Vitamix v. Blendtec

After almost two decades, we finally decided it was time to retire our good ol' Osterizer blender.  We talked with friends and did our online research before deciding to upgrade to a higher-end Vitamix 5300 or Blendtec Total Blender.  Thanks to our Costco membership, we decided to test both. 

We ran three side-by-side tests to make hummus, banana yogurt smoothies, and shaved ice.  At the end of the day, the Vitamix edged out the Blendtec, primarily due to its more intuitive controls and slightly quieter operation.  But we were impressed by the design of the Blendtec container, which produced a superior vortex, didn't have as much of a problem with food getting stuck underneath the blades, and was easier to clean.  We were also attracted -- and almost swayed -- by the substantially lower price of the Blendtec.

Details and pictures from the tests follow.

1.  The Hummus Test

Our family loves Middle Eastern food, and a huge part of our decision to retire our Osterizer arose from its inability to make hummus without needing extra liquid.  Appropriately, our first experiment with the power blenders was the production of hummus with just the amount of liquid indicated by the recipe.  Both blenders easily pureed the chickpeas, lemon juice, salt, and tahini into a yummy paste, no extra liquid required.

The Blendtec was easy to use with a pre-programmed setting for sauces and dips, among other common blender creations.  After loading in the ingredients, one simple push of the button made quick work of the chickpeas.  Of course, it was a good thing that only a single push of the button was required, since you immediately needed both hands to cover your ears!  The hummus itself was a little too smooth for my tastes -- I like my hummus a little thicker -- but the rest of the family preferred the smoother version.  The Blendtec does allow you to blend ingredients without using the presets, but blending speed is adjusted by pressing up and down buttons, which is somewhat unwieldy.  In contrast to the blender controls, the Blendtec "WildSide" jar was well designed.  No chickpeas escaped the vortex, and it was easy to get at the hummus underneath the blades, both for getting to that last spoonful of hummus and for cleaning the pitcher afterwards.  And the fact that the blades were dull made washing safer as well.  Like most blenders, you can also clean the jar by running soapy water in the blender, but hummus is particularly sticky, and we waited until after lunch to empty the pitchers, by which point some of the hummus specks had gotten pretty dry.

The Vitamix required slightly more work, since it lacked pre-programmed settings.  However, the greater control allowed me to blend the hummus to my desired thickness -- and everyone preferred the lower decibel level.  I did notice a couple of large chickpea chunks that escaped the vortex, but those could probably have been remedied by a slightly longer blending time.  I was less fond of the pitcher, since we lost a few spoonfuls of hummus to the space underneath the blades.  But since both the Vitamix and the Blendtec can be cleaned by running soapy water in the blender promptly after you're done, cleaning the Vitamix pitcher shouldn't be substantially harder.

2.  The Smoothie Test

Most people buy blenders to make smoothies, and replacing our Jamba Juice runs with cheaper, healthier, homemade smoothies was part of the appeal for us as well.

As in the hummus test, neither blender had any problems with transforming the ice, bananas, yogurt, and honey into frozen deliciousness.  Also as before, the Blendtec's smoothie setting was an easy -- albeit loud -- one-touch solution.

Blendtec, slightly overblended 

Vitamix, tamper recommended

For the Vitamix, however, we had to break out the included tamper, since the vortex created by the Vitamix seemed to need a little help.  While using the tamper was an additional step, it wasn't a huge burden, and I could see how the tamper would be useful in certain situations.  The Blendtec has a superior vortex, but to my knowledge there is no tamper for the WildSide jar, so the option of using a tamper to push food down isn't even on the table.

In final analysis, both machines sailed through the smoothie test.  We generally preferred the consistency of the Vitamix smoothie, although we did find some chunks of unblended ice.  These could have been eliminated by additional blending -- or better tamping.  The Blendtec did a better job of producing a smoother puree without unblended chunks of ice, but the default smoothie setting generated a slushier smoothie than we liked.  The result may have been different had we used different ingredients or made a larger volume of smoothie, but this underscores the limitations of the Blendtec's pre-programmed blending cycles.

3.  The Shaved Ice Test

The shaved ice test was the mother of all tests that separated the men blenders from the boy blenders.  For this test we put ice cubes from our freezer straight into each blender with no liquid to mediate the blending process.  The results highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of each blender that we saw in the prior tests.

The ice crush mode on the Blendtec really did a phenomenal job of quickly pulverizing the ice cubes into a uniform consistency.  Unfortunately, the final product reminded me of the snow in West Virginia the first time I went skiing -- it was thoroughly crushed, but the snow had a gritty texture.

The Vitamix produced a less consistent final product -- we found a few chunks of  partially crushed ice in our shaved ice.  In addition, the tamper was absolutely necessary; when we tried this test without the tamper the partially-crushed ice got stuck on the sides and nothing fell into the blending vortex.  But the majority of the snow that was generated reminded me of the powder you'd find in Lake Tahoe.  It had the same tendency to clump that you'd expect from fresh-fallen snow you're smashing into a snowball.  And when paired with condensed milk and sweetened red bean (because what else do you put on shaved ice?), it rivaled what you'd find at a fancy Asian dessert place. 

Conclusion

Both machines impressed and demonstrated why consumers are willing to pay a premium over your typical Osterizer.  The ideal machine would somehow match the Vitamix's controls, finer ice crushing ability, tamper option, and lower noise level with the Blendtec's jar design and much lower price tag.  Short of that, however, we opted for the Vitamix.  But if you enjoy hummus, smoothies, and shaved ice, I doubt you could go wrong with either machine -- unless you don't like having a jet engine go off in your kitchen, in which case you should go with the Vitamix.