The top dog among the blenders is Vitamix which generally gets rave reviews. But it's also among the most expensive. They often have demos at Costco.
Then when I was considering the Vitamix, there was a demo of another blender at Costo featuring the Blentec. Naturally the demonstrator kept saying that the Blentec was better, not to mention cheaper.
Cheaper sounds good. They both get good reviews at amazon, but I also see problems that some people report.
Next up on the ranking seems to be the Ninja. And at the bottom of the list (in capability as well as price) is the Magic Bullet. Though their commercials sure look good.
Actually the lowest end they were selling at Costco is the Oster.
The Breville brand is what Joe Cross uses.
[more later.]
Blentec Designer Series Wildside, $454.95. For blending large quantities ... is as good as it gets
Breville Hemisphere Control Blender, $200. Managed to keep up with the Vitamix and Blentec in certain tests and was one of the quietest.
Cuisinart PowerEdge 1000 Watt Blender, $199. Edged out by Breville and Ninja.
Hamilton Beach MultiBlend Blender, $40. Wasn't as capable as the Smoothie Smart or as feature rich as the Stay or Go.
Hamilton Beach Smoothie Smart, $40. The little blender that could.
Hamilton Beach Stay or Go, $40. More than capable of making great smoothies.
KitchenAid 5-Speed Diamond Blender, $150. Shining performance at an affordable price.
Ninja Ultima, $260. Powerful and more affordable than the Vitamix or Blentec.
Nutri Ninja, $90. Designed to compete with the NutriBullet. If you want to make smoothies quickly with some portable convenience, look no further.
Oster Beehive, $60. Not the budget blender you're looking for.
Oster Versa, $150. Performs well enough.
Vitamix 7500, $529. Easily one of the most powerful and capable blenders you can buy. But that level of quality won't come cheap.
Vitamix S30, $409. a hard time justifying the premium with its performance.
***
I think for me the two biggest issues would be cleaning and noise. I'd probably get used to whatever product comes out. Here's some more ratings on quiet (more expensive) blenders along with ease of cleaning ratings. And the smoothies rating, since that's probably what I'll use it most for.
The "world's quietest blender" is the Blentec Stealth. Too bad it's $1349. This might be the blender to get if money is no object. Noise: 6 stars. Easy to clean: 5 stars. Smoothies: 5 stars.
Vitamix 34013, $854.56. Noise 5 stars. Cleaning 4 stars. Smoothies 5 stars.
Hamilton Beach HBH850, $896.75. Noise: 5, cleaning: 4, smoothies: 5 stars.
Vitamix 1363 CIA Professional, $474.99. Noise 4, cleaning: 5, smoothies: 5.
Ninja Professional NJ600, $91.10. Noise 3, cleaning 3, smoothies: 3.
Breville Ikon BBL 600XL, $249.99. Noise 3, cleaning 2, smoothies 5.
Hamilton Beach Commercial Tempest HBH650, $518.65. A good overall performer. Noise:3, cleaning: 4, smoothies: 4.
KitchenAid KSB565, $99.95. One of the easiest to clean. Noise: 3, cleaning: 5, smoothies: 3.
Cuisinart SBC-1000, $83.66. Rock solid option. Noise: 3, cleaning: 4, smoothies: 4.
Breville Juice & Blend BJB840XL, $679.99. Performed as advertised. Noise: 3, cleaning: 4, smoothies: 4.
Cuisinart SmartPower CPB 300, $130. Noise: 3, cleaning: 4, smoothies: 3.
I guess any of them would do the job.
***
RealSimple tested 52 blenders and came up with 5 winners.
Best All-Around: KitchenAid 5-speed, $90.
Best Budget Blender: Oster 12 speed with food processor attachment, $40. Easier on the wallet then on the ears.
Best Immersion blender: All-Clad Immersion, $100. What's an immersion blender? It's hand-held.
Best Superpower: Vitamix 5200, $450.
Best single-serve: Cuisinart Compact Portable Blending/Chopping System, $70.
***
But wait, what about the Magic Bullet or Nutri Bullet?
AOL On Business Review: Does a lot of things right. But you gotta blend it for a lot more than 8 seconds to get it smooth. ... You need a lot of shaking and tapping to get everything to blend.
a positive review from the kitchn: we have it, love it, and use it. Its first benefit is the small footprint. Another advantage is how simple it is to use. They say it can do virtually any job in 10 seconds or less, and we found it to be true. [also generally favorable comments]
But from consumersearch: Billed as a do-everything countertop appliance -- ads claim the Magic Bullet works as a blender, a juicer and a food processor -- tests by experts and consumers reveal a somewhat different story. Although it does do a good job of blending liquids, whipping foods like eggs and grinding dry foods such as coffee beans and peppercorns, other foods like vegetables are a challenge for the Magic Bullet.
One of the big impulses for buying the Magic Bullet blender is creating smoothies. However, many reports say that the food processor struggles when blending solids such as fruits and liquids together into a smooth and appealing consistency. An excellent video review at InfoNOTmercial.com illustrates this and also demonstrates an alternative technique that produces better results -- shaking the blender. Reviewer Mindy Weinberg speculates that there's probably a good reason why that little tidbit is omitted from the Magic Bullet infomercials -- it cuts against the claim that the Magic Bullet is easy to use.
***
OK took a look at the InfoNOTmercial. Bottom line: we are very impressed with the Magic Bullet. If you generally find yourself cooking for 1 or 2 people, the Bullet is very useful and way more convenient than a full-sized blender or food processor. [but gets mostly unfavorable comments, though a few positive ones]
***
From dailyfinance: Does Very Well: Grinds coffee beans, froths milk for cappuccino, chops garlic, mixes smoothies and power drinks.
Does Not So Well: Chops onions, dices tomatoes, whips cream (more creamed than whipped), and makes a lot of anything.
Does OK, But In More Than 10 Seconds: Prepares hummus (unless you like crunchy hummus), combines leafy, cheesy, nutty sauces (like pesto).
Amazon price: $49.88. Gets 3.8 stars out of 5, which ain't great. So it probably works but not as well as higher end blenders (naturally).
***
There's also the even smaller Magic Bullet Mini for $29.99 which gets 4.5 stars. Comes with only one cup (so not for parties). Probably they like the size.
Then you have the more powerful (600 watt motor compared to the Magic Bullet's 250 watts, which means more noise) Nutri Bullet for $89.99 Comes with 1 tall cup and two short cups. (The Magic Bullet comes with 2 cups and 4 mugs.) Gets 4.2 stars. (The one they sell at Costco is more expensive, wait actually not, only $67.99 online plus shipping & handling. Maybe I was thinking about the Ninja.).
*** 4/18/15
Just found out my sister bought a NutriBullet at Costco (it's on sale this month).
Here's a review. It was generally favorable, but now seems to favor the Nutri Ninja Pro Blender 900 watts machine. The Nutri Ninja Pro gets 4.5 stars on amazon. The NutriBullet gets 4.4 stars.
*** 7/20/15
Already bought my Blentec (I'm happy with it so far using it a grand total of two times). But I'm always looking for confirmation. Here's one: Greensmoothiegirl likes the Blentec (she likes the Vitamix too, but promotes the Blentec.)
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