Vitamix - Ascent Series A3500 with Stainless Steel Container

Sorry to hear about your experience. Which model are you using? I have used a Legacy for many years. More recently I got an Ascent 3500. Both are excellent. As I mentioned, I have used it to make dosa, idly batter; dhokla batter; variety of chutneys, soups, etc. Absolutely super.

Vitamix with their stainless steel pitcher. The best investment and the last blender I’ll have to buy

The Oster is pretty good and very affordable. The only part of the glass pitcher that has plastic that could touch the food is the lid, but you could always use a towel or a plate to cover the top. I use mine everyday, and it works well. Vitamix is super powerful, next level. The metal Vitamix could be the way to go, if it’s within your price range.

Agree

Yes but it doesn’t touch the food unless you overfilled it!

Mine is etched in, no ink.

Same!

Yes I second this. A worthy investment purchase!

Yes!

I have a vitamix and and an old immersion blender. I almost never use the vitamix I use the immersion all the time, mostly for soups and mayo. Just putting the stick blender right into a hot pot of soup right on the stove instead of dumping dangerous liquid into the vitamix is a huge deal for me. Second the whole egg mayo is so easy to make and I get to make it the way I like it. The only thing the vitamix does better (that I actually make) is Orange Julius but I have not bothered to make one in years

I have professional experience with Vitamix and love it. But I have a ninja at home. Before it, I went through several blenders—none of which did the job well. I’ve been super-happy with it. (I don’t use a blender often enough to justify the cost of the Vitamix; I’ve not encountered any blending task the Ninja doesn’t handle competently.)

I’ve owned the same vitamix for 17 yrs.  Still works.  What sets it apart besides that it’s powerful is the life time warranty.  Over the 17 yrs.  I did have one container crack.  That wasn’t covered and expensive to replace.  

I had a nice, powerful kitchenaid blender from the 90s. I loved that thing. Eventually the motor blew and I forked out for a Vitamix. The difference was literally day and night. I cannot recommend the vitamix enough.

Thats pretty cool. And I have a vita mix as well. Highly recommend it!

It has a pulse button when used, it pulverizes to make the fruit & veggies smooth. I can make nut milk with very little, to no pulp left behind. I can make nut butter with little to no oil. I can make juice without losing fiber.

Go for a Vitamix yes it’s expensive but it works sooo well

Vita mix all the way

Reliable, Blends everything, versatile, does come with a 7 year warranty, easy to use

We had a vitamix for about a month (roughly 2-3 years ago) before I returned it because my $45 Oster (glass one) worked better. Have had it for 7 years now and even when I use my friend’s newish vitamix I don’t regret returning ours.

I had a ninja. Now I have a Vitamix. No comparison, the Vitamix does a far better job, faster. Worth every penny we spent.

For salad dressings, I use my nutribullet. Also use the nutribullet for smoothies. For blending soup or making cashew cream sauce - vitamix. We also have an immersion blender that works well for some soups, sometimes it gets overheated.

Vitamix is absolutely incredible. We got ours at Costco but not sure if EU Costco’s have as well. Previously I used a Cuisinart immersion blender but the Vitamix is a million times better and I use it daily.

It really depends on what you're blending and how picky you are about smoothness. I have a Vitamix and a Magic Bullet and I use the Bullet way more often b/c it's smaller and I can through everything in the dishwasher. But I'm not usually making smoothies. I'm usually blending sauces. If I were to make soups or smoothies or large quantities and want them smooth I'd use the Vitamix. As for the speeds, the Magic Bullet has 1 speed i.e. it's on or off. On my Vitamix, I do like how I can ramp up the speed b/c if you just turn it on you get a lot of splashing. Not really a big deal but it's a nice to have. BTW, I have the 2nd simplest Vitamix because like you I don't get the need for preprogrammed functions. I'm not walking away while it's blending so I can change the speeds myself. The simplest one is just on and off, but that's aimed a drink making.

I use a Vitamix to make humus. It works very well for that except that getting it out from around the blades is a bit of a pain. But it won't work with just chickpeas without the oil and lemon juice.

Vitamix is the best blender hands down. Buy refurbished if you want a cheaper option. The blade on a Vitamix works better than a Blendtec in my experience.

Always go with a Vitamix.

Honestly, the vitamix runs so smoothly the contents of my smoothie never touch the lid

You sound like you are going to regularly use it, so I’d say you are the rare case that would benefit from the Vitamix. IMHO, most people really just need a bullet blender and an immersion blender though.

I use a Vitamix for smoothies and a food processor for nut butters. I find it’s difficult to get all of the nut butter out of the tall, slender(ish) Vitamix container. I picked up the Vitamix grain-grinding container for making rice and oat flour, too. Our vitamix is almost as old as our dog - he’s 17, and I think I picked up the blender when he was a young puppy! (He used to bark at it, so we’d put him outside when blending things 😄.)

I'd be inclined to agree, but the Vitamix also has a 10 year warranty, so if it does break then you get another for free (I assume). And the consistency of the blended food is on another level, from making sure everything gets mixed to how fine it is crushed, to the emulsion

Same! I really prefer using the immersion blender for tahini bc then I don’t lose as much that’s hard to scrape out of my Vitamix. And also use a large mouth mason jar. :) I am using my immersion blender far more than my big blender these days and it’s been a game changer.

The Ninja blender works well and is inexpensive. I got a refurbished analog Vitamix for about $300 a few years ago. It was well worth the cost but I like my smoothies completely smooth.

An immersion blender might get messy since smoothies are pretty liquid, but you can try! Otherwise, any type of regular countertop blender should work, or there are some single serving ones out there as well. I have an expensive vitamix now but I made great smoothies with $25 blenders in the past.

I'd get a decent immersion blender as a first blender. Works nearly as well, can do things like blending soups in the pot or whipping egg whites that a countertop blender can't, easier to clean, and doesn't take up much room in a drawer. America's Test Kitchen [likes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cb36vpz5Do) the Braun Multiquick 5, which runs $50 discounted (like now on Amz). I have a discontinued Cuisinart which is comparable. I now have a Vitamix countertop blender, which I use every couple of weeks to make a big batch of hummus bi tahini. It does a better job than churning with an immersion blender in a mixing bowl, but to be honest I'm still not sure if it was worth the expense for my needs. The immersion blender still comes out for smaller jobs.

Buying lots of unique gadgets is more expensive than getting one tool that works for everything. For 5 years, I did all blending jobs with an immersion blender. I had a Vitamix countertop blender in my wishlist one Christmas, and its very nice, but I don't do anything with it that couldn't be done with an immersion blender. It's frankly still better to make hummus bi tahini in a serving bowl with an immersion blender, unless one is aiming at the extremes of creamy, because all the time spent churning by hand is saved by not having to clean a blender jar.

I had a Breville with a glass container. It was meh. Now I have a Vitamix and would say it's the true BIL. However, it does have a polycarbonate container.

It might not seem like the affordable option, but I bought a few cheaper blenders before i got a vitamix and now I don’t expect I’ll ever need to buy a blender again. Long term it’s best to get something that’ll last. Costco and vitamix refurbished can give better value.

Vitamix is always the answer! Find a used one for a great deal. I luckily have a hand-me-down vitamix that is at least 10 years old and works great.

Vitamix and it's not close

Vitamix. I've had one for 20 years and it still works perfectly.

I think making nut butter is a heavy duty job for a blender. I think if you are expecting to do that, I'd go vitamix. Not any blender is able to do that.