Do You Really Need to Spend $500 on a Blender? | Gear Heads

Byamazingfoodstv


Blenders are vital for tons of recipes like smoothies, margaritas, hummus, and more. We’ve tested high end models, inexpensive models, and everything in between. Is a high end blender really worth the money?

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37 Comments

  2. Don't buy the mid range or cheaper blenders, they don't last long, motor fails. These tests here are bogus because they aren't long term repeated tests. Making 1 or a handful smoothies says nothing about its durability. Shame on you America's Test Kitchen .

  8. My vitamix a2300 was really bad. It kept stalling and stopping for pretty much everything i tried… frozen cherries with soy milk, veggies and fruits, chickpeas. It was frustrating. Returned it. My friend had the exact same experience.

  9. Project Farm guy just did an extensive testing of 10 blenders with increasing prices and he was finding that wide blenders did a better job of processing difficult foods . he made peanut butter from just peanuts as well as crushed ice to see how effective different brands were. The results here seem to be focused on making smoothies

    https://youtu.be/KtVWtKn0_D4

  10. Picked up this exact blender for $299 during Black Friday. Love it so far. I saw a lot of user reviews complaining about how loud it was but compared to a Ninja Professional it sounds silent.

  12. This video is a year old, so I don't know if you're still looking at the comments but I would like to make a suggestion: in your future blender videos, would you address clean up as well? It would be beneficial to see how easy, or not, the clean-up would be.

  13. Please can you make a new test with blenders as the best vitamix blender you picked out here isnt available to the rest of the world and has been discontinued. Is any of the other vitamix models good enough to warrant the high price?

  21. I recently purchased a Vitamix 5200. I was concerned about the initial cost. I've used it everyday on smoothie's, soup, ice cream and just the other day made peanut butter, fantastic. I'm not concerned with the cost now, if you are on the fence consider this, I paid roughly $600.00 CDN divided by 365 days in a year = $1.64 per day for a year and your machine is paid for. Is you health not worth this, I've cut out one medium Tim Hortons coffee a day to pay for my machine. Go get healthy buy a Vitamix.

  22. great video but you didn't really give your verdict or answer the title of the video. is it actually worth spending money on the vitamix or will the cheaper options suffice?

  23. Just used your link to order the Vitamix 5200 in black. I wanted to save a little money and buy it in white, but don’t want to deal with visible stains. Thanks for providing great research.😊

  26. It is never about how much something costs. It is always about what you get for the money you spend. $500 seems like alot for a blender compared to what the other models cost. But if the Vitamix does the job better/faster/more efficiently and if it is built better and will last alot longer, then $500 is a better investment.

  29. I needed a large blender to mix ice cream, sherbet, gelato, and sorbet ingredients.

    Last month, at the Wisconsin State Fair, I watched a demonstration of a 64 oz Vitamix blender. I was very impressed with its performance but was not willing to pay $900 for the blender.

    Later, I was able to find a 64 oz Vitamix 5200 blender for $429.

    However, I found a 72 oz Ninja BL610 blender for $80.

  31. I make a smoothie with carrots, beets with leaves, kale, broccoli and a some mint. Before putting these ingredients in the blender I put ginger root in the blender with water . i strain out the pulp and use the fluid instead of water in my blend. How do I mix these ingredients without overheating my blender? Even my recently purchased Vitamix 520 needed to rest. Is there a powerful blender that could handle this?

  32. I probably shouldn’t be sharing this until I’ve secured AT LEAST 4 or 5 for myself (😈 lmao), but one thing some of the cost-conscious folks should know about the Vitamix 5200 is that you have SEVERAL models which are literally IDENTICAL to the 5200 under the hood & nearly identical on the exterior (including the same container being used), with the ONLY difference being the absence of the “5200” marking on the front & the labeling on the rear. And on one of the models, the cooling fan actually comes on at ALL speeds (which, in MY opinion, means you’re extending the life of your motor even further as the cooling fan on the 5200 only comes on at high speed and it can eventually cause it to overheat during use if you’re not remaining mindful of your speed setting & duration of the blend when you’re using it [an issue for ppl like me with ADHD lol]). Not an issue for some, but the thought of my blender overheating & then having to sit & wait 45 minutes before I can use it again TERRIFIES me, & this definitely played a role in my decision-making.

    You even have some folks online who will take one of these identical “sleeper” models (OR a 5200, should you own one), let you ship it to em for about $200, they will UPGRADE it with additional functions (pulse, etc), AND they’ll replace the motor with another motor that is quieter AND more powerful than the ones found in the original 5200 (ultimately leaving you with a machine that puts many newer/MUCH more expensive “commercial” models to shame)…

    The point is, people will spend nearly $500 for a brand new 5200, not knowing that you can literally get that same blender (used &/or reconditioned online) for HALF that price. You literally just buy the used/reconditioned “base” & a container separately, & I got TWO used bases of one of these other “sleeper” models (one as my “main” blender & one as a “backup”) for less than $100 each just over the past week. Add in a brand-new container at approx $130, & I’m at just under $350 for basically TWO blenders (when TWO brand-new 5200s would have cost me near/over $1000). Factor in the second “additional” container (which I’ll purchase in the coming weeks), & I’m spending roughly HALF of what I would have spent buying TWO brand-new 5200s. Yea, some rich folks watching this won’t care, & yea, I could’ve just bought the ONE base with a new container & spent just under $250 total, but I wanted a spare “backup” base just in case, & I wanted the second container as I may decide to use both for different purposes (one strictly for smoothies/milkshakes, & the other strictly for nut butters/etc).

    BOTTOM LINE; Just like the 5200, the identical “sleeper” 5200 models last forever, they still service these, & should you ever need them, genuine/OEM 5200 parts are widely available (including but not limited to the containers which, as stated, you can buy NEW for about $130 [a VERY good idea, as the container/blade is where all the ACTION takes place, & as long as that motor in the base is functioning correctly, it’s like having a brand-new blender if your CONTAINER/BLADE is new 🤪]).

    The only real “downside” to going this route is if you ever decide to sell your “sleeper” 5200 model, it will be much harder to make as good of a profit on the sale as folks just aren’t aware of what I mentioned above & won’t spend what they’ll spend on a clearly-marked/hyped-up 5200 (but if you’re like me, you’re already convinced that the 5200 remains the BEST out there [arguably], selling yours is OUT OF THE QUESTION, & if anything, you’ll just UPGRADE it before running out & spending $500+ on a brand new blender). Just a lil tip for my fellow smart shoppers/part-time wannabe cooks out there who like living the champagne lifestyle on a beer budget ❤️

  33. Hannah, while you don't have kale in your teeth have you considered Ridalin?

    None of your tested blenders have blades that hug the bottom of the blender. Here's a test for you guys: mock hollandaise. Would any of these others be able to whip just 3 egg yokes? That's the first step in blender hollandaise. If you can't do this, you've wasted money. I found a $22 Walmart brand blender. It's loud. But it's powerful with a narrow container and makes small portions of dip, sauce, you name it. It has 7 speeds including pulse. Only problem I find with it is the blades and container are a single unit making clean-up and stealthy thing. If you are testing "less expensive" brands, you missed some.

  36. Very interesting. I used to run a juice bar and we had Vitamix blenders. I thought they were terrible. They broke down constantly, and the company was not good about service and parts. I only use commercial bar blenders at home, they are far more reliable.

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