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Blendtec or VitaMix?

Hi, I am ready to buy a really good blender and would like to hear your thoughts on if you like the Vita-mix or the Blendtec better, and which model. Thank you!!

Comments

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    I’ve never used the Blendtec. I use the vitamix 5000 – works beautifully! I love that machine more than anything I’ve ever purchased.

  • RawKRawK Raw Newbie

    i use a two speed vita mix at work and i have a blendtec (with at least 10 speeds) at home. blendtec is more powerful (more HP), less expensive, more versatile, not as tall so it fits under your upper cabinets, better looking (my opinion) and smarter—several different preset programs for different consistencies. the ice cream setting takes it….add almonds, dates, water and a lot of ice and you have pretty thick ice cream in about one minute. im sure vita mix could do the same, but it doesn’t have the programs to just one-touch and go.

    the only place where the vita-mix wins is the warranty. they will probably both last, but well you have 4 more years guaranteed of a much inferior blender. thats my take….good luck. either will be totally worth the investment of 300-400 dollars….i use mine twice a day, everyday.

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    My Vitamix 5200 is worth every penny I spent and then some. I saved up for six months so it wouldn’t take a bite out of my budget. The day it arrived I made a smoothie in my regular blender. A neighbor and I sampled the results. I put the remainder in the Vitamix and we sampled again. We both agreed the flavor was much more intense. I love berries in my smoothies but don’t like the feel of the seeds. The Vitamix bursts the seeds yielding a much smoother texture.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    RawK said it all and better than I could. One more thing: The Vitamix has a tamper, and you need it. The Blendtec is so well designed you don’t need a tamper.

    I love my Blendtec.

    Some friends with a Vitamix sold it and bought a Blendtec after they tried mine.

  • heyenglishheyenglish Raw Newbie

    I love my Blendtec. I love using all the different presets, and since I’m pretty lazy and don’t like chopping everything up finely before putting it in the blender, I love the power of this model! I use it at least twice a day, and clean-up is a piece of cake. I’ll never use another blender again!

  • Thank you. I appreciate your feedback.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    So which one are you going to get?

  • I also love my blendtec.You save the using the tamper process plus its more powerfull and the controls are flush and easy to clean….

  • Bananna1333Bananna1333 Raw Newbie

    What kind of carafe does the blendtec have? ....I know the vitamix uses a new one now that doesn’t have that…BPA? chemical in it?

  • Any good websites for purchasing Blentec? Thanks Bananna for the link:)

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    We researched this pretty thoroughly. The main benefits for us for the blentec were: *cost ($100 cheaper) *size (fit under countertop) *ease of cleaning and shape (the blentec has a square bottom and it is not as narrow as the vitamix)

    As far as power, they are probably both as powerful and can chop up little seeds, etc. that is what really matters.

  • http://www.everythingkitchens.com/ I bought mine here a year ago for around 330 bucks with free shipping.

  • There is one more to consider. A Waring Xtream. You can find them on everythingkitchens also. This is the one I plan on getting because it has a lot more power and it is priced well. Rosemary

  • I LOVE my Bledtec. I have a Black one, but they just came out with a few new colors!

  • beanybeeganbeanybeegan Raw Newbie

    I have a Waring. Power plus, tho mine only has 2 speeds, would have liked a slow speed, that really is slow.

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    Vitamix… I own both BlendTec and Vitamix. Both purchased within the same year.

    copy-paste from this post

    The BlendTec is easy to clean – both the container and the base. And, yes it’s powerful enough that you may not need a tamper; but, don’t stuff the container too much or the food will not fall easily and get blended. (I’ve done that… and wanted a tamper) Otherwise, it’s fine; just when you think it won’t blend it all… it does! The VitaMix is a bit trickier to clean out, but the container is bigger to fit that extra liquid and I really like my tamper! This way, I can move the blended food around so I know I have reached the right consistency – like for creamy dressings or no-bake creme pies. The BlendTec allows you to start the blending and you can walk away to do something else and it will stop on its own. Wonderful!!! ...except, you may have to clean up the few drops that came flying out from that tiny hole on the top of the lid. What I like about VitaMix the most (which BlendTec doesn’t have) is that it has that opening on the top to throw in a few more ingredients. You have to open the lid on the BlendTec; you can remove that middle thing on the lid, but it’s only big enough for small things. Oh yes, and the other thing I like most about the VitaMix is that it has a longer warranty. The most thing I like about BlendTec (which VitaMix doesn’t have) is that it fits on my countertop under my cabinets.

    As for the lightness of the BlendTec, yes that is real nice. Just be careful; the pulse portion of the preset settings really make the BlendTec jump.

    The blade of the BlendTec is basically one long blade angled at the tips (looks like 2). The blade of the VitaMix is two long blades angled (looks like 4). It’s amazing to me how the BlendTec can do all that with “less blade”, but I still have to cut the apple/pears and the dried pineapple into smaller pieces.

    The preset settings are good to turn on and walk away from… and maybe get the right consistency every time, but that assumes you have the ‘same size’ food/qty. every time.

    I dealt with BlendTec customer service because the base was not level and they immediately sent me a replacement. It seems they really can’t fit all that stuff in the base… but, the replacement is stable, you can tell it’s “crammed” in there.

    Both are great blenders. My husband thinks that the BlendTec is not as powerful as the VitaMix… judging only by the amount of sound they make… and a few chunks of food we find more often in our BlendTec blended mixture. Maybe I will blend it longer… but, what’s the point of preset settings if they can’t do the job right the first time. Also, VitaMix has more than twice the warranty that BlendTec has.

    I know, it sounds like I prefer VitaMix… but I think I will use the BlendTec more often only because it fits on my counter better in my tiny kitchen.

  • Warning!!! I just found out that the blendtec container contains Bisphenol-A (BPA)!!! Beware! I think I will purchase a VitaMix. Good luck with your decision! :)

  • Bananna1333Bananna1333 Raw Newbie

    ...exactly what I was afraid of browne911 …bleh, I might find out if they are switching that over, before I buy a vitamix, I was leaning heavily towards blendtec.

  • greenie, I was thinking I would go with the Blendtec but I’m still not sure. I found on the VitaMix web site they have reconditioned VitaMix 5200 for $399. I really like the new container without the BPA. Maybe I’ll just flip a coin. :)

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    Browne911,

    How do you know the Blendtec container has BPA??

    rawbie,

    The Blendtec is such a better machine, IMHO it’s worth checking out the BPA rumor before just accepting it as gospel. If it turns out to be true, I’m going to call Blendtec to see if they are going to change their carafe.

    FWIW, I think anything made of plastic leaches some chemical, no matter what the current state of science du jour on the subject. The stuff we think is safe today will be outed as unsafe tomorrow. Ditto metals to some degree. The Nalgene so-called non-reactive bottles everyone was buying a year ago has been discovered to leach bad stuff.

  • Bananna1333Bananna1333 Raw Newbie

    greenie – you are so right…is this warning carafe glass by chance? I trust glass….so long as it’s not shards that is ;)

  • Bananna1333Bananna1333 Raw Newbie

    http://www.blendtec.com/resources.aspx ...talks about BPA in their carafes. They do contain it, and defend it.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    Bananna, thank you for the links.

    I think some of the Waring blenders have a glass carafe option, but the blenders themselves may not be as powerful as the Vitamix and Blendtec. They also may have some plastic parts – the blade housing and lid, for example.

    I’m sticking with my Blendtec. I don’t like all the plastic in my world and it is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. All those wonderful organic fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds—Once I get them home, I transfer them to glass containers, but by that time they’ve already been stored and transported in a sea of plastic. I carry water in glass, and I buy Mountain Valley Water because I can get it in glass, but it probably has had some time in plastic somewhere along the transportation and bottling process, so I wonder how much good I’m doing with all the extra expense and effort.

    So, this may be denial because I’m so attached to my Blendtec, but it seems that one more exposure (the blender) is not going to make that much difference.

    I will call or write Blendtec with a customer request/suggestion that they make glass carafes available. Maybe if enough of us do that, they will make one.

  • Hi everyone. I created an account here because I couldn’t resist replying to this thread. I am also looking for a high end blender and found myself caught up in the Vita-mix/Blendtec debacle. I have made my decision using information from this thread and many other sources. I chose the Blendtec.

    I think both blenders will get the job done. There are a few reasons the Blendtec won for me:

    1. The Blendtec will fit under my counter, creating less “friction” that will prevent me from using it often. I think the height of the Vita-mix is the result of a poor design decision.

    2. The Blendtec a bit cheaper. Price was never an issue, but the decision is a toss-up here, so price becomes an advantage here. Costco has the Vita-mix @ $600 ($50 off!), but who needs all of those attachments as well as a SUITCASE for a blender?!?

    I understand the warranty is longer on the Vita-mix, but I’m hardly concerned about that. I honestly don’t register anything I own anyway. Aside from the warranty on my car, I’m usually not to be bothered with shipping broken items around the country 3+ years after I buy them.

    I do find myself concerned with the weight of the Blendtec’s base. It seems the this blender has the urge to bounce around. Even in some of the demo videos, you’ll notice a firm hand on the blender. This could negate the benefit of the automatic cycles/shutoff. This is probably the single biggest issue I can find with this blender and is probably cause for concern. That said, I don’t think it is anywhere near as significant as the height of the Vita-mix.

    I’m also aware of the BPA issue. Personally, I think this is ludicrous. Someone out there got scared and decided to scare everyone else. If you’re scared of BPAs, then you’ll be scared of the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat and the clothes you wear. BPAs have been and will be a part of just about everything we put into and onto our bodies. There are far worse things out there than BPAs. When was the last time you drank from a garden hose, or swam in a swimming pool filled by a polyvinyl chloride hose? I think the BPA scare is a non-issue when it comes to blender selection, but I do think that Vita-mix was smart to appease the scared masses. No disrespect intended, but the issue has to be put into perspective.

    A couple more issues. There seems to be a lot of model confusion out there. Blendtec’s site only has the Total Blender listed in two colors. EverythingKitches.com, as suggested above, has a completely different looking style in 4 colors. Model numbers and prices are all over the map. It turns out that there is a “Total Blender” and a “Home Blender”. Model numbers can vary, but the “Home Blender” is the “HPA” or “HPA3”. They are mechanically identical but the HPA has the 4 programmable buttons and requires you to select blends by scrolling through a menu. The “Total Blender” is not programmable, but has all blends pre-programmed on the buttons. Which is “better” is simply a matter of preference.

    I would also not recommend EverythingKitches.com because of their unfavorable return policy. I found the HPA at cookware.com for the same price with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. Amazon also has the “Total Blender” but their “HPA” is sold by a vendor who has marked it up $150.

    I hope this information is helpful to anyone making a decision.

  • Not sure if anyone remains interested in this thread. I received my Blendtec today and, of course, it was the incorrect model. I got the Total Blender instead of the HPA as described above. I decided to give it a whirl anyway and was reassured that the HPA is the way to go.

    The reason for this is that the smoothie button does not spin the blender fast enough or long enough to deal with frozen ingredients. It’s certainly easy to hit pulse a few times to finish the job, but that’s not what I want to do. I want to program a button to run the cycle I need and walk away.

    Fortunately, I bought the blender at cookware.comm, and they agreed to send a new blender ASAP.

    When comparing the TB to the Vitamix, the Vitamix requires equal, if not greater, manual interaction. One of the selling points of the HPA is the “set it and forget it” function of the programmable buttons. When manually blending with the TB, all ingredients are quickly and thoroughly blended into a smooth liquid.

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