People ask me about my blender. Just this week we were talking about super blenders after our Nia class. A lot of people are interested in making green smoothies. I was never interested in them because they sound so gross and the ones I had seen looked gross. I also really like to EAT my fruits and veggies and felt I was eating enough, but I realized I could use more in my diet. Eating more is sometimes difficult and that is why people have been making and drinking smoothies for so long. It is a great way to get some additional vegetables in your diet. I chose the Blendtec for a few reasons. I started looking at it because it was on sale at Costco. From there I started looking at prices on the internet. I found that I could get a Blendtec for less than a Vitamix. That was a big selling point to me, but not the only one. I did more research. The decision will just come down to what you prefer. In addition to the Blendtec being less expensive I feel the one I got at Costco was a great deal. At Costco they sell the blender and two containers/jars for less than the price I’ve seen elsewhere for the blend with just one container/jar .
To save you time, nutshell list:
–two jars; WildSide and FourSide
–easy to clean “buttons”
–it fits under most cabinets (Company claim)
–no tamping
–preset buttons/controls
–variable speed buttons/controls
–pulse button/control
–3 HP
If you are looking at buying one of these super blenders you might notice that not only are the blenders different but the containers they sell are different. They have tall ones, short ones, round ones, square ones . . . all types. With the Blendtec you can buy the blender with what they call the FourSide Jar or the blender with the WildSide Jar. Now I didn’t know the difference and I didn’t know if I would want both jars, but when I saw that the jar alone was $100 and that Costco was selling the blender with BOTH containers for less than what I was seeing it cost for the blender with one container, I thought that was a good deal. (I am now seeing the same deal on Amazon so if you don’t belong to Costco you can get the same deal on Amazon.)
Now the bummer to me was that this one was only sold in black. All of my appliances are white and I would have loved to have a white one, but I wasn’t planning on leaving it on my counter anyway so I didn’t want to spend the extra money for white.
The features on the Blendtec that sold me were the “buttons”. I am an old school girl so I like to be able to control things and I think knobs are better than those electronic squishy “buttons”. With the knob on the Vitamix I was assuming I could get better control over the speed of the blender. But then I realized, I don’t need more control. What I need is not to have a knob that I have to clean under, on, and around. The Blendtec has been amazing in how easy it is to clean. I always seem to drip green smoothie all down the front so every time I do I am thankful I don’t have knobs and “real” buttons to clean all around.
The Blendtec is shorter than the Vitamix and will fit under most cabinets. Even though I was not planning on leaving mine out on the counter, being a shorter blender means it would fit IN the cabinet better. Being a shorter blender also means it is easier to use because you can add things easier, as in you don’t have to get the step stool to reach the top of the container! 🙂
The real thing that sold me is the information I read which said you don’t need a tamper with the WildSide Jar. Now, I am not certain, but I think the Blendtec containers don’t need tamping because the lids are vented so I think the air gets in there and that does the job of tamping. I liked the idea of just turning the blender on and letting it do its thing.
That is another thing, in addition to not tamping, the Blendtec has push-and-go buttons. You just push the button for what you want and it does it itself. I decided I didn’t need the control of doing it myself and if I do, the Blendtec has variable speed buttons and a pulse. So I can turn on the blender to whatever speed I want or pulse it. So I still have the control if I want.
Also the Blendtec has more horsepower than the Vitamix, that might be another reason a tamper is not required.
Please keep in mind I am comparing base models. There are a lot of different models that are high-end and professional, but I was just looking at the two comparable models and these are the things that “sold” me on the Blendtec.
I would love to learn more about the Vitamix if you have one and you would like to share? Any of you out there wanting to get a super blender? Do any of these things sound like features you’d like?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 