I've been working on a plan to re-energize my weight loss efforts by focusing on the things that have worked so well for me in the past. My primary focus was food- what kinds, how much, and how often. Because I usually start out each day at the gym and follow it with a protein smoothie, I decided to look at options for making smoothie preparation easy and consistent.
I’ve been using my Magic Bullet for smoothies. It’s easy and convenient- mixes my smoothies right in mug and takes up very little space. It was cheap to buy. It’s also built that way. Pieces have been breaking off and it’s been leaking. In short, it was time to start looking for other options.
I recently had the opportunity to demo one of Blendtec’s Total Blenders and used it while preparing foods that make up regular diet. I put it through it’s paces and I have to tell you, I was impressed on several levels.
I should probably mention that I’m a guy- and I mean that in the most Neanderthal way possible. This caveman likes tools, tools with power, and this thing has lots of it. Spinning the blades is 13amp/1500 Watt motor putting out about 3 peak HP of mixing power. This thing can grind up just about anything- just check out the videos at willitblend.com.
I didn’t run a rake handle or my iPod through it but I ran plenty of ice, frozen fruit and berries through it when I was making smoothies. It had no trouble ripping through it at all- even when stuff was obviously pretty well frozen together before I pushed the smoothie button. That’s a lot more than I can say my Magic Bullet or my Waring. This thing is a beast.
It’s also a noisy beast. There is no mistaking this thing for any other appliance in the kitchen (sound-wise). Crank it up to level 10 and it roars. It's not wake-the-neighbors-loud, it's more a honey-would-you-mind-holding-that-thought-and-while-you're-at-it-hit-pause-on-the-Tivo kind of loud. The thing is, it doesn’t have to run very long to get the job done- so loud isn’t necessarily a deal breaker. My morning smoothie runs about 25 seconds and comes out perfectly. I don’t have to plunge, scrape, or put ingredients in the container in any particular order. The thing just works fast, it works well, and it does it every time.
It’s a versatile beast as well. I made some butternut squash soup with it that totally rocked. I just dropped in the ingredients, seasoning and some warm water, pushed the soup/sauce button and had hot soup in less than two minutes. The energy expended by the spinning blades is enough to heat the soup. It really was impressive. I also used the blender to make salsa and some other things I would have used a food processor for and found that it did a great job each and every time.
With all that power comes a warning; make sure you have the lid on securely before you hit the button. Slack on that and you’ll redecorate your kitchen. I made it a point to hold a kitchen towel on the lid for the first few seconds each time. No muss, no fuss.
All in all, I recommend it. The Blendtec blender is powerful and versatile- and was the most-used appliance in my kitchen.
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I bought the Magic Bullet after your endorsement of it and it's brilliant. Can I convince the wife I need one of these? Time will tell.
I would love something like that! I adore smoothies but my blender broke so maybe I need to check this out.
So if it heated the soup why doesn't it heat the smoothie?
@andrew - The Bullet is awesomely handy. It's a BB-gun vs. Howitzer comparison. If you're plinkin' a single serving smoothie, the Bullet does a fine job of it. Smoothies for the family (or the wife and I), a pitcher of margaritas, or soup calls for a little more oomph. They both do well for what they're designed to do. I like both.
@hnwm - It rocks.
@john - It does! I did a little test with plain water and a digital thermometer. Smoothie setting raised the temperature by by about 4 degrees. The soup setting raised it another 30 degrees. I pressed "soup" again and went up another 30 degrees. I set it to "10" for another 45 seconds and increased the temperature by another 10 degrees. It's a time+speed thing. Smoothies run 30 seconds at varying speeds. Soup runs 90 seconds mostly at high speed. Not quite thermonuclear but definitely heating things up a bit.