Superhero Smoothie Wars: Vitamix Stomps the Ninja

 

My superhero food of choice is the smoothie I drink every morning to start my day.  So my blender is really important.  I was a Ninja girl for two years.  The Ninja had come highly recommended by two dear friends, so when my last blender broke I bought one and became an instant fan.  I found elements of its design to be annoying, but all of my pet peeves were overridden by its power, which now reminds me of a muscle car.   Strong looking but it tries too hard to show it.   It sounded like a jet engine and the blade demands careful handling.  I always felt like I was holding a handful of mini ninja swords when I had to insert or remove it.  But I was swayed by the seemingly kick ass ninja show.  It seemed to take the kale and frozen fruit I fed it, battering it into a smoothie with rapid fire consistency.  Or so I thought.

I should have known my love was blind when I would proudly serve my kale smoothies to guests who would find themselves concentrating on the surprising opportunity to chew something from the glass I had proudly served as a drink. 

I was always trying to figure out what foodie memory was evoked by Ninja smoothies.  Recently I saw a box of cornflakes at the store, and all my childhood cornflake memories came flooding in to explain why I didn't question chewing my smoothies.  Kale smoothies made in a Ninja remind me of what I consider the perfect cereal eating moment, where the balance of soggy to crunchy is just right.   I really actually DID enjoy the flavor and texture.  Truly I did.  BUT, it’s not called sog-crunchie.  It’s calls a SMOOOOOOOOOTHIE.  Vitamix understands that.

When the carafe for my Ninja cracked and I had to replace it for the second time in two years I started researching blenders.  I had heard wonderful things about the Vitamix over the years but never wanted to go to spend that much.  But after reading a bunch of blogs and watching some great YouTube videos that compared them, I realized that the perfect fit for me, and the most cost-effective solution (last longer, less breakage) was the Vitamix.   The article that ultimately swayed me mentioned the Vitamix Certified Reconditioned option and I knew that was the answer for me.

You can buy them on the Vitamix site but if you buy on Amazon it's a little cheaper and with free shipping.  The downside is you don’t know the exact model you are going to get when you order.  I was hoping for a 5200 because I had seen comparisons that put it ahead of the 6300 in my mind.  But I got the 6300.  And, thank god I did, because man oh man is it the perfect blender for me!

The 6300 has an automatic smoothie setting, so you turn it on, walk away and do other stuff and it shuts off automatically when it’s done!  There’s also a frozen dessert and soup setting.  Yes, it makes HOT SOUP out of cold ingredients out of your refrigerator!  One day I accidentally hit the FROZEN DESSERT button and it started to make a beautiful sorbet out of my smoothie ingredients - in seconds!

Let me count the ways I think the Vitamix wins the blender superhero wars:

·         Blade – That damn blade that looks so ferocious in the Ninja is dangerous.  I have accidentally cut myself a couple times.  It's a pain to clean too. Getting between the blades without slicing a finger is a feat.  Frankly, I couldn’t keep it perfectly black so it never appeared perfectly clean even when it was.  It developed a film on it that I could never scour off completely.  With the Vitamix, you don’t ever have to touch the blade and it's so damn small it's baffling how it works.  Seriously, I don’t get it. Amazing.

·         Clean-Up – There is simply no comparison.  To clean the Vitamix you put soapy water in it,  blend it up, and then rinse.  I usually have to do a little more sponge work than that, but not much.  Ninja clean-up is a huge, unsatisfying hassle. 

·         The Lid – Again, no comparison.  You have to line up the Ninja lid (which I always found to be awkward) in just the right way to get it to work.  There is only one way to put on the lid and it takes three steps to do it!  With the Vitamix you put it on from any angle any old way and you don't even have to push hard to see that it's secure.  Done!

·         Affixing Carafe to Base – Yet again, no comparison, there is no lining up in just the right way that the finicky Ninja demands. You just put it on the base.   Done.

·        Noise – One of the blogs said the Vitamix was loud.  Have you ever heard a Ninja?  It sounds like you are inside a jet engine.  The Vitamix is a lullaby in comparison.  I put a ton of frozen fruit in my smoothies.  With the Ninja, it sounded like a bunch of marbles being ground up.  With the Vitamix, if you were in another room, you would never guess the level of grounding up that was taking place in that thing.

 

This is a ton of kale, an orange and a bunch of frozen mango (plus coconut oil and protein powder) and it barely let on what a big job it had to do...

 

·         Carafe Shape – The Vitamix carafe shape is far more beautiful and user friendly being wider at the top.  And the pour spout is wider and works better.  It feels lighter to me, although I didn’t weigh my Ninja carafe before I tossed it.  Bottom line: it's far easier to work with, and far better looking than the Ninja.

·         Beauty – I noticed that a few blogs said the Vitamix isn’t great looking. I disagree. If nothing else it is far more attractive than the Ninja in shape and proportion.  I have no issues keeping it on my counter and I'm pretty adverse to all things unattractive.

·         Smoothie Perfection –   Throw ingredients in the carafe.  Set to SMOOTHIE.  Turn it on.  Drink the blissful concoction that doesn’t leave one morsel-unblended. End of story.