After burning through eight blenders, this one's a keeper!

We're unbelievably hard on blenders, as we make smoothies every morning as our regular breakfast for two. We burned through five KitchenAid blenders, with the rubber container-motor interface teeth getting stripped off in three instances, and the motor burning out in two. In each instance the KitchenAid folks replaced the blender without charge via the mail or though our local store, so we continue to think that they're a great company (Their mixer has been a consistent top performer for us). I should say here that the KitchenAid blenders all burned out over periods of extended use, not fairly quickly as did the ones below.

However, we finally decided to consider other options and next purchased a Waring Professional Blender. This was a beautiful blender on our kitchen counter top, fitting perfectly under the wall cabinets, so we were seriously anguished when the motor burned out on about the third usage. Thinking this must have been a fluke, we tried it again and -- same results. In both cases the vendor, Williams Sonoma, took back the blender without reservations. We next decided to try the Juiceman Professional Blender, and -- you guessed it -- the motor burned out after several weeks. We again returned it via the mail to Salton, which refunded our money with no problems (we'd bought it from them over the internet.)

We were now in a desperate state of mind, and decided that we needed something virtually bulllet-proof. We decided to look at what the professionals used, and observed several juice outlets. In each instance they were operating one of the VitaMix models. We compared prices over the internet, and then decided to buy ours at Sur La Table.

We've had the motor stop several times to date, but with this machine there is an internal reset mechanism which kicks the machine on after several minutes if it's been overloaded. At this point someone out there in Juicerland is probably thinking that we should have nuked some of the frozen fruit in the microwave first to make the work easier for the blender, and it's true that this helps. However, we believe that a good smoothie blender shouldn't have to be accommodated thusly. And indeed, since we've been holding down the container firmly while juicing there have been no more shut-offs.

The container

The 64 ounce container is one of the big pluses of this machine, although it prevents us from storing the container on the blender under our kitchen cabinets (we put it in one of the lower cabinets instead, while leaving the motor on the countertop). It comes with a plunger, which is very helpful in both stirring the contents and preventing air bubble build-up (which decreases blender effectiveness). The blades are built in to the container, and we've had no problem them thus far (after about 6 months)

The Motor

This is the most powerful motor of all those we've bought, although Juiceman claims that its motor is more powerful per its horsepower numbers. I confess that the different wattage and horsepower ratings are confusing (and likelly misleading), as they're not stated consistently from one maker's blender to the next. The only real test is to get the blender and make your smoothie.

One advantage of this unit over others that VitaMix sells is that it has TWO speeds. This will come in handy when dealing with difficult mixes like ours below. We always start at low speed and then switch to high.

The Noise

This blender makes much more noise than the others, so if you want small, pretty and quiet, this isn't the machine for you. However, if you want consistent results with difficult blending jobs, this is the one.

to conclude

So, if we had to do it all over again, we would have gone right to the VitaMix instead of fooling around with all those other blenders. It's the only one on the market that's honestly a professional-grad unit. I can't imagine any of the others lasting more than a few hours at a busy juice bar.

Our Morning Blend

1 apple
1 orange
1 grapefruit
2 scoops protein powder
2 handfuls of your favorite nuts (organic if available)
1 handful of organic raisins
1/2 handful of organic dried cranberries
1 ice cream scoop of organic nonfat yogurt
1 ice cream scoop of organic nonfat cottage cheese
1 handful of organic frozen blueberries
1 handful each of two other kinds of organic frozen fruit (mix up for variety
1 large glass of ice cubes

Peel and slice the orange and grapefruit, slice the apple, and run all through a juicer (we use the Omega, see our review on that)

Put the juice in the blender and add the other ingredients above. Set blender on slow and run for less than 20 seconds. Then switch to high and run for no more than a total of 30 seconds. If you need to run longer shut the unit down and wait a minute. Always press down on the container to anchor it as tightly as possible to the motor. A loose connection may shut off the unit.

This will make three large glasses, which used to be ideal for us when our son lived at home. Now that he's moved away we save the extra glass and share it the following morning (cover it in the refrigerator) in lieu of a fresh mix. We increase the quantity to two glasses by mixing in frozen berries with a hand blender.