A Good Blender

[WaWa Bird]

I've just killed my second blender. I bought cheap both times, so I'm not too pissed about it. Anyway the problem with both was a rubber o-ring on the bottom that would snap after awhile. Does anyone know of a high-quality blender at a good price that won't crap out after about 6 months?.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

We have a Braun immersion blender, and that thing rocks. I make smoothies with it every single morning, with frozen berries, banana, protein, and milk. They get pretty thick, but it plows on through. My wife had it before I met her, so it's a good 10 years old. Granted it wasn't getting heavy use the whole time, but still. For my money, it's way better than a regular blender. Instead of having to haul out this bulky thing and then wash the pitcher, you just run the business end of the blender under hot water to rinse off the smoothie bits, leave it to dry, and you're good to go for next time. Much smaller than a blender, too. Downside is that it doesn't fit in just any container, although there is a purpose-built Braun cup for it that looks kind of like a beaker or something, and has a lid that seals up pretty tight. We bought an extra one so we have two of those, and it's a pretty handy system. Blenders are for cavemen!

[tertius]

Blenders are for cavemen!

Grok used a Cuisinart, I'm pretty sure.

[Marotta]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDlMLqdvHzI

[Greg C]

If budget is not an object, the vita-mix is used in professional kitchens (and mine) all over and is a true workhorse. You can (and I have) cook soup in the thing by adding raw ingredients and letting it run at high speed until the liquid is hot.

[stolpsTDI]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDlMLqdvHzI

I can't view the video, but I'll assume it's a Blend-tec. Boy do I want one of those....

[EJLouis]

We have a Braun immersion blender, and that thing rocks. I make smoothies with it every single morning, with frozen berries, banana, protein, and milk. They get pretty thick, but it plows on through. My wife had it before I met her, so it's a good 10 years old. Granted it wasn't getting heavy use the whole time, but still. For my money, it's way better than a regular blender. Instead of having to haul out this bulky thing and then wash the pitcher, you just run the business end of the blender under hot water to rinse off the smoothie bits, leave it to dry, and you're good to go for next time. Much smaller than a blender, too. Downside is that it doesn't fit in just any container, although there is a purpose-built Braun cup for it that looks kind of like a beaker or something, and has a lid that seals up pretty tight. We bought an extra one so we have two of those, and it's a pretty handy system. Blenders are for cavemen!

+1. I have the 200W one, in case there's different ones(?). I've done frozen berries no problem, never tried ice.

BTW You can buy replacement O-rings from some hardware store (plumbing store) for cheap. Save you from adding to landfill if it's otherwise fine

[groucho]

I've got a 350 Watt Waring Pro "WPB" blender with a glass carafe. Cost me something like $50 almost a decade ago. It's only got 2 speeds and is loud enough that it'll wake anyone in the house who's sleeping. But it's made (assembled) in the U.S and -- while I killed every other blender I've owned within a year -- the Waring is still running strong. It'll probably need a new rubber gasket soon, but I think you can pick those up for a few bucks online.

I've never had an immersion blender, so I can't compare.

[tertius]

I can't view the video, but I'll assume it's a Blend-tec. Boy do I want one of those....

No, it is not a blend-tec. It is significantly more powerful than that.

[BCGuy]

I am happy with the Cuisinart blender I use at the moment (http://www.cuisinart.ca/cuisinart_product.php?item_id=4&product_id=3&cat_id=1).

I has been going strong for over 6 years now and 1 heavy year of near daily blender drinks. This blender has some serious HP...not table saw or router like HP, but pretty decent for a kitchen 'tool.' I have been making daily blender drinks consisting of 1 cup rhubarb, 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup strawberries, 1-2 bananas, 2 scoops of whey, 250ml of egg whites (from those egg white containers you can buy at the store), and milk to fill the voids. The blender may jam (in my case in part because of lack of liquid and all frozen fruit) if you go cheap on the liquids when using a lot of solids, which I often do. If you give the blockage a good stiff beating with a mixing rod (aka spoon), everything should be good to go. It takes a few seconds to turn just about anything I put in to liquid.

Magic Bullets are fine for a quick banana-egg white mix, but for anything else they struggle.

[cardamon]

There's a couple key features you want to look for that separates good blenders from the large number of terrible ones. Unfortunately, that usually means you're paying $150+ unless you can steal one from a bar (actually, a good bar blender has all the qualities I'm talking about looking for, and all they do with them is make those terrible slushie versions of margaritas and daquiris, once fine drinks sadly fallen from grace).

One is can it crush ice, and can it do it fast without the motor smelling like it's about to catch fire? A really good blender with the proper torque can boil water.

The other is the shape of the carafe. Round carafes mean everything just spins around the sides, not really falling into the blades as much as you'd like, meaning it comes out unevenly blended. Boxy and even cloverleaf designs force stuff inward. Plastic is better than glass because it's less likely to shatter, but even that's pretty rare. The only reason I prefer plastic ones is that for some reason I only see perfectly round or cloverleafed glass blenders.

Consider a good icecrushing blender to be an investment because then you can go and buy all your veggies and fruits in the flash frozen bulk bags from places like Sams Club and Costco rather than buying the fruit fresh (and possibly at off season price, as is often the case with my favorite smoothie staple, blueberries). No need to add ice then. Just frozen fruit+liquid of your choice. I'm a milk person myself.

[BCGuy]

There's a couple key features you want to look for that separates good blenders from the large number of terrible ones. Unfortunately, that usually means you're paying $150+ unless you can steal one from a bar (actually, a good bar blender has all the qualities I'm talking about looking for, and all they do with them is make those terrible slushie versions of margaritas and daquiris, once fine drinks sadly fallen from grace).

One is can it crush ice, and can it do it fast without the motor smelling like it's about to catch fire? A really good blender with the proper torque can boil water.

The other is the shape of the carafe. Round carafes mean everything just spins around the sides, not really falling into the blades as much as you'd like, meaning it comes out unevenly blended. Boxy and even cloverleaf designs force stuff inward. Plastic is better than glass because it's less likely to shatter, but even that's pretty rare. The only reason I prefer plastic ones is that for some reason I only see perfectly round or cloverleafed glass blenders.

Consider a good icecrushing blender to be an investment because then you can go and buy all your veggies and fruits in the flash frozen bulk bags from places like Sams Club and Costco rather than buying the fruit fresh (and possibly at off season price, as is often the case with my favorite smoothie staple, blueberries). No need to add ice then. Just frozen fruit+liquid of your choice. I'm a milk person myself.

Hum this got me wondering if blender designers check their blades for the effects of fluid cavitation.

[BCGuy]

I am happy with the Cuisinart blender I use at the moment (http://www.cuisinart.ca/cuisinart_product.php?item_id=4&product_id=3&cat_id=1).

I has been going strong for over 6 years now and 1 heavy year of near daily blender drinks. This blender has some serious HP...not table saw or router like HP, but pretty decent for a kitchen 'tool.' I have been making daily blender drinks consisting of 1 cup rhubarb, 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup strawberries, 1-2 bananas, 2 scoops of whey, 250ml of egg whites (from those egg white containers you can buy at the store), and milk to fill the voids. The blender may jam (in my case in part because of lack of liquid and all frozen fruit) if you go cheap on the liquids when using a lot of solids, which I often do. If you give the blockage a good stiff beating with a mixing rod (aka spoon), everything should be good to go. It takes a few seconds to turn just about anything I put in to liquid.

Magic Bullets are fine for a quick banana-egg white mix, but for anything else they struggle.

R.I.P. Cuisinart blender...off to buy a new blender. Good thing I followed this thread.

[thefinalsql]

I have a 1000w Krups K8720 blender.

Had it for a few years now. Blends ice or frozen fruit very easily.

Instead of a cone shaped with a taper at the bottom it is cylindrical. This seems to help it mix better.

[BCGuy]

I now have a http://www.kitchenaid.ca/flash.cmd?/#/en/product/KSB580NK/ ...but with painted white finish instead of stainless steel. So far so good.

[Wayne Riddle]

Hum this got me wondering if blender designers check their blades for the effects of fluid cavitation.

The high end ones probably do, that is one of the things you tend to pay extra for.

[utexas61]

my Magic Bullet does the trick

[parastang]

+1 for the kitchenaid. I have had the same one for 4+ years and it sees heavy, frequent use for smoothies w/ice and other frozen drink delights. I had an old style kitchenaid with the glass carafe before (2 years it lasted) but I burned the rubber cog off the bottom and couldn't find a replacement. The one I have now has a metal cog, muy bueno.

[hatmanii]

my Magic Bullet does the trick

I like mine for regular protein shakes, but the cups are too small to add anything of significance in along with a liquid.

[BCGuy]

my Magic Bullet does the trick

I use the Bullet a lot for my mini fruit-egg white snacks on the weekend.

My full size blender is used for filling my 2L wide mouth Klean Kanteen which I take to work for mini snacks.

I must add that my new Kitchen Aid blender does a wonderful job of blending my frozen fruit, egg white, and coconut milk mixtures. My only complaint is that it sounds like my router, lol.