Blendtec Blender

[Matt_T]

Not sure how on-topic this is but thought some might enjoy watching as blender maker with an offbeat marketing plan takes on the latest tech icon:

Video

Scroll down the page for more scientific tests. That does look like a heckuva blender!

MT

Edited July 12, 2007 by Matt_T (log)

[phaelon56]

It's a clever "viral marketing" campaign. It costs Blend-Tec very little to produce and rumor has it their sales increased 43% in one year after the campaign took off. But I'll still buy a Vita-Mix when the time comes.

[ChefJohnny]

That video makes me cry a little. Yea, I'm an Apple fanatic.

-Chef Johnny

[Jay Francis]

I would love to try this at home but having paid upwards of $500 for my wonderful Vita-Mix, well, it isn't going to happen.

I investigated both the Vita-Mix and the Blendtec when I started shopping for my blender. I kept reading in reviews that the Blendtec was super noisy.

I had an opportunity to test both out at separate local demos at Costco.

To test them I brought the most difficult thing I could think of....roasted and skinned cacao beans. Could the high speed and heat of the blenders turn the cacao into a smooth chocolate liquor? That was the question.

Well, I can confirm to you that the Blendtec was painfully loud. You would really want to wear hearing protection with this unit. It was that bad.

The Vita-Mix was quieter. I really like it. I made peanut butter just this morning with it, 24 ounces of dry roasted unsalted peanuts and 3 tbs of olive oil. It took 3 minutes.

If you are wondering about the cacao experiment, well, the Vita-Mix does have an overheat thermistor, so it will shut off when the motor overheats, which was the case with the cacao. The Blendtec doesn't, but it did a lousy job of making the chocolate liquor.

Since then I had the luck to find a Champion juicer at a second hand store for $15, which is the way I make my chocolate now. I save the blender for the things it is best suited for.

[phaelon56]

In commercial environments a sound dampening enclosure is usually in place around the blender and operating noise is less of an issue. But I do know both from anecdotal evidence and from personal experience that the sealed bearing mechanism at the base of the blending jar on Blendtec's has a tendency to begin leaking from the bearings and subsequently seize up.

It's a known issue and in the commercial environment where a $60 Blendtec mixing container may wear out with six months of heavy use it's a significant factor in purchasing decisions. In the home environment that same container will probably work fine for years.