Blendtec blender

[Leigh Lamkin]

is it me or is the blendtec not what i imagined it to be?  i have been so disappointed with its performance.  i couldn't decide between a vitamix or a blendtec and now wish i had shelled out the extra money for a blender i could love.  when i make my smoothies using frozen anything, it will not blend for me.  was i expecting too much? 

any comments? 

[Angie Norman-Meadows]

Hi Leigh, I have a BlendTec and it works great for fozen everything. The one thing that I have found, and I think the Vita Mix and any blender may experience this as well, if you let the frozen stuff sit too long and it freezes into a big clump, it has trouble breaking this solid iceberg. You also need to have enough liquid to blend properly. Put your frozen stuff in last and blend right away before it turns into a solid frozen chunk. It should blend with no problem. It is a very powerful and there should not be an issue with blending frozen foods and ice. Happy Blending! :)!

[Gail]

Hi Leigh,
I have a Blendtec and I love it! Before I bought it I read a lot of hints online, about the best way to blend. So I always start with 1 cup of water in the bottom, then add softer foods like tomatoes or watermelon. Then chunkier stuff like chunked cucumbers or quartered apples, my frozen kale leaves, and lastly on top, ice cubes. I use setting #2 for smoothies and that's it. I hope that helps :-)

[Andrea Dee]

Hmmm, maybe you got a lemon? I have had mine for a few months now, and been successfully blending away anything I put in it, including ice and frozen fruit. Make sure you read the directions, and put enough liquid in there, and the soft stuff in first. You could try using the ice crusher function or just pulse first. Seriously, I haven't tried crazy stuff yet, but it obliterated watermelon rinds in one smoothie cycle. It grinds dried grains perfectly into flour too. I love my Blendtec :)

[Sherri Tauber]

I have a BlendTec and really love it. I had a little of a learning curve when I 1st got it and wasn't very impressed at the beginning. Then as I experimented with it and got use to using the different settings, I was very happy that I had bought it. Hang in there, I feel sure you'll learn to appreciate it.

[Leigh Lamkin]

perhaps i did get a lemon. i do put the liquid in first but hadn't tried the ice crusher function. hmmmmmmmmmmm, didn't know that was even an option. i'll have to try that.
all in all, have not been happy with it.

[Chef Annette St-Pierre]

I'm going to weigh in on the "not so crazy about the Blendtec" side. I've had a variable speed Vita-Mix since '97 and truly love it and use it at least once a day. Last summer I decided to get a Blendtec. After giving it what I felt was a fair trial, it is now in storage waiting for the occasional day when I need to blenders.

For me, the most annoying thing is that there doesn't seem to be a low speed. One particular recipe I make quite a bit calls for blending 1/2 cup of sesame seeds in 1/2 cup of water. I turn the Blendtec on and the water and seeds shoot up to the top of the container and then stick to the sides. Only a very small percentage of the seeds are ever ground. I have tried each program and have also started the blender by just pressing the up/down arrows. I have the same result every time. This same recipe is made successfully in the Vita-Mix.

Why the counter each time we turn the Blendtec on? Maybe I would feel more comfortable if mine had started at 1. Instead, it started at 100-something. How many "turn-ons" do we get before the machine quits? lol

I am willing to change my mind and like this machine -- any hints for how to start out a recipe slowly and not shoot the ingredients up to the top?

Annette

[Leigh Lamkin]

wish i had some hints. wished i had sided with vita-mix. not very happy with the blend-tec. its just okay.

Annette said:

I'm going to weigh in on the "not so crazy about the Blendtec" side. I've had a variable speed Vita-Mix since '97 and truly love it and use it at least once a day. Last summer I decided to get a Blendtec. After giving it what I felt was a fair trial, it is now in storage waiting for the occasional day when I need to blenders.

For me, the most annoying thing is that there doesn't seem to be a low speed. One particular recipe I make quite a bit calls for blending 1/2 cup of sesame seeds in 1/2 cup of water. I turn the Blendtec on and the water and seeds shoot up to the top of the container and then stick to the sides. Only a very small percentage of the seeds are ever ground. I have tried each program and have also started the blender by just pressing the up/down arrows. I have the same result every time. This same recipe is made successfully in the Vita-Mix.

Why the counter each time we turn the Blendtec on? Maybe I would feel more comfortable if mine had started at 1. Instead, it started at 100-something. How many "turn-ons" do we get before the machine quits? lol

I am willing to change my mind and like this machine -- any hints for how to start out a recipe slowly and not shoot the ingredients up to the top?

Annette