Blendtec Total Classic Original Blender and 75 oz FourSide Blender Jar - Kitchen Blender Bundle - Red

My husband and I have decided that we're too fat to enjoy life the way we want to, so we decided to eat more fruits & veggies and cut down on all the processed, prepared, fatty food that we're used to. You know - the food that tastes good. But the only way this is going to work is to a) find something tasty to substitute and b) find something easy. So we thought of smoothies. Which meant we needed a blender. A good blender. Something that can blend a brick and clean up after itself. A friend of mine has a Vitamix that she loves and uses every day, but $499 was a little much for me to spend on a blender. So I put it in my wishlist and my cart and hoped that the price would go down or that someone would like me a whole lot. A couple years later, Amazon told me that they would give me 20% off a small appliance if I used my Amazon card. My friend's blender is still going strong, so I thought, why not? Before spending that much on a blender (80% of a lot of money is still a lot of money) I looked at what other customers viewed after viewing this item. And I found Blendtec - you know, by that youtube guy who blends ipods and stuff. After spending several hours comparing reviews, I picked this. The fact that it came in red didn't hurt. :) It came yesterday. For dinner last night, we had Green Pineapple Paradise (page 15 of the included cookbook). For breakfast this morning, I made a strawberry banana smoothie. For dinner tonight we had a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie (chocolate almond milk, PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter - 85% Less Fat and Calories - 6.5 Oz , 1 walnut, 1 banana, ice, and some baby spinach.) Don't gag - you couldn't taste the spinach, and I didn't put in enough to turn it green. Actually, all three smoothies had spinach, and you couldn't taste it in any of them. I didn't make enough of the choco/PB/banana/etc smoothie for two, so I made a small blueberry/strawberry/walnut/and you guessed it - spinach smoothie later, and it was wonderful! There are 6 pre-sets, and the smoothie setting takes 30 seconds. Everything was smooth enough to use a straw. Yes, it was noisy. Very noisy. But if you're dealing with something that can blend a rake (not suggested) you should expect noisy. Clean up took literally 2 minutes - rinse, put in warm water and a squirt of dish soap, hit the up button a couple of times and let it run for 5-10 seconds, dump and rinse, and you're good to go. I suspect cleaning up after making peanut butter might take longer, but for smoothies, this is great! OK, it's not self cleaning, but it's almost as good. Tomorrow we will attempt Tortilla Soup (page 109 of the included book). Believe it or not, there's a soup setting that's supposed to make your soup kinda hot! You can make ice cream too, but you have to start with something frozen to do it, like fruit or ice cubes. I might save that for the next day. We have gotten 3 full, filling, tasty meals out of this over the course of a day and a half, and clean up took about 10 minutes total - that includes washing it right out of the box. We've cut back several hundred calories without feeling hungry. We spent $50 on groceries and still have a fridge full of fruits and veggies. If we keep this up, we'll be skinny and rich in no time. ETA: Ok, HOT isn't the word for the soup - slightly warmer than lukewarm describes it better. It tasted good, though. And cleaned up in about a minute. 90 seconds (soup cycle) in the blender will aerate the soup, so if you don't like it frothy, stop it early and heat it up the conventional way. Still 5 stars though.

I bought this in 2013. Only used it 3221 times. For the past year or two it has sat dry in storage around room temperature. Now both my containers leak heavily through the bottom seal. It's too much leaking to use. Before going into storage this wasn't an issue. Looking into options I found that it is basically unrepairable, there is a class action lawsuit being researched around the issue and a new container is on sale for $120-$150 US. I tried calling Blendtec customer service and was informed that there was a 5 hour wait on the phone. So, not knowing whether the seal has improved in the past 10 years, I found a used Vitamix+container for the same price. They have an ecosystem of replacement parts where I could only find a repair done with soldering iron, silicone sealant and skateboard bearings. I'd do that, but don't know if it is worth the time given an uncertain outcome. There are aftermarket jars...looking at Alterna which is serviceable with parts availability and includes tamper and is cheaper. So...things to consider if you are thinking long term on your purchase.

I eyeballed the red blender for a couple of years not wanting to pay $299 (at the time) for it but really wanted a nice blender. Purchased this one back in 2011 so I have some years on it. This has been used to make my husbands biweekly black and white milkshake he has with his cheese burgers, so its been likely used (not even icecubes, although I did dabble with making almond milk for a few months). There was a metal piece (the first year) that broke off inside the container while blending, thankfully it was covered and Blentec who made good on it with a no hassle replacement, so good customer service and product backing, that means alot these days. So we have good mileage on it ( a little over a 1000 uses) for 9 years but nothing that required a workhorse, just softball stuff. I had some chicpea flour in my wishlist and thought, dont buy it make it, the first time I ever tried it and did so pulsing, the container now leaks and doesnt spin right and the motor sounds way off. So I loved it for milkshakes but I would not use the blender for anything like grinding things, unless they are soaked (like almonds). I have a 25 year old Osterizer that does shakes (even today) just as well as a Blentec though and so I cannot justify the cost of some of these sleek looking blenders, I think I paid something like $19 for the (25 year old) Osterizer that works equally as fine for milkshakes as the ($299 /9 year old) Blentec and tonight we need to fire up the Osterizer because Blentec isnt working. I so miss the way the older generation made things, they were built to last, they might not have the bells and whistles but they could do the job for a really long time. Its great for milkshakes (soft jobs) for 11 years, and Im sure it can do more than just that but I dont believe it could do too many of those for the long haul.

This is my second Blendtec. Old one, 12 yrs old and 5000+ smoothie cycles, is still going strong. Was tired of moving it from place to place so bought a second one. Same smoothie recipe, same everything, new one shut down with “overload” on first cycle. Smelled “hot motor” smell. Waited 5 mins, ran with no jar like instructions said, then ran again. Worked fine, but still had the hot motor smell again. Motor is rated at 1560 watts just like the old one and looks the same. Will run a few more times before contacting customer service. Old one still powers through any and every thing. Not the same? Jury is still out. Also, the new buttons with weird icons are stupid. Use words. Had to look in the manual to see what was what.

What have I been doing with my life? I now make smoothies that rival any "real" smoothie outlets. No more cursing and poking and stirring. And I made hot, delicious tortilla soup in five minutes. HOT SOUP. In FIVE MINUTES. It's bananas. I can't believe how much money I've wasted on cheap blenders. I could not be happier. Worth every penny. Easy to clean, nothing to take apart. It's a banger.