 or 4 years old now and she is still happy with it.

I think either way you will love a blender from either company, they are both great machines. I think the jar design for the blendtec is where it excels, the vitamix to me felt like it didn't do as good a job.

I make soup in the blendtec wildside jar, all I do it put some tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, cream, brown sugar, cashews, and olive oil in the jar, all cold and turn the blender on it spins so when the soup is done its HOT, just pour it in the bowls, don't even put the stove on, from cold ingredients to hto soup in the blender lol... I use it as a party trick sometimes, when we have dinner guests, Ill throw a batch in a few minutes before we are ready to eat and it will be hot by the time the tables set!!!

Good luck with your choice, new kitchen appliances are fun. I know we normally do a lot of research before we pull the trigger on something that we purchase, and kitchen toys are important to us, lol.