Not a bad blender/smoothie maker

Like the above poster, I bought mine at Cosco for the same price after reviewing it at Consumer Reports. It does a fine job at crushing ice and makes a great smoothie. It is loud. What I find very helpful is the preprogrammed, one touch operation for smoothies. Just filler 'er up, push the button and let 'er go. It goes forward slow, then reverses slow, then forward again. The final spin goes at max speed for approx 10 seconds. I just wish it had stir stick down the middle. The glass jar is nice with solid fittings and great blade. The top fits nice and snug. It looks like it will hold up to my once-a-day hard use. I have not used the optional cutting blade so I cant comment on that. But I would suspect it would do a fine job also. As for durability? I don't know. I have only had it a month or so but CR says it is a pretty good little machine. The owners manual is pretty good and is easy to understand for those of us who read those things. Oster is owned by Sunbeam and this particular Fusion model carries a one year warranty -so save your receipt. I am.