Costco-Vitamix 5200 $369.99

I agree it's a lot of money. But don't take it so personal lol.
Be angry at those people that spent $100+ on the Ninja.

I finally decided to make a SD account and wanted to respond to this...

I have a 1500 watt Ninja that I bought with tax and shipping for $180. I researched all different types of blenders/juicers/processors for what I wanted long before I made an investment (I consider $180 a lot of money!). I had a Magic Bullet which I liked for many things, but I would drink daily 1-3 green smoothies a day. No matter how much I shopped things, added water, etc, it was like I was drinking salsa. I had some fellow frugal green smoothie drinkers play with their's and many had similar experiences and ended up buying Blendtec and Vitamix with no problems at all. I just couldn't justify spending $400 (with taxes etc), for what I was looking for.

I do not intend to make my own soups, sorbets, or ice creams. Never been a soup drinker, hate sorbet, and only like ice cream from certain brands from time to time. I merely was looking for something that could make me green smoothies turning everything down to a liquid (my usual is chia seed, flax seed, celery, lemon, arugula, romaine lettuce, spinach, green apple, cashews, and water of course) so that I get all the vitamins and nutrition from the produce. I also wanted something to make almond milk, peanut butter, and almond butter. My Ninja does all these things well.

I considered the NutriBullet based on my budget and wants. Would have gone for this but I wanted something bigger so I got the Ninja. If I can find Black Friday ads for the Nutribullet, I would consider buying one merely because I travel frequently and it's the right "on the go" size.

Will the Ninja do all the things that a Blendtec and Vitamix do? Yes! Depends on the watts of course! The only people I really hear knocking the Ninja are the ones who paid extra for Blendtec and Vitamix who never gave the Ninja a shot, or Ninja buyers who paid less for less watts. I've known people who have had Ninja products for years too, so the long expectancy isn't crap.

Have had 0 problems with my Ninja. And no I haven't used it to make pizza or cookie dough LOL.

I appreciate this response. I haven't invested in a blender yet, I'll take a look at this product. Maybe you can provide a link of your exact model?
This thread ended up being pretty good, with several different views on blenders, thanks.

Not burn out & make things smoothly.. I've had a lot of $100 or so blenders that simply didn't last.. Add up what I spent over the years & I should have just gotten the Vitamix from the get go..

if you use your blender a lot you'll notice a difference in the blend quality, power, & it just works. My wife & I use ours several times daily to crush ice & blend smoothies & protein drinks & she makes hot soup & other meals with it. We've had the Vitamix for several years & there's no hint of it dying, add up all the below blenders I had, I could have just bought the VitaMix.

There is also consistency.. The cheap blenders I had would struggle with ice or hard particles & you wouldn't get a smooth blend.. You'd get some ice chunks or fruit & veggie fibers or it just didn't create a vortex to pull everything into the blades & blend evenly so you'd have stuff on the sides of the jar unblended..

Previously I've had oster, cuisinart, black & decker, waring, Hamilton beach, magic bullet, & some other brands I can't remember.. Nothing like that burning smell from the motor permeating your kitchen & wasted ingredients when the thing dies & you're left with a jar full of half blended stuff.. protein powder, fruit, kale, Greek yogurt, ice, etc wasted..

It's kind of like going up a steep incline with an economy car 4 banger vs a powerful 6 or 8 cyl.. They both will make it up, but the 4 banger struggles (like my old 1.6 liter civic from college going up the I-5 grapevine) whereas 8 cyl is just so much smoother, powerful & faster. The cheap blended hiccup on ice or dumping in whole fruits & vegetables.. VitaMix just pulverizes it. We have parties with lots of guests & mix drinks with it,having it on several hours a night & it hasn't skipped a beat in several years.

Of course if you rarely use it, or just blend liquids, no hard solids or ice & easy stuff, then you probably won't notice much difference & can't justify the cost.

We also had a juicer before & hated 2 things about it.. The metal strainer basket was hard to clean & it took all the fiber out of the fruits & vegetables.. The Vitamix just breaks the whole thing down whether its ice, an apple, celery, carrots, beets, avocado, kale, etc.. Everything is smoothly blended together..

& 90 day warranty from some foreign company purchased off the Internet (even if its through amazon) vs like 7 yrs from VitaMix USA & from Costco (forever guarantee).. To each his own, but ill pay for the VitaMix. Not to mention about half the wattage of both VitaMix & Blendtec & 3 speed vs variable or programmable...& all that counter space! I

Why so expensive does it make gold?

man you people make it hard to decide...i need a blender for some healthy 'smoothies' now. does seem like a ton of money for an appliance like this...maybe ill go with the refurb vitamix...

have seen the nutribullet commercials, but I have not much faith in trendy infomercial crap...seems to do what i want though...idk