Bought this from costco.com, with the Wildside and Twister jars; it showed up Christmas Eve 2015. My doctor had told me I needed to bring my blood pressure down, so I looked into what people do to achieve that. Healthy food. And exercise.
I figured I could take on ONE of those things without breaking a sweat, and, after reading about the joys of smoothies, I headed to Walmart to buy a blender (cuz, a blender is pretty much a blender, right? Er, nope.) I bought a martial-arts-themed brand, because it was more expensive than the $20-40 cheapies, and only the best for MY mother's son, amirite?
It wasn't long before I started reading more about this stuff, and realized the limitations in my blender. I read countless reviews and watched countless videos of countless blenders, and, like most people who get into this stuff, my search was narrowed down to 2 brands (YOU know who you are, other brand!)
I really couldn't decide based on the reviews, but the 8 year warranty, the dull-bladed blunt-force-trauma approach, and Costco's $350 price tag put me over the top on Blendtec. Roughly 100 blends later (after 45 days of ownership), and you'll find zero buyer's remorse from me!
I feel SO much better having switched to the easy-to-prepare fresh-fruits-and-veggies diet this appliance has afforded me (from a diet consisting mainly of a large pizza lasting me a couple of days, prior to this), and the NUT BUTTER!! Oh, man. The nut butter. Just put your favorite nuts in the Twister jar, rotate the top counter-clockwise when butterizating, and in about a minute, you get the best nut butter you've ever had the pleasure of eating.
I could go on and on (just ask my friends and relatives!), but suffice to say, this is probably the best $350 I've spent on anything food related, not being a gifted cook or anything (just ask my friends and relatives!).
I bought this almost 2 months ago and have loved it! WE've used it for a variety of things, but mostly for breakfast smoothies. It blends everything to perfection. Sometimes it gets air pockets, but once you push the stuff back down, it's fine. I've even used it to make some dough for breadsticks, as well as grinding my own wheat for bread!
We have this machine at work and I desperately wanted one for my home. I use it for smoothies at work but had no idea how versatile it was until I received it and read the book. Now I use it all the time! It still makes amazing smoothies but now I can do so much more! Just a warning though, it's a very loud machine. Too loud to use at home when my family is sleeping.
We got ours at Costco. It has been fabulous, and even better than we saw on ads and youtube. Saw it on youtubers Carl&Jingers channelwh e n they toured the Blendtech factory. They used to be Phamdamily or Olinselot....give them credit for educating us about your prosuct.
I have owned a lot of different name blenders in my life but by far this one is the best and hopefully the last one I will own. It exceeds all of my expectations. The price is high but well worth it. Would recommend to anyone. Best price is Sam's Club.