Blendtec Total Blender Four Side, Black
by Blendtec Fine Living Products
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List Price: Our Price: $399.99 You Save: $199.01 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $365.30 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Blendtec Total Blender Four Side, Black
Customer Review: Good blender but price is not warrented
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a smoothie guy, at least 4 times a week I make a OJ, yogurt, frozen berries, and banana smoothie. I've used a Hamilton Beach Bar blender for the past ten years and it did a great job. Once in awhile I had to reblend the smoothie to get a frozen strawberry completely blended but other than that, it did the job.
So, when the Hamilton Beach finally died, I wanted to get a more powerful blender to really make a smooth smoothie. Did my research and saw reviews on the Blendtec that almost brought tears to my eyes so I decided that was the one for me, in spite of the $400 price, if it made great smoothies, it was worth it.
Well, after having the Blendtec for over a month and making 25 smoothies (the blendtec keeps track of how many times you use it) I have to say, I was disappointed. It is indeed a powerful blender, and it does have a preprogrammed smoothie button, but I still get the occasional strawberry that was not pulverized so now as a rule, after the preprogrammed cycle, I do a ten second pulse blend and that seems to make the perfect smoothie.
The Blendtec is a good blender but not 4X as good as the Hamilton Beach Bar blender. I'm not going to use it for Soups, or as a wheat mill, so I may not be the right audience. If I had the whole thing to do over again, I'd buy another Hamilton Beach blender or one of the ones in that class. For $400 I was expecting amazing and that's not what I got, what I got was a good blender for $400, and there are good blenders out there for much less.
Customer Review: Good blender, Made in USA, get the Wildside jar
Summary: 5 Stars
This blender is okay, but you really want the upgraded bundle with the "Wildside" jar. The Wildside jar is better than the standard jar, not only because it's larger (96 oz vs. 64 oz.) but because it simply blends better, with less cavitation (a pocket of air so that the blades spin uselessly, cutting air instead of food). My smaller jar occasionally messes up and needs a "love tap" or re-loading so the blades hit fruit instead of air, but the big Wildside jar eats up everything without complaint.
How is this possible?
The reason can be found on youtube; search for "The Accidental Innovator" for the video. This blender's inventor, Tom Dickson, talks about how he came up with the Wildside design by trial and error. I have lost all respect for Vitamix after seeing that clip, where Tom shows us just how closely Vitamix copied Blendtec's designs in order to win back the Jamba Juice and Starbucks accounts. So those of you who use that as evidence of Vitamix's alleged superiority over Blendtec ought to know that Vitamix STOLE those accounts using pirated technology. (Blendtec recently won a $24 million patent lawsuit against Vitamix for stealing the Wildside design.)
Customer Review: Good, but needs water
Summary: 5 Stars
I am new to blending and this is my first professional grade machine. I am happy with it, but one thing I was not expecting is that often I have to add water to my fruits and veggies. Even if I am just doing a frozen fruit juice. Its okay I guess, this is perhaps elementary, I was just not aware. If I don't add water, it will just spin at the bottom like a $20 blender. I am getting better, I bought an additional book with recipes and online there is a lot of stuff too. I make a great Jamba Juice drink now that is really good, which is not necessarily a healthy drink but great drink on a hot summer. And concerning healthy drinks, which is what we bought it for, you do need to read up on it. You can't just throw in 5 fruits and 5 veggies. It will be just about undrinkable and you are not supposed to really mix fruits and veggies. After about a month's worth of use, we expect to use this regularly, every other day for the long term.
Finally, the machine itself is very good. Quality is good, easy to use and clean. Durability is high and machine overall seems very solid. Looks pretty good in the kitchen too. Certainly better than a deep frying machine. As I am writing this, my 8 year old daughter overlooking my shoulder insisted that I add that even she likes it.
Customer Review: Great Blender
Summary: 5 Stars
This blender does an excellent job at blending things. I love my smoothies, milkshakes, and green smoothies, and this blender does an awesome job at blending all these.
The key to getting the blender to work correctly is to make sure there is enough liquid to do what you need to do. I will admit that this blender does have a learning curve. My first few smoothies were too thick, which caused an air bubble to form around the blade. After a couple of times of this happening, I found that adding a little more liquid made this go away. It also made the smoothie less like ice cream and more like a smoothie.
The Blendtec does have pre-programmed buttons that do different tasks. Part of my problem was picking the right button. I thought "I'll make a smoothie" and add frozen fruit, ice, and milk and press the smoothie button. I found that really is ice crush/milk shake or ice cream (which has their own buttons).
Once I figured these things out, my Blendtec has been working great. I do wish I had a tamper for those learning moments, but now I'm glad that I don't have to use a tamper.
I have 2 toddlers and they love helping me make the smoothies. They just need to push the right button and they get to watch the show. The program cycles are also very helpful because I can just push a button and go back to chasing my toddlers around the house.
As far as the noise goes, I don't think it's that loud. The grinding up of the frozen ingredients is what is really loud in my opinion. But then again, I do have 2 toddlers that like to scream all the time and my wife and I find ourselves screaming at them around the house too :).
Customer Review: Great blender
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very happy with this HP3A blender . I am not a vegetable eater but this blender allow me to have my daily intake of greens. I make carrot juice, cucumber juice, apple juice, strawberry ice cream and a lot more. Important thing to remember is to read instruction and put the ingredients in recommended order. The blender and the new jar which is BPA free now has a 3 year warranty. I have no problem with liquids spilling out while using this product. Cleanup is a breeze.
This product is pricey but it is worth it in my opinion.