I saw ATK's reviews of blenders, and I think they picked Black & Decker as a "best buy". I also think they had a top limit of $100, and so their options were very limited. They preferred ones that had rather narrow jars, tapered at the bottom. I do have a Vitamix and use it several times a week, but I also have either a B&B or HB in the garage that I use only for puréeing chilies, and I'm afraid to use it for anything else. It does have a glass jar, which I like and think could be cleaned, but the Vitamix has a plastic jar, and I don't trust that with chilies.

For $200, ATK prefers the Breville blender, but you really do not need to spend that much if you do not want to.

I was set to get the Breville for $200 after reading the ATK review and then I asked myself exactly the same question - why spend $200 on something used so rarely. It might be better to buy a blender every two years than to invest in the Breville. And I do have a Braun immersion blender which I really love so there's that too.

I did want a glass jar but I don't think there are many of those out there so that is no longer on my must have list.

I will check out the Black and Decker.

The difference between an old style Osterizer or similar standard blender and a Vita-Mix is huge. I have both, though the Oster is more old than old style. It's perfectly fine for margaritas. If you want one for nearly free, try garage sales. They're often in the box. The Vita-Mix is a revelation. Once you've emulsified something in the Vita-Mix, it will have forgotten its old life entirely and no matter how long it sits (as in weeks) it will never come apart. Spoil, yes. Separate, no. Soups become velvetty. Not just smooth. Smoother than smooth. Want raw carrot sauce? No problem. Just add enough liquid so the blades will turn. Go on a higher speed and you have aerated carrot foam, which tastes a lot better than those words might sound.

I don't know about blender ice cream.

Hamilton Beach is plenty good enough for cocktails, milk shakes, etc.

Bought a Blentec at Costco a couple of years ago. Love it. Use it several time a week for all sorts of things. It cleans up easily. And if I made something more messy with it, it goes into the dishwasher

Not that it helps. but we still have an Osterizer that was a wedding gift in 1977. We pretty much just use it now for smoothies and margaritas. Talk about a workhorse, but I'm not sure about the quality you'd get today.

we got a nutribullet ... got it for my wife three years ago for her morning concoction. gets used at least once a day probably six days a week and has held up well

We bought a Ninja but neither of us liked that we'd still be 'chewing' our smoothies. Pineapple would never get smooth, greens were still chewy.

I sold it and we bought a Harley Pasternak blender. It blends real nice. It was $200 but still a lot cheaper than a Vitamix. I was toying with getting a Vita, then read the reviews on this one. It suits my needs.

The Blendtec is cheaper than the Vitamix. Especially, if it goes on sale at Costco again. And I think it actually is a better design. Unlike the Vitamix, it doesn't typically require you to push down the ingredients. The shape of the jar seems to work better for what I can tell by looking at the in-store demos.

You'd need to blend every day to justify the price of a vitamix. My eyes nearly fell out!

Vitamix ... the John Deere of blenders ... you pay for the name, or the color 'green'..

My blender died, Oster with the glass jar, that I really liked. I went on line and bought one just like it straight from the company.

https://www.oster.com/blenders-and-juicers/oster-classic-series-simple-blender---black---glass-jar---new-updated-look/006684-000-N01.html#start=8

Unlike the Vitamix, it doesn't typically require you to push down the ingredients.

If that’s true then I wish I had bought a Blendtec instead of Vitamix. I find I have to use the tamper every smoothie I make, pretty much the entire processing time. I know I’ll be told I’m not adding enough liquid but if Blendtec has a better reputation in this regard then there must be more to the story. Wonder how much the Ninja’s high and low blades help. Does the 1000 have them?

My Blentec just works. I can't remember the last time I had to push anything down. And I use it for tons of different things. Worst case, I just need to run it a little longer for things to move from the top to the bottom. Unless your smoothies are the consistency of clay, I don't see why you'd have problems.

We had a Ninja. It worked very well, but didn't last that long. About 3 years.

Given the price, I wasn't too unhappy, but when it died we found a good deal on a Vitamix. I prefer to buy things once and keep them for a long time. If you keep an eye on Craigslist and sales etc, a used, refurbished, or discounted Vitamix will eventually turn up.

My friend has a Blendtec, it seems like a very good blender as well. I didn't use it enough to say more.

The old fashioned Osterizers work fine for many things and are often available very cheaply at thrift stores or garage sales. I like their appearance too.

The reason I like my Oster, is because I am like the OP. It mainly makes margaritas, which is why I like the glass jar. It makes fantastic frozen margaritas. Sometimes a daiquiri. I cracked a plastic jar with the ice cubs one time. The other thing I use it for is to maybe smooth some gravy if I mess up with the whisk.

No smoothies, ever. Oh yeah, I did make blender hollandaise a la Julia Child and it worked great.

Re the Vita-Mix, I wonder how much is how demanding we are? I may just not have tried the things that make it need tamping, but I've never actually used the tamper. It's important to remember it's a blender, not a food processor. FOAS, indeed, the problem is probably not enough liquid. I can bring mine to a standstill (untampable) with raw carrots. But if they're in small enough chunks, the Vita-Mix will reduce them to liquid. I make no claims about BlendTec, but there's no other blender I know of, maybe Ninja?, that can do that. Because blenders weren't designed for carrots!

If you start your smoothie with softer, wetter ingredients and add harder dryer ones once you have some liquid in the jar, you might be able to avoid tamping.

My blender in the garage is Black & Decker, and I do like it a lot and would recommend it if you want to buy something under $100. It has a glass jar that is a nice shape and tapered at the bottom, plus it has the option of very slow speeds, which is necessary for certain applications. I use my stick blender more often, however, because it is super easy to clean, but I use it mostly for making mayonnaise.

Blender technology is way behind.

Do you have cordless power drills? Electric bikes? Have you heard of drones? They all use a new type of motors.

Blenders are still using old universal type of brush motors.

The new motors are brushless, higher speed and higher power, yet more efficient and smaller.

Soon all blenders will be using brushless motors.

dcarch

Brushless already exists in a blender but makes no sense that others are not following. Every time I pull out my corded old Braun stick blender I wonder why I can't replace it with a cordless as powerful as my baby cordless drill.

While I wait for that, I'm happy with my Blendtec. It has been a workhorse.

My smoothies are thick, but liquid enough to where they drink reasonably easily through a straw. I started with recipes found on the web, so I doubt I’m being overly demanding. But it just occurred to me, I’ve never used the jar that came with it; I immediately bought a smaller (6 cup) jar that seemed more suitable for personal use. I’ll try the large one next time.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the end result more than any blender I’ve had, and I wouldn’t mind the tamping if the darned thing weren’t so loud. I prefer to turn it on an auto setting and leave the room.

$13. I keep these in the kitchen. For the grain mill, I started with shooter earplugs, but I didn't think they did a good enough job. Even though they take a lot more cabinet space, the noise cancelling headphones are more comfortable, block a lot more sound, and don't require a lot of sanitary attention. They're also really light weight and fit a really big head, as well as being adjustable to small. They're great for the Vita-Mix if I'm using it longer than half a minute of pulses. :)

Re thick, my Vita-Mix handles that fine. I was just thinking if melon, pineapple, greens, and other watery stuff go in before apples, bananas and other more fibery stuff, and nuts/seeds/grain go in last, it would give the unit a fighting chance. FOAS, you may be right about the jar. I have the superduper sized jar.

jerzeegirl, did your Ninja come with a food processor along with the blender? Mind did maybe 7 years back and I find the food processor doesn't work well at all and I have no idea why. When you put chunks of anything in it, some of them are chopped small as they should be, but others just seem to spin around in the corners or something. I have to stop the food processor and stir the chunks up so many times it would be faster to just use a knife!

As mentioned by John, if you keep your eyes open you can buy a used VitaMix. I bought mine for $8 and some change in an auction box, but it was missing the lid and tamper. $20 or so got me the test of the "parts" and it works fine. I've never used the tamper. (shrug) I do not drink smoothies or shakes, as I dislike that texture, but my grandkids love them. The VitaMix works just fine for that, for under $30.00, but I hate to clean it and the "put some soap and water in and turn it on" doesn't work well for things down under the blades. I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay what they want for a new one. Did I say NEVER. Yeah...

I still have an old Osterizer on the porch, and Amanda does like smoothies, the green ones. (shudder) If she doesn't get a new blender for Mother's Day, I'll give her my old Osterizer, but I'm following this thread so I can give The Princess and her Brother a recommendation as to what they should buy if they decide to do that.

Elba, I have a similar problem with the food processor. It makes awesome smooth hummus but I can't chop vegetables for salsa in it, some pieces are really large and some just become puree, there's no consistency in size no matter how I "pulse" or don't.

Annie

elba: They had the blender / food processor combo at the store but I already have a Cuisinart and a mini chopper so I got just the blender alone. I haven't tried it yet because I seriously am not much of a blender user. I noticed that it does have the high-low blade which I imagine would be very good for ice (margaritas). The only drawback that I see is that the jar is huge.

The only way i have ever been able to get perfect chopped vegetables is to chop them by hand with a knife, although the food processor is great for shredding carrots and cheese with the shredding attachment.

The Blendtecs are really expensive. Practically same price as VitaMix!

Exactly Annie, and thanks jerzeegirl, oh well, at least I'm not alone!

Costco usually has the Blendtec for about $100 less than the Vitamix, even though I think the Blendtec might be a better blender. And every so often, there are promotions that bring the price down even more.