I bought this to replace a 40 year old blender that I have. It honestly isn't a whole lot better. The blades are sharper (be careful! I've cut myself multiple times already, this is entirely the fault of the user, not at all the blender). It is incredibly loud, my kids cover their ears and cry when I make them a smoothie. It's also big, it takes up a lot of counter space. The ice crush feature is interesting, definitely not something my old blender could do, I'm going to try margaritas this weekend. But the actual smoothie blending feature is just not a whole lot better than the one I already had. I haven't tried extract yet so can't review it. If you need a new blender I would recommend this over the average cheap Walmart one, but if you have one older than yourself that is still working I recommend keeping that one!
I did like this blender a lot. Made smoothies with various things like frozen bananas, oats, kale, sweet potatoes, and chia seeds. Came our pretty smooth although seeds didn't completely blend, it was usually smooth enough. One big disappointment isit only lasted a couple years. It started making loud grinding sounds and there's a smell of burnt rubber. Something clearly wore out. Given the cost of this item it should last longer or have a better warranty. Although now I need a new blender to replace it, not sure I will purchase the same one because worried about durability...
I have used this almost daily for Green Smoothies. I purchased it after reading a Consumer Reports review that placed it on a par with VitaMax - but without the sticker shock! I am so happy I did. In full disclosure I have not yet used the ice crushing feature, but it powers through fibrous leafy greens beautifully. Highly recommend.
We received our Ninja Pro Blender about 3 weeks ago and absolutely love it! The power in this machine blends the perfect smoothie. We couldn't believe how well it powered through so easily! We would recommend this blender to all our friends and family!