Blendtec Total Blender Classic - Includes FourSide Jar (75 oz) - 10-Speed Professional-Grade - High-Power Kitchen Blender with 6 Pre-Programmed Cycles - Black

Wowza! This is an amazing blender. But then it should be for what you pay for it. It is really robust and has fantastic function buttons for things like "smoothies" and "soup" which makes it really easy to make them. It is very powerful and relatively easy to clean (read the manual -- you actually put water and a little dab of dish soap and then run it). A friend has one of these and making smoothies at her house convinced me I need one as well. It comes with a book of recipes and you can find loads of Blendtec recipes on the internet. It has a little counter that keeps track of number of uses at I just made it past 100. Another friend who has one is in the 900 range. This is the little engine that just keeps going!

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.

I’m surprised it has taken me this long to write a review. Sorry if this is a bit of a novel, but this blender has changed my life!! I’ve been using the Blendtec for the last two and a half years to make veggie shakes – it is an amazing machine. Some folks prefer juicers as opposed to a blender, but I find that you waste all of the fiber, which is good for you and fills you up as well (you get something that is a bit more like juice with a juicer, but the Blendtec does an amazing job at making it pretty smooth and you don’t waste any part of the vegetables/fruits). I’m sure the Vitamix works well also, but the Blendtec seems to be more powerful (plus the Vitamix looks like it was designed in the 70s). Quickly after I started juicing I started to lose weight, after 5 or 6 weeks I dropped 15lbs, while still enjoying what I wanted to eat for most meals. With regard to recipes there are all kinds of concoctions. I usually buy about 4 days’ worth of veggies when I shop. My concoction is very green and consists of the following: Kombucha (full bottle - as you need some liquid for blending). I’d recommend the one with Chia seeds in it as it adds sweetness, tastes great, and has no carbonation (and Chia seeds are really high in Omega 3). Fermented drinks are really good for you and help break down foods in your system. Whole Foods sells their own brand of Kombucha as well (at least in the Bay Area). Coconut water is a good alternative, but I don’t care for the taste. Everything organic (not necessary, just personal preference): Always 2 of the following (I mix it up): Kale, Dandelion greens, collard greens, broccoli, or watercress (I use half the bundle of kale, etc, that whole foods sells, except for the watercress which is smaller - I use the whole thing that Whole Foods sells as the serving). A roma tomato (cheaper than slicer tomatoes) 4 or so good size white mushrooms 2 medium size carrots or one large carrot 1/3 cucumber (I like the taste and it has some other benefits such as Vitamin E); I sometimes purchase red bell pepper in place of this (high in vitamin C, but I sometimes have a hard time finding the organic variety). Starting out, you may want to add fruit if it is too bitter for you – I typically added pears when I did, or sometimes strawberries for flavor (4 or 5 strawberries can impact the flavor quite a bit if you want it sweeter). Occasionally I also add some beets as these are really good for you (a great detoxifier as well). This provides for about 40-48oz of liquid goodness (I really do love the flavor - it never gets old). I usually drink this 5 days out of the week for dinner (Sunday through Thursday). It takes me 15 minutes flat to prepare this. I usually supplement it with something else - perhaps yogurt or a small serving of fish (I also like to eat a small piece of dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa). For breakfast or lunch, I eat whatever I want (although, I’ve cut back on dairy and eggs recently). On weekends I usually splurge as well (beers, pizza, etc). I actually eat more than I used to. But every morning when I step on the scale I am right at 160lbs (I’m 5’8” with an athletic build). The fiber likely has a lot to do with it. And I’m not a big exercise buff - on a good week I’ll run twice (3 miles each session), and I’ll do a couple of free weight exercises once or twice a week. I’ve always suffered from high blood pressure (always at the high-end of pre-hypertension since my mid-twenties). I’m turning 40 next month and my last blood pressure reading was 104 over 70! Although, I have to admit that I became a Pescetarian last year (cut out meat except for seafood (wild only as a preference)), and I saw my biggest drop over the last year, but it could also be from the cumulative effect of the veggies over the past two and a half years. I turned to the blender after feeling like I was running out of energy and was having a harder time getting through the week at a stressful job. I am glad that I did - physically, I feel great (no medication, ailments, etc). I grew up on the East coast eating processed foods - I always had a microwave hot pocket in my hand so it was a radical change for me. The blender idea got in my head after watching a couple of those juicing documentaries from a couple of years ago (“Fat, Sick, and nearly dead” was one of them). Anyhow, I’m sure I could go on and on (I know some of my co-workers would tell you the same, especially in the first year - although I’ve probably been responsible for over 15 Blendtecs sold among family, friends, and acquaintances - I should really start getting kickbacks from Blendtec). Admittedly it has not worked for everyone (can’t get into the taste or just can’t commit to it on a regular basis), but the majority of the folks have gotten a lot of benefit out of it and quite a few have become full converts like me. Anyhow, this has just been my experience with blending and I wanted to share it in the hopes it might help others with their health.

I waited a few weeks before entering this review to get a better perpective, and this blender does not disappoint! It is solid, simple, and does exactly what it claims to do. Cleaning could not be easier (use hot water to rinse out because of the sugars in fruits and my favorite sweetener, agave.) Every few uses put a couple drops of dish soap in with a bit of hot water and run the blender for a few seconds. This blender fits under my cabinets even when in use. The programs are good, but I find myself using the manual speeds just as much. *Weight Watchers* -- If you are in Weight Watchers, or are considering it, this is a great tool. I use this every day on the program, and sometimes twice a day. On the Points Plus program, fruit and veggies are not counted against you, so just toss in whatever you have, fresh or frozen, then some spinach, then some of your favorite fiber powder or protein powder, sweeten with splenda or my choice of agave, and finally add crushed ice on top. This gives you a large smoothie with between 0-4 points depending on how you sweeten it. Make sure to read the instructions, as this will give you great hints such as placing the liquids on the bottom, fruit/veggies in the middle, and ice chips on top. This blender goes through anything! Peel, core, seeds, ice, whatever. Don't bother doing too much prep, one of the excuses I used to have was that eating healthy foods took too much time. Just toss it in and turn it on then rinse it out. Hint: Buy larger, stronger straws. Sucking down a delicious whole foods smoothie is more fun with a proper straw. I use a Starbucks reusable cold cup with it's own straw. This (and any other high power unit) is quite loud. But most cycles last less that 40 seconds, and some are done in much less than that. To make great (and much cheaper) Frappacino drinks, buy some xanthum gum which prevents separation. Use Starbucks Via (iced variety), add cocoa powder and sweeten as desired. Add ice chips, skim milk, and xanthum gum. For weight watchers, the Via contains a bit of sugar, so beware of adding too much additional sweet stuff. Other stuff you can make include: healthy dips, soups, salsa, hummus and so much more. Yes, this blender is expensive, but it is of such higher quality that it is well worth it. Also, the money you spend on this is nothing compared to the expense of health related expenses of being like me: overweight, out of shape, and not eating fruits/veggies. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy mine. UPDATE 21 MONTHS AFTER PURCHASE: Still going strong after 21 months! The counter reads 601 smoothies/sauces/soups and much more. This should give you an idea of how much we use ours... nearly every day. We have 'sneaked in' tons of veggie of all colors and types and our kids love it! Then we tell them there was spinach or kale in it and they shrug, and say 'well, I guess we like kale now.' As long as it's blended in this awesome blender anyway...

I'm one of those people that usually has to learn something the hard way. Blenders were no different, apparently. I went through "a few of them", and luckily I was able to escape with my wallet relatively unscathed. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was going to need that wallet. Because what I needed out of a blender was apparently industrial strength. I make smoothies like a lot of people, but for some reason the mix of ingredients I use invariably "lets the smoke out" of 99% of the blenders out there. Now I'm a pretty simple person (if having to learn the hard way wasn't an anvil-shaped clue). In my world, if I'm not blending rocks (if I'm actually blending something edible) then a normal blender should be able to...blend. I don't know, maybe it's something about the name. So after learning the hard way, it took some coaching to make the leap to an even-more-serious blender than I had tried before...and I had tried some blenders. To be honest, after going through all of those inferior blenders, the opinion only solidified more. A blender should be able to blend. So if you have to pay $400 for one, it better do it perfectly, and for a long time. The choice for this model started with friends recommending it. Then it was onto the "Will it Blend" videos. They're pretty effective. Especially the one where he blends cubic zirconians into dust. I figured "okay, if it'll do that it should handle my smoothies". And it did, for the most part, and for a while. One problem is with certain ingredients. The unit will vibrate *very strongly* if you put certain food ingredients in together. No, nothing extreme like the blend videos. Normal food (okay, maybe "tricky" food). A blender like this shouldn't vibrate enough for an owner to have to hold it down with both hands so it doesn't vibrate off the counter. And there's apparently another problem when the unit vibrates with heavier-duty food ingredients in it--the digital display can flake out. Just like mine did. After over a year of use, the display lights up basically whenever it feels like it. Yeah, that's not good. The other problem is the "heavier food ingredients" I mentioned. In my case, it was a magic ratio of ice and...of all things...peanut butter. Warm peanut butter is nothing, I can blend that with my eyes. Cold peanut butter--made cold by ice especially--that's apparently a different story in the alternate universe of blending. PB and ice is no synthetic diamond, but apparently it's up there. With one blend, I could actually smell ionized air from the blender. Of course I stopped it immediately. And cursed at it to give me my money back. My final criticism (okay, no promises): the jar. I was very careful when I made the move to buy this. I read a *lot* of the reviews on here. (Thanks for those by the way, and yes they really do help.) One thing I saw a lot of was people complaining about the lifespan of the 2 quart jar. Most of the problems seemed to be caused by dishwasher use. Now for me, I'm thinking a $90 blend jar should be able to withstand a lifetime of dishwasher washes on heavy-duty wash using hot water and the strongest detergent you can get your hands on. I sort of refuse to change my mind on that, $90 is a lot of money for questionable engineering. I did manage to promise myself to only hand wash mine, though. And I have. It's been 14 months now. I've always used regular dish soap, warm water, and my hand. Seriously. And after 14 months, about 15% of the gasket that marries the blade mechanism to the jar has 'particle-ized' and deposited itself in a ring around the jar's base that surrounds it and forms the 'feet' it sits on when it's on the blender. And that material is apparently not optional because the blade is now noticeably harder to turn when you try to with your hand. Uh yeah, this shouldn't be. I don't know how much more life it has. I do know I could not have babied it more. And I know if it doesn't last at least another 10 months then what's wrong isn't how we treat them--it's how they're designed. Okay, enough of the criticism. I'll give the Blendtec this--it is extremely powerful for an appliance that takes power from a normal wall outlet. And it has blended some 250 44 oz smoothies (I do it in two 22oz batches, one after the other, so really it's 500 uses). It only faulted twice (once when it ionized air, and again when the display developed a mind of its own). That puts its performance in a world of its own. If I had to bet, I'd bet this thing will last another 4 years. And I understand who I am--I'm most likely a heavy-duty user. Still, if it doesn't last another 4 years I'm going to be getting on the phone with someone, and they're either going to correct the problem or I'm going to make my own video with my own blender, complete with its level of performance. And then I'm going to turn right around and try the competition. This is a seriously good blender for the money...but for the money we're talking about, we deserve excellence.

I have owned this blender for 8yrs and 11months. It has helped me establish the healthiest habit of my life in my daily smoothie. It has been used and abused nearly every single day, reliably blending up overloaded jars with up to 80 fl oz of smoothie. Today, my beloved blendtec has finally bit the dust. I can hear the motor slipping and it can no longer perform as intended. I still rate it 5 stars though, because 9 years of daily use is better than any other kitchen appliance I have ever owned. Hey Blendtec, I would love to keep it in the Blendtec family. But unfortunately your V-named competition is offering a sale taking their comparable model to $320 instead of $400 with a 10-year warranty. If I were to somehow stumble upon a discount for the Total Blender, I would absolutely run it back in a heartbeat. Otherwise my house will likely no longer be a blendtec house.

Update Sept 2015: my blender has started malfunctioning. I'm pretty angry about it. I have used it 2-3 times a week,sometimes less for 2.5 years. Around the 2 year mark, the motor started doing wierd things while blending---- it would get incredibly loud... I mean it's very loud already but I'm talking crazy ridiculous loudness at times, it would shake uncontrollably-- back and forth, side to side. Sometimes there is a smell when blending. Not completely like a fiery smell but something similar. Now it has started really struggling to blend some simple fruits that aren't even frozen. And today the motor is running wihout spinning the blades. I reviewed blenders for months before buying and had a very hard time first deciding to go with a ninja-type blender for around $120 or with the Cadillac level of blenders (blendtec or vitamix). All the things I read brought up points about how the latter 2 blended at speeds or temps that kept more of the molecules and whatever of the foods intact and is better for me. So I looked only at blendtec and vitamix. It was tough to decide. I chose the blendtec because of the more compact size, plastic pitcher(I break things easily) and people said that more button options was better. I chose these features despite many reviews stating that the vitamix motor would really last for 20+ years and blendtec couldn't stand up to it. I wish I would have listened. After having invested almost $500 in this blender, I'm not going to spend so much only 2.5 years later. I guess I'm screwed since I bought it here on amazon and apparently blendtec doesn't accept returns when not bought directly from them. I would no longer recommend this Blendtec blender. I love this blender. I'll admit that after 2 uses I wondered if I'd made a mistake spending so much on a blender. But I got the hang of how much liquid to use, order of ingredients etc. after 3-4x. I read reviews btw blendtec and vitamix for 2 mos. I ultimately chose this bc it fits on the counter. It blends so perfectly. Greens-- kale, chard, dandelion,spinach; fruit--berries, bananas, oranges, apples. Veggies--beets, carrots... These are what I've used so far. Strawberry seeds are no problem ( but on my first 2 blends they were very coarse) I think I didn't use enough liquid. All my smoothies and juices have come out unbelievably smooth. I love LOVE LOVE LOVE how easy this is to clean. It's a joke. Just rinse. Drop of dish soap. Rinse. I use it currently 2-3x day and I know I wouldn't use it nearly thisuch if cleaning were any kind of an issue. I will say that my only issue is that u can't push stuff down while blending (I think u can with vitamix) however I haven't had to stop and push after my first few blends. It's all about getting the hang of how much liquid to use for what you're blending. But it comes naturally with use, it's a no-brainier. I feel that bc of vitamix being so tall it would be harder to fit under the faucet and rinse. And like I said, I'm over the moon regarding ease of cleaning the blendtec. It looks good on the counter too. I love it. No complaints.

I have been through several traditional blenders using them for basic blending purposes and wanted to step it up to the next level and try juicing which led me to look at the Blendtec. It was highly recommended on many juicing sites I looked at. I thought, "no, I can't spend that much on a blender". I tried a couple of others and ended up returning them because my vegetable juices were pulpy and chunky even after pulsing waaay over the normal time suggested. I did some more research and saw so many recommendations for the Blendtec, many saying the same thing I am saying here...it does the job perfectly and more (making sauces, nut butters, soups, mixes dough and even makes ice-cream.) All you have to do is press the button for whatever you are making, and it does the rest within a short time. It is quite loud, but not for long as it starts out slow and works up to a high speed then stops automatically when the job is complete. A 10-year old could do it. (With supervision, of course). Most importantly, it IS worth the money spent. The electronic monitor tells you exactly how many time you have used it...not necessary for my purposes, but I suppose those that use it in smoothie shops may use this. Yes, I understand this is a favorite for commercial use as well, but I'm sure they opt for a higher priced heavy duty model. This one is perfect for my use. The clean-up is easy...rinse, pop out the lid insert and put it all in the dishwasher. After using daily for a month, it looks as new as the day I took it out of the box. Take time to read the description and how each jar is used. This simple cook, found it all fascinating. Blendtec helps you understand how the vortex construction works with different ingredients and while you may get by with just the main set-up, to maximize the success of the different things you can make, such as mixing dough and making ice-cream, you may want to consider the other jars as well. Overall, I couldn't be happier and wish I had gotten a Blendtec years ago! My favorite "perk" has to be the fact that the bottom is all intact... no need to unscrew and clean caps or rubber seals or risk the leakage that can occur with traditional blenders. If I were young and creating my Bridal Registry, this would be at the top of the list!