Vita Mix Question

You might post over at rec.food.equipment or search that newsgroup on Google groups.

My thoughts: It is a blender, and a costly one at that. Do you have some specific task that only the Vita Mix can do? Can you see yourself using a blender so much that you could justify spending a lot of money on one? In other words, how likely is it that you will change your lifestyle or cooking techniques to adapt to having a new appliance? I bet that most people do exactly what your cousin did: buy a new toy and then not use it much. I question how impressive something is if you can leave it on the shelf most of the time.

I cook and bake every day and I don't even own a standard blender. I probably use my immersion blender once a month. I do use my food processor nearly every day. For me the Vita Mix would probably just be a dust catcher, but if you find yourself using a blender daily, then I suppose that getting a really expensive on might be a rational move.

If you are interested in owning a Vita Mix, I would suggest that you ask your cousin if you could borrow his/hers for a week. If it turns out to be something you want, maybe you could buy the unit from your cousin or from Ebay. Before getting a Vita Mix, I would consider spending the money on a stand mixer and/or a food processor if you don't already have these appliances. They are far more versatile that a blender in my opinion unless you are on some exotic liquid diet.

Best blender(s) we have owned, by far. The first was retired after probably 15 years, only because we wanted the newer model design. That wa at least 10 years ago. The new one did have a motor control failure a couple years ago, and it was well worth shipping it back for repair. In the time it was gone, we went through at least two cheap blenders, and they were total crap, in comparison...

Dave

What do you use the Vita Mix for and how often do you use it? I don't think there is any question that they are well built.

It's a blender. Despite what the ads say about making hot/cold items, it's just a blender--albeit a powerful, well-built one.

Fair question... It hardly gets used in baking, other than for thin batters for pancakes or occasionally for coatings;. For the most part it makes shakes, smoothies and juice drinks, and has been doing that sevral times a day, this Summer! For any task like that, and especialy when you want it to grind ice or frozen fruit, nothing else will do. The immersion blender is handy, and we do use the food processor and stand mixer, but for day-to-day use, the Vita-Mix is a workhorse. As I've been baking bread mor and more, I use the mixer more, but everyone else has the blender running...

Dave

I guess I would consider buying one but I never make shakes or smoothies - it just isn't in my vernacular. I don't know if it is because of my age or location. I see smoothies as a warm climate thing. Maybe I'm just not "with it." I wonder how many people make a lot of drinks? I do see a number of inexpensive blenders/drink makers on the shelves so I guess it isn't too rare.

I have owned a VitaMix for several years. My best reasoning for having it is similar to my having a sewing machine (and mine is not cheap, but a good reliable one). I don?t use it ?that? often, but when I do have a need for it, it?s there. I?ve had several blenders over the years, and they?ve all gone by the way-side; the ingredients always stuck in the bottom, they were not high-powered enough, chintzy compared to the VitaMix. The VitaMix sits on my counter along with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and Kitchen Aid food processor. It does not take the place of these other two appliances in my opinion, but I never regret that I have it available.

I did notice that Costco was demonstrating one for $359 a couple of weeks ago -- I didn?t get close enough to see the model -- if there is one.

Dee

I own an old one which I use in my shop. I believe it's about 3/4 horsepower. I use it to make iced lattes and chai teas.

I've never seen such a powerfull machine and I think it's waaay overkill for home use, unless you just have way too much money or will use it very very often.

One really nice thing about it is that the blades are very well made. I had been through two cheapo blenders that claimed to "crush ice" but they just don't stand up to pro use.

Vita-Mix is the king of all blenders, IMO, but very pricey.

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004, it was written:

May well have ben the commercial version of the Vita-Mix, with the large stainless steel container. We have the Lexan pitcher, used to have the old model, with the stainless pitcher, roughly the same size as the Lexan (1

1/2 qt?). I have seen the big commercial model at Smart & Final for around that price in the past (on sale.)

Dave

We have one that we got to replace our Waring. The Waring's blade broke from making my mother's daily smoothies of yogurt and frozen fruit--I guess frozen fruit is harder on blenders than ice.

The Vita Mix is better than our previous blenders in lots of ways. It blends thoroughly and quickly, it can grind flour, and it comes with a little stick you can put through the lid to help stir things around.

If you would use it a lot, it's well worth the money, but it's awfully expensive for something that might just gather dust.

--Rebecca

Thank you everyone for your input. I am glad to hear it works as well as it seemed to when I used it at my cousin's home. I do use a blender often. I had a kitchenaid for a little while, returned it because it just did not do the job I expected for the price I paid. Bought a Cuisinart which was about $40- dollars less and works just as well. As one of you mentioned the annoyance is that they do not seem to mix well. Power gets stuck, ice does not get finely blended, and I would like to have one that does a better job. We make lots of smoothies (three kids and loving them). I probably won't run out and buy one today, but I will be on the lookout for one in the future.

Thank you! D~