Blendtec Classic 575 Blender - WildSide+ Jar (90 oz) - Professional-Grade Power - Self-Cleaning - 4 Pre-programmed Cycles - 5-Speeds - Black

This blender works great, strong and powerful, and much less costly than a Vitamix.Great purchase.

Morning smoothies is a daily routine for me for years. I have used many brands of blenders because none that I used did a perfect smoothie. Until this one. It is the most awesome blender for making smoothies. I used to have problems blending seeds such as hemp, chia or pomegranate. This Blentec blends everything up with ease. It is quieter and takes less time than the Ninja I had. Much more powerful also. In close inspection, I noticed the blades are not sharp but flat. So the blending action is less of chopping with a sharp blade than using blunt force to smash and pulverize. This also explains why it heats up the smoothie due to friction, so add ice to keep the smoothie cold. I can say with confidence that this US made blender is the best I ever had.

Depending on what you stuff into it, this thing can sound like a wrench getting sucked through a jet engine. However, it blends waaaay better than the three other less expensive blenders I owned before it. Makes the smoothest smoothies I've ever had, or at least that I've ever made for myself. So far, I'm in love with it, and have wound up sucking all my meals through a straw lately as a result.Smoothie mode is pretty awesome. Clean mode is equally awesome for cleaning up afterward. A countdown timer lets you know how long you've got before it stops waking up your neighbors and risk getting shot at as you leave your house. There is a little off switch toggle on the back that you can't see in the photos and allows you to always keep the blender plugged in without fear of accidentally turning it on with the push buttons (this is important). The push buttons (and lack of knobs) makes the base very easy to wipe clean (this is also important).I purchased the Blendtec over the Vitamix primarily because of cost and size. The Classic 575 fits under my cupboards much more easily than the Vitamix. I also purchased the 46 oz Mini Wildside Jar along with it so that I could keep the entire unit under my cupboard for daily personal use and making smoothies for myself rather than an entire troop of Boy Scouts. Lacking the knobs of the Vitamix, I also felt the base of the 575 blender would be easier to keep clean.If I had one niggling complaint (aside from the noise, which is unavoidable in a blender this powerful), I'd say that the base could be a bit heavier as the blender does tend to jump around a bit when blending frozen or relatively hard objects (like carrots and broccoli). This makes it louder, and also begs you to keep a hand on it while it's blending those items. Of course, having a much heavier base like that of the Vitamix would make it harder to move around on the counter top when you actually want to move it.

If you want restaurant quality smoothies or coffee drinks this machine is the best I have ever used. It will literally blend anything down to liquid, with no chunks. It’s a little loud but that’s because the motor is so strong. It’s very solid and doesn’t feel cheap like nearly every other blender out there. If you make a lot of smoothies or do a lot of blending it’s worth it.

This is a very powerful, useless blender. I was deciding betwixt the Blendtec and the Vitamix and chose poorly. As a man, I found it impossible to ignore my testosterone-fueled instincts and I went with the blender with the 3 horsepower motor. A mere 2.2 horsepower on the Vatamix? Pssht! I don't want to just make mere smoothies, I want to open a portal to Hades. Give me the blender that I can disassemble and replace a Tesla drivetrain, please. Unfortunately, my manly instincts were misplaced and I should have allowed myself to be lured by the razor sharp blades of the Vitamix. The Blendtec has a fatal flaw. It doesn't come with a tamper, Blendtec is so committed to telling the lie that their magic square shaped blending pot doesn't need one that they refuse to even make one and at the moment of this review, you can't even buy an aftermarket tamper for the current lid. The reason this is a problem is because the Blendtec will spin up and reach an RPM that creates an air pocket in the bottom of the blender that results in the super-powered motor spinning uselessly in the air while your frozen bananas and ice chunks lounge lazily upon a soft bed of half-mixed smoothie-goo. We have made smoothies many times in the short weeks we have owned the king of all useless blendy-boos. Not one single solitary time has that simple "push it and walk away" smoothie button worked. What really happens is that it starts to blend, the air pocket forms, raging RPM beats the air under your fruit into painful submission and you will have to remove the non-tampered jug, shake it, smack it, stick a utensil into it, cram those chunks back down, restart the motor and repeat this obnoxious process 4 or 5 times until you have the smoothie you were told would happen effortlessly and with one simple button push. And lest ye think that I am putting the ingredients in the wrong order, I say unto you,"nay!" I followed diligently the liquids, fruits, frozen and hard items order starting bottom to top. For all their bragging about power, automatic blending settings and ease of cleaning, they forgot to make sure this thing blended. I tried to figure out how the demo videos I watched could have been successful and I think they are just using tons of water to lubricate the mix. You might get a good blend out of that but the smoothie will be thin and not taste as good. Nor does all that power result in smoother mixtures. I have had smoothies made with the Vitamix and I was surprised by the lack of gritty seeds. Those sharp blades and high RPM turn them to dust. Somehow, the blunt Blentec blade, despite power and lots of speed, manages to leave them all intact for you to enjoy as scratchy, gritty bits to stick in your teeth and remind you that you should have spent a little more and got the Vitamix. Would I recommend the Blendtec? Obviously, no. But if you get stuck with one, you might consider making a home-built helicopter with the electric motor, I haven't seen anyone do that yet and least you will be able to fly yourself to a smoothie shop and get a properly blended treat.

over all it is a great product and a pleasure to use. the only problem it was delivered to the wrong address I am thankful we have nice neighbors as they brought the product over to our house in the evening. Mean time it sat on their front porch for the world to see as people drove by that afternoon. Ugh!!! I might add the address label was correct just delivered to the wrong house.