Blendtec Total Blender Four Side, Black
by Blendtec Fine Living Products
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List Price: Our Price: $399.99 You Save: $199.01 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $367.99 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Blendtec Total Blender Four Side, Black
Customer Review: Vegetarian's Best Friend
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this blender after reading THE CHINA STUDY, EAT TO LIVE, and GREEN FOR LIFE (all Highly recommended and if you are buying this blender you'd be missing out if you didn't read these books, particularly GREEN FOR LIFE).
All three books really drive home the importance of eating Greens (Swiss Chard, Kale, etc.)on a daily basis. For me, this was a challenge. The only way I could tolerate kale was to slather it with olive oil or butter and salt and cook it, thereby destroying most of the benefits. Even then I ate it dutifully and without pleasure. Then I read GREEN FOR LIFE and got the idea to blend up raw greens with bananas and other fruit into nutrient dense green smoothies.
You need the high power blender for this sort of thing, other blenders can't handle it. Thank goodness the Blendtec was mentioned in reviews for GFL, or I would have never even known about it. I ordered it with fingers crossed. It was a lot of money to plunk down for a blender and I was a little scared I wouldn't be able to drink the green stuff.
Not only did the blender perform like a dream, it makes a killer green smoothie--no taste of kale! The cost of the blender is worth it for this reason alone. Now I can get my daily intake of greens without having to endure it. It's actually delicious and gives you a buzz of energy way better than coffee.
I'm telling you all this because I think that Blendtec has missed a major market demographic. The recipie book that comes with the blender can be discarded for this demographic. A lot of people need these blenders for a vegan or raw food and greens lifestyle and I think most of them end up with a Vita-mix because of the way they are marketed.
I have had a Vita Mix and can tell you this is Way better. One thing not mentioned in the specs is that the blendtec is only about 15 inches tall (unlike the Vitamix which is 20). That means it fits on your counter under your cabinets--very important for an appliance you might be using every day. Mine now occupies the space where the coffee pot used to be and I use it at least twice a day.
You can make nut butters, various flours, breads, soup....etc. It's so powerful I think the motor could fly a small plane.
You can walk away from this blender and it knows when to shut itself off, it is not as loud as the Vitamix even though it is more powerful, and the clean-up is a cinch. This is the single best appliance I've ever purchased. The only thing I wish it had is a retractable cord and better customer service.
If you are on the fence about this--buy it!
Customer Review: The Blendtec vs. Vita-Mix dilemma
Summary: 5 Stars
I must give you a little bit of history before reviewing the Blendtec . . .
Our local Costco was having a Vita-Mix road show and i bought it knowing that I really liked everything I had ever read about a Blendtec. A couple of my friends raved about the Vita-Mix, so I felt I needed to pay a little attention. A large purchase like this deserved a little research so that I wouldn't have any regrets. I watched the demo, was impressed and took home the Vita-Mix that day. I was anxious to make a smoothie with it because I had been using the Magic Bullet for five months. I made my first smoothie with it, and it turned out great but the "honeymon" didn't last very long. I did not like the sheer size of the Vita-Mix! It sat VERY high on my counter, wouldn't fit under the cabinet and it looked like it belonged in a commercial-sized kitchen, not mine. I absolutely disliked everything about the lid, except the ability to drizzle liquids in from the opening. The lid was not easy to put on nor remove. And the tamper!!! A good machine should not require a tamper to push the food around. The blender canister has these decorative grooves on the sides and oh what difficulty to "get every last bit out" with a a rubber scraper. I felt like I was wasting food! Then, I made a vegetable pate and the 4-pronged blade made it extremely difficult to get the food hiding below the blade. By this time, I had had enough and was only too happy to take it back to Costco.
That same night, I ordered my Blendtec. It arrived promptly and have LOVED everything about it since Day One! It is so-o-o-o easy to "get every last bit out" because the sides of the blender doesn't have the unnecessary decorative grooves on the side. It makes a big difference if you're the type that doesn't like to waste. I feel that the Vita-Mix and Blendtec are equally noisy, but it does its job so quickly and efficiently that it really isn't on for very long. It is so efficient and powerful that it doesn't need a silly tamper to get everything blended well. It fits under my cabinet where I like to keep it and it is just perfect in every way. I make whole fruit and/or leafy green smoothies, sometimes twice a day, and it's always smooth and perfectly blended. As long as you add the proper amount of liquid, that "vortex" forms and everything gets pulled downwards. Everything i make just comes out absolutely perfect. I just can't say enough good things about this machine.
Customer Review: Makes Smoothies With Ease
Summary: 5 Stars
The last two blenders we've owned, a KitchenAid and a Braun, have both broken. They each used some form of plastic-like transmission devices to get the power from the motor to the carafe, and with both, teeth started breaking off during blending, usually while making things with frozen fruit.
I'd read many reviews of this blender, as well as watching the food-oriented videos, along with the comedic 'Will It Blend' videos on the manufacturer's site. While frightfully expensive, it seemed as though the Total Blender could deliver. I ordered one for my wife as an anniversary present. (Romantic, eh?)
This blender works as advertised. We use it primarily to make smoothies, which we each do almost every day. Usually we start by filling the carafe up about halfway with a handful or two of spinach along with maybe 8 oz. of water, and then pulse for a few seconds. This turns into a little more than a cup of soupy green goo. If you don't liquefy the spinach first, it's volume-eating leafy form will take up too much space in the jar and you won't be able to add as much fruit. So after the spinach, I just open the fridge and start dumping things in. A typical mix would be something like half a cup of yogurt, a cup or two of frozen fruit and a banana. In about 20 seconds you've got a perfectly blended drink containing most of day's supply of fruits and veggies. Even if you're bad and end up eating like crap the rest of the day, at least you got a good start.
It is very loud, as others have mentioned, but I don't know how it could do what it does and still be quiet. It's got a big motor under that hood. The other slight annoyance is that they say it's only top rack dishwasher safe, but obviously there are no dishwashers with a top rack big enough to hold anything that big. They did say it was because of the heating element, so maybe if you use a no-heat dry cycle it'd be ok. I tend to use the blend-soap-and-water cleaning method, and then scrub by hand every few days.
All around this is a great product, and if you're looking for a serious blender it will satisfy your needs.
Customer Review: This is a very powerful blender.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Blendtec blends frozen fruit without having to defrost at all, and also gets things really, really smooth. I have never made such smooth hummus. The Blendtec recipe for hummus includes whole seasame seeds--it blends them into tahini while making hummus--how sweet is that?
I tried a $40 blender that Consumer Reports rates as better than the Blendtec. I broke it in one day when I tried to make hummus. If you want to make anything with a consistency thicker than a margarita, I think you should consider an expensive blender. I have been a quest for easy-blending for many years. I used a mini-food processor for a long time, but I always felt it was on the verge of breaking and it always took a long time to make fruit smoothies because I always had to scrape things down and I used frozen fruit which always had to be defrosted a little bit. I also tried a Magic Bullet, which is very successful, and I still use it when I want a single serving of something. The main advantage of a Magic Bullet is that you can shake the whole thing, which is faster than scraping or tamping. But again, I have to defrost frozen fruit slightly or I will smell burnt blender.
The Blendtec is often compared to a Vitamix, which has a better warranty and has a tamper (used to push food into the blade). Many people prefer the Vitamix because it gives them more control with a tamper. The Blendtec has several preset programs that are designed to make sure everything gets blended without a need for a tamper by changing speeds at appropriate times. But with the Blendtec, you can also control the spend yourself by pressing speed up and speed down. I have never tried a Vitamix, but I picked the Blendtec over the Vitamix because it is smaller, lighter, and more attractive (I saw a Vitamix in person at Bed Bath and Beyond and wondered where I would put it). The Blendtec is also criticized for having poor customer service. I have not had it very long, so I can't comment on customer service.
Customer Review: Blendtec vs Vitamix
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been doing green smoothies close to two years now, started with my 3HP Waring which worked great but does not have variable speeds which are a big help.
So I got a Vita Mix at the [...] roadshow after seeing the variable speed demo, and it has been a good blender for a year now, but I make thick smoothies, and I could smell the motor getting hot on the Vita Mix, and knew it was just a matter of time till I burned it out. Then the other day they had a BlendTec roadshow at [...], first time I'd seen one, though I had read about them. After seeing the video where they shove a rake handle into the machine (quickly I might add) and the machine just ate it up, I was impressed. The salesman knew his stuff, and I went home, put my Vitamix on ebay with Buy It Now, it sold overnight (name recognition), and I went down and bought the BlendTec the next day for about the same price as a Vita Mix. I've made three or four smoothies now, and this machine is the bomb.
It is a little loud, but it blends so well and so fast the noise is no big thing. All the different settings vary the speed to ensure everything gets blended and not stuck in the corners (no cavitation which is a big problem with the vitamix, an air bubble would get sucked to the bottom and I'd have to turn it off to let the bubble rise to be able to continue blending).The Blendtec does not cavitate and has plenty of power, this machine can handle. Don't need the tamper like on the Vita Mix, this machine does it all. I'm a tool guy, and I like this machine.
Too bad though that Blendtec does not include a larger blending container with the machine, the one that it comes with is supposed to be 64 ounces if filled to the brim. Well I make half gallon smoothies to last a little while, and there is no way you can fill this to the brim and be able to blend, with a lid on or off of it. So I needed to shell out some extra $$ to get the so called three quart container, which does work fine for my needs