My old blender couldn't handle frozen fruit for smoothies anymore. And the narrow base meant a lot of tamping. I always felt unsafe cleaning the sharp blades. The Blendtec's power, wide base and blunt blades are just what I needed. And my smoothies are now smooth! Greens get blended right in, instead of being left in shreds. Yes, it's loud. But the programmed settings mean that you can walk away until it's done.
I would recommend this blender to anyone. I have only used the blender to make smoothies so far, but they are amazing! The smoothies have a timed cycle of 60 seconds and once that 60 seconds is up, you have a smoothie that is smooth, delicious, and ready to drink. I used my sister's blender (not a Blendtec) this weekend while I was at her house, horrible! I have become spoiled with my timer. WIth her blender I just sat there and kept blending and blending until I felt like checking to see if it was smooth. Why did it not taste the same as the smoothies I make at home using my Blendtec?
I bought this blender for a great deal on Amazon. I would have never considered buying a Blendtec or other comparable blenders in this price range, but the lower price convinced me to give it a shot.
I'm very impressed with the power ... sometimes it's TOO powerful and creates an air bubble where the motor's force has been generated, which causes things to not be blended at the bottom. I find that adding more liquid, giving the pitcher a quick stir, and briefly blending at a lower speed solves this issue.
Right now my family and I use it to make smoothies. It's incredibly easy make one (if you throw a bunch of fruit in with some sort of milk, you really can't go wrong) and we're impressed with how easy it is to clean by throwing some warm water and a drop of dish soap in before pulsing for 10 seconds. I would recommend a deeper cleaning if you're going to put sticky things such as peanut butter, honey, agave, etc. in it though.
Overall it's one of the best kitchen appliance purchases I've ever made, though getting it for a good deal makes it that much better.
This blender definitely has a bigger price tag than all the other ones I've owned, but it's worth every penny. Huge difference to anything I've owned before! No unexpected chunks in my smoothies. Creates smoothies like the ones from those overpriced smoothie places. I'm really happy with my purchase!