VitamixE310 Explorian Blender, Professional-Grade, 48 Oz. Container, Black

Bought this when Amazon had a $60 off deal on the black color. Vitamix products are expensive. Especially so, considering these are only blenders, but they are the best when it comes to blending anything you put into it and the durability, (though nothing is made like it used to be, even these.)I chose the cheaper model as I don't need the programs, nor the latest container sensing system, and the 48 oz container is just the right size for 3 of us. The 3" blades allow for smaller quantities if making a recipe for one. The other higher-priced models have 64 oz containers and 4" blades, but need a greater minimum quantity of ingredients to work correctly and immerse the blades. The 2 hp matches the 3" blades and does the same job as the 2.2 hp motor does on the larger containers. So, model choice really is down to minimum batch size and what bells and whistles you feel you want, but don't actually need!So far I haven't found fault with the E310. It does a fantastic job of blending anything I've put into it, as long as you follow the loading rules; liquids first, followed by lighter ingredients like leafy material, then heavier items like apples followed by heavy ice cubes. This ensures the blades start blending the easier stuff first and the heavier items weight the load down to maintain a feed into the blades until everything is flowing in a strong vortex, completing the blend.Made lots of smoothies and also some soup, heated by the Vitamix itself in 6 minutes or so. I did struggle with a frozen dessert, but I think that was because all the fruit ingredients were frozen solid and I missed the recommendation to let them thaw a little for 10-20 minutes on the counter before blending. The Vitamix had no problem breaking down the solid frozen lumps with the aid of the included tamper, but an air pocket kept forming around the blades and the mix didn't "flow" and produce the classic 4-segment, stiff vortex shape on the surface. Everything was too frozen. It did produce a nice sorbet though after much tampering!Clean-up is a breeze. You just rinse the container, add warm water with a couple drops of dish liquid and run at high speed. Rinse again and let dry. And that's it!Unlike other blenders, the blades are not razor sharp and it would be difficult to cut yourself on them if wiping out the container. The "wet" container blending is all about the blade shape, the speed of rotation (most times you are running at the highest speed of 10 and the only factor to think about is run-time) and the subsequent mixing vortex driving the ingredients into the blades. For flour and other dry seed blending, you need a "dry" container, supplied separately as an accessory, but over $100 !! Its blades are a different configuration and keep the fines from broken-down seeds in suspension in the container, while the heavier seeds fall back into the blades. You can, however, make nut butters in the supplied "wet" container using peanuts, almonds, etc..The pulse function is good for "lumpy" salsa and for adding some chunks at the end of a blend for texture. I added some more baked potatoes and roasted cauliflower to the soup after blending to temperature. Then pulsed them to leave some larger chunks in the smooth soup.As with any high speed blender, these units are noisy, but we don't live in an apartment to have to worry about the noise!We are using the Vitamix every day for healthy fruit and vegetable smoothies and look forward to a long time doing so with the 5 year warranty. Vitamix customer service is reputed to be very good. I expect an even longer life from the unit as the Vitamix is well designed.

It’s as good as they say it is. A real life saver, literally. I use this to make blended food for my daughter who is Tube fed. It makes everything into a perfect formula. Even the harder meats! We blended pork chops and it had no problems and I haven’t even turned it past 7 yet! I was worried about this purchase because it’s a huge expense for a blender for it not to work but it was exactly what we needed. And it has a 7 year warranty that was easy to set up, I just scanned the code and filled out a form. If you're a tube parent, caregiver or have a feeding tube yourself this blender is exactly what you’re looking for. And if your just looking for a great blender then your in luck it blends whole meals, meat, vegetables, bread and potatoes to a smooth liquid.

I start each day with a smoothie. I make them in a blender with milk, yogurt, tofu, fresh and frozen fruit. When I started this routine, I used my Cuisinart blender. This was NOT an inexpensive blender. It didn't cost anywhere near what this Vitamix cost, but it also was not a bottom of the line blender. The entire time I used the Cuisinart, I had to be very careful about how I added the frozen fruit. I had to use the pulse setting every time and the smoothies still often contained chunks of fruit that had not blended much at all. Eventually, the blender began slipping and the motor would overheat. It was time for a new blender. After a great deal of consideration, we decided to take the plunge and invest in this Vitamix. The first thing we noticed about this blender is how much larger the base is than the Cuisinart. It's larger because it has a much larger motor. That larger motor makes such a difference. I just have to say, WOW! Smoothies are sooooo much easier to make with this machine. I can just dump everything in the pitcher, run the blender for about 10-15 seconds and I have a perfectly blended smoothie. No more chunks of partially blended strawberries to clog my straw. (Yes, I use reusable straws!) Because of when the Cuisinart died, this Vitamix ended up being an early Christmas gift. Although I expected to use this blender primarily for smoothies, I found it came in very handy for my holiday baking. When I discovered I was short of powdered sugar at 10:00 one night after I had already made two trips to the grocery store that day, I discovered that my Vitamix could make powdered sugar out of granulated sugar and a bit of corn starch. It also did a great job of grinding up cookies for another recipe. I was a bit skeptical about the cleaning directions when I bought the blender. Now that I've been following those directions for several weeks, I have to say I LOVE being able to just rinse the pitcher, fill it half full with hot water and drop of dishwashing liquid, run it on high for half a minute, rinse everything again and set it in the drainer to dry. I was also happy to read in the manual that one is able to run the pitcher and lid through the dishwasher if preferred. There are even instructions for how to sterilize the pitcher with bleach or vinegar if needed. The bottom line is that this blender is outrageously expensive, but if you are going to use your blender a lot, having a super powerful blender is probably a really good idea and this is just how much they cost. In the end, I'm glad we spent the money to buy this blender.

Best blender on the market and only one you'll ever need! Great for the casual smoothie enjoyer and meal prepper! Has enough capacity to make 2 or 3 smoothies at once and enough power to crush ice! Make sure to pack the blender in the right order! Very easy to use. The noise level is loud, but that's to be expected from a blender.