- Quick Update 2016- Quick Update 2013- Original Review***UPDATE 12/27/16*** (I forgot to kiss my Vitamix on our 3 year anniversary!!!)Sorry the pics uploaded sideways boooThe last couple years I've made less full on fruit smoothies and stuck to meal replacement smoothies.I get this food powder that holds 100% daily nutrients but it comes in seed/powder. Hemp seeds, Flax seeeds, and Sesame seeds. You're supposed to chew it but I have no appetite for drink-chewing my meals. So I blend them. This bad boy easily crushes all the hulls of those seeds. Every single one. Turning them to sand-sized granuals. I do crush them with the liquid added. I tried to grind the powder up dry... No dice... I don't have the dry carafe. Not spending $99 on it either no way no how.I mix the powder with 2 cups almond milk and another 1/4th cup of protein powder of various flavors. Usually chocolate mint/chocolate orange/mocha etc. I use Impact Whey Protein. Anyways if I'm feeling fruity I'll add a handful of frozen berries. All of which is quickly liquified.This damn thing has been going strong for THREE YEARS!The burning I discussed below in my original review, I don't smell it anymore. The motor just hums along. We're old pals now. She puts up with whatever I throw at her.I'm going to try making almond milk ice cream. I'm freezing ice cubes of vanilla almond milk as we speak.OH. You might be looking at $70-$175 Ninja blenders or Oster ones. I just got my mom a 1200 watt Oster Pro blender and food processor. What a joke. I wasn't super thrilled paying $75 for it, but hey it's a xmas present and she said it was "good enough" she was "okay" with the smoothie we made. The berry seeds were all in my mouth and it was just ridiculous. I wish I had the money to buy her a vitamix. I'm still considering giving her mine and getting a new one..... I mean the Oster's food processor is just a different blender top that looks like my $40 hamilton beach processor. She has a big kitchen just have a pure blender for pulverizing and a pure chopper, shredder, salsa maker.THAT is probably the only downside to this blender. You really can't make salsa and chunky stuff. You can pulse it I guess.... But man if you're not careful that salsa is going to turn into soup! lmao. It's just too good at being a blender!!!I also have to admit I am not a soup guy. I made that avocado soup the first week I had it, it was velvety smooth but I haven't made a soup since. If I'm going to eat something with delicious and complex flavors I'm going to chew thank you very much.OH and my sister has one of those ninja bullets or something. Like an oversized nutri-bullet I use at work for 1/2 sized protein powder blending... So chunky you have to chew the smoothies she makes. may as well just eat the fruits whole.I want to show them how insane mine is compared to theirs but I don't want to make them jealous. Late at night someone breaks into my condo and it's them lifting my vitamix. I can see it now. LOLI'm adding some pictures. They're crap photos but you can see I'm putting her to use and she's a little dirty but that's the way I like her.The carafe has gotten a little cloudy.... I have no complaints and I'm sure as hell not buying a new one for $99.Keep reading for more ramblings***UPDATE 12/24/13***The blender is still used nearly every day if not more than once a day. It has stood up to EVERYTHING. There have been no complaints and it has not skipped a beat. It performs just as well as the day I bought it.Wouldn't trade it for anything.I couldn't keep up the 90% vegan diet mainly because I haven't cut out drinking alcohol on the weekends and subsequently find that pizza enters the fray when that happens.****Original Review 10/12/2013****With such an expensive product I feel it's important to write an initial review and update it as you live with the product.I have had this blender for two days.I spent extensive amounts of time reading reviews, watching videos, reading consumer reports and reading kitchen blogs that have discussed this blender.Is it worth $550? The legendary status of Vitamix is warranted. It is phenomenal.There are some underdogs that do a similar job if you do your research you'll find some smaller 1 serving blenders have been given high marks but I did not want a small personal size blender. I want to make large amounts of smoothies that I can refrigerate at work or home and have available throughout the week or at least a few days. Of course produce doesn't keep forever.I was almost convinced to buy a blendtec but read reviews regarding the O-ring at the base of the blade would wear overtime eventually leaving little bits of rubber/plastic in your smoothie. Even after 3 years of daily use I don't think that's acceptable. The vitamix has no such issues. The blade and all parts INSIDE the blender are metal. Strong sturdy metal. Probably a hardened steel or titanium but don't quote me on that. THe underside of the carafe houses the hard polycarbonate shroud(Hard to explain this part provides stability under the carafe) In the middle of the bottom is a nearly dime size metal turbine with grooved teeth. This turbine connects to the metal housing on the base of the blender.The blender is very simple with a pulse switch, power dial, and start switch on the front. On the rear right side of the base is a power switch. When you flip it on the symbols and words glow next to each respective switch and dial.I like the industrial and simple look of the front. It's not a touch screen blender like the Blendtech Design Series but I really didn't like the idea of putting so much complicated effort into the look of a blender. The blendtec was almost too pretty. I also don't trust presets. I was looking at the Vitamix 7500 which is (I think)$100 more than this one and the only difference is it has presets for smoothies and liquefying etc... I like to manually do it so I can get the consistency that I want. Plus it saves you some money for fruit to throw in ;)The base is heavy and the motor is powerful as you'd expect. IT IS SO QUIET! With the amount of power this thing has you'd expect it to sound like a lawnmower(it does basically have a lawnmower engine) but it really isn't ear bleedingly loud like the Ninja blenders for example. I have used your typical $50-$100 blenders all my life and they have all been louder than this one. Those old blenders do well with soft fruits aka bananas and berries, but throwing in kale and oranges and apples they would quickly make mush of everything. THIS THING LIQUEFIES EVERYTHING!I just made a chilled avocado soup with a 1 1/2 inch chunk of ginger, avocado, chicken broth, cilantro and some salt and it turned out velvety smooth. CLEANING IS SO EASY. I poured the soup into a container(it made about 5 servings of soup) and rinsed out the carafe with warm water. Within 3 minutes I was making a spinach, apple, banana, orange, smoothie and it tasted like HEAVEN.I am still kicking myself because about a year ago I wanted to get healthy and start eating properly. I watched a documentary about juicing and thought SWEET! This will help! I got an Omega j8006 juicer for $300. It was great at crushing hard fruits but there was SO MUCH WASTE! The pulp getting tossed out or composted was just too much of a waste for me. Grinding 4 apples you'd get maybe a glass of juice. I couldn't handle it. PLUS the cleaning of so many parts it was absolutely a hassle cleaning would take a good 10 minutes and there'd still be pieces of fruit stuck in small places.This has a carafe with a rubber top and a little opening cover that locks into the rubber top(the hole for the tamper) that's it. Boom after I make something I move it to a big container with a lid to put in the fridge and I rinse out the blender with hot water. Done. It's so easy.Making a smoothie in 20 seconds rinsing and making soup in 20 seconds. I mean it doesn't get much easier folks.The consistency of the smoothies I've made are nothing short of perfect.I read a forum comment somewhere of someone who had a 5200 and just got the 300 and they hated it. They said they had chunky smoothies. I have NO idea how they were making their smoothies but I have to call them a straight up crazy person. Granted I've only made about 5 smoothies the last couple days but this thing has smashed through everything I have thrown at it.Buying it straight from Vitamix you'll save a few bucks if you find a voucher for free shipping but you'll get it in 8-14 days or pay $70 for 3 day shipping. Luckily I have a Prime account and got it in 3 days for free.I'm going to go drink more of my banana/apple/orange smoothie.In closing I did struggle with justifying the price of this blender. Then I thought, "You know? My health is priceless and if this helps me stay healthy it's worth every penny."** I was going to update this every month... turns out it has been more like every 3 years lol oops** -12/2016So far we have a budding romance.***UPDATE 10/26/2013***I've had this blender for 2 weeks and use it 3-4 times a day. I have switched to a nearly 90% vegan smoothie diet and have never felt more energized. Eating no garbage I've lost 6-7 pounds and my skin, hair and nails all feel different(in a good way).I have found 2.5 liters of smoothie over a 10 hour work shift keeps me full. I drink less water since liquid is in the smoothies but it's good to stay hydrated as well. Apples, spinach & Bananas are the main staple of most of my smoothies. I buy a lot of frozen fruits too mangos, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries etc.Anyways the blender has stood up to EVERYTHING. One thing to note. I HAVE SMELLED BURNING from the engine. The problem arises when I pack my blender wrong(waking up you space out and throw it all in lol) If you put frozen fruit or ice cubes in first they will turn into hard slush and get pushed up away from the blades making sort of an ice barrier between the rest of the produce and the blades. I could hear the blades spinning faster because there was nothing hitting them. So you take the stamper and push things down into the blades. The burning isn't TERRIBLE or Overwhelming like it's breaking, it's just the engine warming up because it's not crushing anything. This is something to keep in mind. I try to put in water/almond milk, then mushy fruits, hard veggies, then leafy greens and then ice or fruits.#1 IMPORTANT THINGY: Have fun with it! If you enjoy it and make delicious smoothies the whole family can enjoy being healthy and not even feel like it's "Yuck veggies eww healthy". I follow some smoothie recipes but mostly just buy all the produce I love and then mix them all up. Think of your own creative combinations. Have your kids suggest things, etc. Make it enjoyable and you'll start looking, and FEELING better.All the best.