Blendtec Original Designer Series Blender and 90 Oz WildSide+ Jar - Kitchen Blender Bundle - Stainless Steel

My mom got a Vitamix 5200 from Costco about a month ago. I used it almost non-stop. Used it to make rice milk, strawberry-banana smoothies, butter, and peanut butter. I used it so much I started to consider getting a high performance blender of my own. About a week later, I ended up getting the Blendtec Designer Series just to see which blender I liked better.Let me just say this review comes down to personal preferences and what you are willing to compromise on as both blenders are very good. You cannot go wrong with either blender. Both do the job just as well as the other.Pro's vs the Vitamix:- Design. I have always put a high value on form. Depending on the gap, I will sacrifice some functionality just to get the better looking product in my opinion. The Blendtec Designer Series is certainly a good looker. The design of it is also part of the reason why I went with the Designer Series instead of the Total Blender Classic. I got the black model so when everything is off and unplugged, the Blendtec just blends in. The motor base is rounder giving it a smooth look. Where the Vitamix 5200 motor base has sharp edges and is squarer looking. It stands out on the counter. So a win for the Blendtec.- Controls. I just love the touchscreen controls. Another reason I went with the Designer over the Total Blender Classic. The touch controls enhance the design of the motor base as referenced above when everything is turned off. When the controls are on, they are bright and sharp looking. The touch controls are responsive with no lag. As soon as you press the mode, the motor turns on and does its job. I love it over physical buttons. How a person uses a Blendtec differs from the Vitamix. It's hotly debated and up to personal preferences. The Blendtec relies mostly on its automated modes for blending your food. The benefit of that is you can simply hit the smoothie button and walk away. It will go through the smoothie mode starting out slow to draw the ingredients into the blade and slowly progress to a higher speed to turn rice milk, an orange, a banana, and frozen strawberries into a smoothie and stop when done. The Vitamix is all manual control where you start on Variable 1 and work yourself all the way to high depending on the recipe you're using. While this gives a person more control over the blending process, it does require the user to be more watchful when blending. For my uses, I prefer the Blendtec's automated modes. It does provide a slider for manual control and a pulse button.- Jar. The Blendtec's Wildside jar has a fifth side that is stated to help prevent cavitation. While I don't have the Fourside jar to compare it to, I haven't needed to stop the blender and mess with the ingredients in order to get them to blend. The Wildside jar is a square in shape leaving a nice wide bottom near the two blades. This combined with the two dull blades makes things a lot easier. I have made pretzel/pizza dough (same recipe) with the Blendtec. After allowing the dough to rise, the dull blades and the wide bottom made it easy to get all the dough out of the jar without worrying about cutting myself on the blades and trying to get everything out of the jar and not wasting anything. Where the Vitamix jar is a more traditional round design that narrows, as you get closer to the sharp 4 blades. When making peanut butter, it is a pain in the neck to get everything that is below the blades out of the jar. Have to take a spoon and take it out constantly moving the blades to get as much peanut butter out of the jar.- Cleaning. It's not a big win for the Blendtec as both machines are easy to clean. Just put about 2-3 cups of warm water and a dash of dish soap in the jars and let the machine do the cleaning. But, it goes back to the jars design. When making thicker things like peanut butter and dough that tend to stick to the jar, the wider bottom and dull blades make it easier to rinse out the Wildside jar. Where you have to again work around the sharp blades at the narrow bottom of the Vitamix jar.- Size. The Blendtec is able to be stored under the cabinets with the jar still on the motor base. The Vitamix can't store with the jar on the motor base.Cons vs. Vitamix- Consistency. Like cleaning, for me it's not a huge win for the Vitamix. But, the sharp blades do have a benefit over the dull blades. The frozen strawberries from Costco can be huge. And sometimes just running the smoothie cycle on the Blendtec leaves 1-2 small pieces of strawberry in the smoothie (nothing a few more seconds wouldn't solve). A lot of the times it will be completely smooth. But, I guess it depends on how many of the huge frozen strawberries find their way into the smoothie I make for the day. So a small win for the Vitamix there.- Lid design. Not a huge negative for me, but I do like the Vitamix lid design a bit better. It doesn't get as much splatter on it than the Blendtec's. Making it easier to remove without worrying about getting the contents of the jar over the counter, etc.The washes between the two blenders.- Noise. Both of these machines are loud, but they are very tolerable. In my opinion the Vitamix is a bit louder, but there is so little difference between the two. It shouldn't be a deciding point between them.- Out of the box readiness. This all comes down to what you plan to do with the blenders. If you plan to do nut butters more, the Vitamix is ready to do it out of the box with the tamper. The Blendtec either requires you to stop the machine to push the nuts into the middle of the jar so it can be blended or have to spend the money on the Twister Jar. From videos I have seen it does a good job making nut butters. On the other hand, if you want to do grains, the Blendtec is better suited for them out of the box (just as long as you don't mind cosmetic damage from the grains marking up the jar). The Vitamix requires the dry grains container, which has a different blade design better suited for grains. Where the standard jars blade will be damaged over time grinding them up.ConclusionI prefer the Blendtec Designer Series to the Vitamix 5200. But, it doesn't mean the Blendtec is the better blender. As stated above, it all comes down to personal preferences and where you are willing to compromise on. For me, the Blendtec came out to be the winner. But, you can't go wrong with either blender.Update 10/13: I'm still loving the blender. Been making smoothies almost every day for breakfast. Also used it to make baked potato soup( blendtec recipe and delicious) and other meal ideas. I did get the Twister jar to make peanut butter. Twisting the top in my opinion is easier than using the tamper with the Vitamix. Also, I like the texture/consistency of the peanut butter using the blendtec and twister jar over the Vitamix.

I really enjoy this blender, sure it costs a boat-load and takes up some of that precious commodity called counterspace, but without a doubt it's a great purchase if you are going to use it (and let's be frank, if you're considering a $400+ blender for a kitchen, one would hope you're actually using it).I bought it for one main purpose and that was making smoothies and iced drinks. Rather then spending $5-6 a pop on the way to work for my smoothie fix, I am able to make drinks on par (if not better due to fresher ingredients) with the local smoothie or coffee shop at home. These are cousins to the blenders in those same shops so it is definitely up to par. This should (hopefully!) pay for itself after a year or two.Using it does take some getting use to as you can't just throw in ingredients and expect it to come out perfect, but with a little trial and error I was able to find the right proportions of liquid, ice and solids to make the perfect mixed drink. There is literally no comparison between the drinks produced by this blender (super smooth) and my previous $20 cheap-o blender (what's that weird burning smell coming from the motor?).The wildside jar is great, but you do need to make sure that you have enough liquid in there to keep everything moving. This might not be an issue for some, but I like my smoothies thick, so it did take some tinkering with liquid amounts.One thing I have started adding to my smoothies is flax seeds (high in fiber/protein/vitamins/etc. and minimal taste impact when its one of many other ingredients). In my old blender I needed to grind the flax seeds in my coffee grinder to get them chopped up. In the blendtec, I throw them in whole and they're pretty much obliterated in the smoothie and it's hard to tell they're even there. I've also had a similar experience with kale, where the cheap-o model couldn't handle the tough fibers, but the blendtec doesn't even bat an eye-lashThe designer series is a step up from the older blendtec model and it's sleek finish is pretty easy to keep clean due to a lack of buttons (the controls are operated by a capacitive touchscreen similar to a cellphone).Downsides:+This thing is loud. You're only going to be using it in short bursts, but the neighbors might wonder why you're running heavy machinery in the morning.+Smoothie cavitation (this is when the blender blades create an air pocket and spin without hitting anything) -- Can be remedied by making sure there is enough liquid in the jar.Pros:+Powerful...yes it will blend+Professional quality+Easy clean-up (just throw a little water with some dishwashing soap and pulse for a few seconds. Rinse out and let dry)+7 year warranty

After four years of very light use, the blender jar gave out and leaked black, greasy, metallic liquid into my coffee drink one morning. Luckily I only took a sip and could spit it out. When I called Blendtec for a replacement jar (as the jar was still under warranty, with 4 years of an 8 year warranty remaining), they insisted I pay them half price for a new jar or pay 75% off for a new jar but with zero warranty remaining. This is ridiculous! What good is a warranty if it only gives you a discount on a new (and probably still defective) product?! Replacement of a defective jar under warranty should be free. Since the blender base is still working well, I paid the "75% off" price and will hope for the best. When this second jar gives out I will be kissing the blendtec good bye and buying a Vitamix instead. Shame on Blendtec for not honoring their warranty.