Vita Mix blender or another brand
 

[B]does anyone know if there is another brand of mixer that would be the equivalent of a Vita Mix ?

Just trying to get the job done with a cheaper unit.[/B]

From my research recently along similar lines, the answer is no. Vitamix is the best, hands down.

I bought a Ninja. The full size, not the mini. It's AWESOME. $99, and almost as good. I base this opinion on my MIL's Vitamix, which she sent back in favor of a Ninja.

She said it was better, but not 5x better.

I find it makes great "snow" for margaritas. This is, truthfully, what I use it for most of the time. It's also nice for smoothies and cold soups.

I've heard that Blendtec is equal to, or possible a step above the Vitamix, but no break in the price. I bought/invested in a Vitamix 15 years ago, still working great.

Vitamix covers alot more on warranty than blendtec provides including shipping both ways at their cost. Blendtec does not provide near as much in warranty. I had a Ninja, but bought a Vitamix and the difference in smoothies is far better for me. There are no pieces of greens left and it is really smooth.

If you buy the Vitamix at Bed Bath and Beyond and use the 20% off coupon you will save $100 on it.

BBB also sells the Blendtec and a coupon could be use on it as well.

I think it depends on what you plan to do with it. If you make smoothies every day, it's worth the $- if something happened to mine and it couldn't be repaired I'd buy another one asap. Great tip on the BB&B coupon- I was able to get mine 6 years ago at cost through a friend who had a business at the time but that wouldn't be an option if I ever have to get another one. Many people have had theirs forever, though.

kath

Great info, Rockporter, I wasn't aware of the warranty issue.

You can also get a refurbished one directly from Vitamix for a lower price and I believe it comes fully warranted as well. I don't believe it has as long a warranty as a new one either and I think it is about $400 so buying a new one with a coupon is much better.
The new Culinary Institute one is a real nice one and it comes with two recipe books with fantastic recipes.
[URL="http://www.vitamix.com"]www.vitamix.com[/URL]

[URL]http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=17007599[/URL] Vitamix CIA

[QUOTE=Rockporter;357282]Vitamix covers alot more on warranty than blendtec provides including shipping both ways at their cost. Blendtec does not provide near as much in warranty. I had a Ninja, but bought a Vitamix and the difference in smoothies is far better for me. There are no pieces of greens left and it is really smooth.

If you buy the Vitamix at Bed Bath and Beyond and use the 20% off coupon you will save $100 on it.[/QUOTE]

Blendtec recently changed their warranty to include freight and added a 7 year warranty to the jars that are bought with the blender. If you buy a jar separately it's only a 3 year warranty... The warranty is pretty much the same for each now.

Either one is great. I bought the Blendtec at Costco because it came with some extra stuff and was cheaper.

I think I should tell you how it went down for me at BBB. I went in knowing I was getting a Vitamix or a Blendtec. I knew a Vitamix and I had seen Blendtec at the Sams Club a few months ago.

The sales associate at BBB was very knowledgeable about each of the blenders on the shelf there. He told me about the Blendtec having presets and if you wanted your smoothie smoother you would need to set it one more time or pulse it. He then told me three restuarants in the neighborhood that used them.

He then told me about the Vitamix and how you had more control over what you did with your blender and also told me three restaurants that used them in town.

I then asked if he had a choice which one would he go for and why?

He told me that the smoothies from each were very comparable, but that for longevity he would go with a Vitamix and he also told me about the warranty.

If you do a search on reviews for the blendtec and the Vitamix, there are some comparisons out there it cleary states the Vitamix is far better for the warranty but if you wanted the machine to do it all for you the Blendtec would be the way to go. The warrantly would cover far less though on the Blendtec and they do not pay for shipping both ways like Vitamix does.

Vitamix is also made in the USA, so jobs for americans.
It looks like Blendtec is made in USA as well, more jobs for americans.

Here is one of the comparisons I was speaking of.
[URL]http://simplegreensmoothies.com/blendtec-vs-vitamix[/URL]

[QUOTE=floyd242;357293]Blendtec recently changed their warranty to include freight and added a 7 year warranty to the jars that are bought with the blender. If you buy a jar separately it's only a 3 year warranty... The warranty is pretty much the same for each now.

Either one is great. I bought the Blendtec at Costco because it came with some extra stuff and was cheaper.[/QUOTE]

Ahh, good to know this, what coverage do they provide on the full unit?

[QUOTE=Rockporter;357295]Ahh, good to know this, what coverage do they provide on the full unit?[/QUOTE]


[url]http://www.blendtec.com/blog/2013/03/27/blendtecs-7-year-warranty-what-you-need-to-know/[/url]

Also if you buy it at Costco the Blendtec has an 8 year warranty.

Extremely happy with my full size Ninja blender. I also use it for smoothies and margaritas.

We love our Ninja - got it at Costco at a great price.

We were really annoyed and offended at how Whole Foods pushed the Vita Mix at us for the Engine 2 challenge we attended there - it felt much more like an info-merial than an informative course.

My view (but I am very cynical/skeptical about ANYTHING that is highly advertised or pushed) - you are paying for the promotions more than anything else. Sure I is probably a fine machine, but worth such a premium over the Ninja? Nope.

and some of the claims they make for how it "releases this or that" with it's superior blades is, to this scientist, hogwash.

I got a Vitamix about a month ago and absolutely love it. I did get the one with the grain container at Costco.com because they had the best price and free shipping. I make a green smoothie every morning now, and I always include some frozen tomatoes (had too many in the freezer from last Summer)...

We were in the same spot and bought a ninja. It was fine when it worked. Less than 7 months of daily use and the shear pin on the motor broke. We have to send the entire thing back to them to evaluate for warranty. Even our cheapo 1st blender lasted nearly 10 years. Haven't decided whether to send it back or move on.

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I have an old Acme Supreme Juicerator 6001 that works like a charm! I picked it up at a garage sale probably 20 years ago for maybe $15. I use it daily.

I have considered going to more of a blender type so I get more fiber but the expense keeps me from doing so.

:Dspend the bucks and go with Vitamix YOU won't be sorry . I could not be happier with mine

Love, love, love my Vitamix. Today I decided I wanted some tomato soup for dinner and filled it to the fill line with tomatoes. I used the stick to push them into the blade and once it got started it just blended them to a nice soup consistency. I think next time I will add a cut tomato to it and get it started first, then add the rest of the tomatoes when there is some wet product in the blender container. Not one seed can be seen in this mixture, so I poured it into the pan and added the seasonings I wanted and "voila" tomato soup cooking on the stove. It is creamy and there is no need to add any fattening cream to it either. Yummo.

I will serve it with some salad and maybe a small sandwich tonight.

Sounds good, Robin. I would love to have one someday. :-D

Ok I read through the entire thread and nobody mentioned a thing about wattage.

Made in USA.
I just bought a pipe cutter and it was made in the USA.
It is a piece of crap, I couldn't cut one piece of pipe with it, it wont follow the cutting line and cuts spirals.
By the way I have cut miles of pipe.

Back to blender.

A motors power on small appliances is rated in wattage and sometimes horsepower along with amps.
What you would do is multiply the volts X the amps and it will give you wattage.
Here is a Vitamix blender wattage since they rate in horsepower which is really not the true horsepower.
Vitamix 5200 standard, at $449 on their website.
120 volts AC at 60 HZ and 11.5 amps.
To get wattage multiply volts times amps.
120x11.5=1380 watts.
This is a fantastic motor and it has a cooling fan.
The Ninja Pro blender has 1000 watts of power at a price of $99.00 on their site.
The Blendtec has 1560 watts at a price of $454.95 on their site.
My Oster Fusion has 600 watts at around $79.99 at Best Buy.
I got it on sale for around $65.00

I bought a Cuisinart blender a while back and my friend at work told me that his wife burned up 3 of them.
I got home and opened up the blender and tried to make a mixed drink.
It smoked the first time I used it.
I cant find this blender anymore and I wonder why.:no:
I took it back to Macy's and got my money back.
I had an Oyster for 30 years and broke the glass container.
So I found an Oster Fusion blender at Best Buy and bought it.

The truth is if I was going to run a bar I would but a commercial blender and be done with it.
The blender I have works really well at the price and the programmable motor reverses which is a real plus for sucking the ice back down to blend again.

Don't get fooled into a blender with a huge container with a low wattage motor.
It will burn up.
A blender with a powerful motor will only snap an inferior drive so get one that is strong through and through.
Don't be fooled by words like Pro and such, look at that wattage and how it is made.
A warranty is worthless if you have to keep sending it back.

I hope I shed some light on buying blenders and what to look for.:)

Worth

[QUOTE=rockyonekc;357528]We were in the same spot and bought a ninja. It was fine when it worked. Less than 7 months of daily use and the shear pin on the motor broke. We have to send the entire thing back to them to evaluate for warranty. Even our cheapo 1st blender lasted nearly 10 years. Haven't decided whether to send it back or move on. [/QUOTE]

Ninja ended up shipping me a new motor base free of charge, or at least they will when the next shipment arrives in a week. It was actually very easy to get them to do this. :thumbup: My Ninja was $159 and is 1100 watts based on Worth's comparison.