Vita-Mix Blenders & Mixers

[Kayakado]

I bought 2 commercial Vita-mix 4000s on ebay and love them. Both were purchased for under $200 each. My mother has temporary custody of one, with the condition it gets returned to me upon her death. The 4000 has a stainless steel container with a spout at the bottom, hi and low speeds AND forward and reverse. I understand the newer ones only go in one direction. At about 3HP, they will grind anything you put in the container, especially when you have the imapct of being able to reverse those blades at high speed. It is quite a show! I saw my first vita-mix on a group trip where it tirelessly provided mudslides for everyone over a weekend. Its owner swore she never traveled without it, now I understand why.

My mother's only complaint is because she is short she can't see into the top of the SS container.

Oh yeah, when they are making those chicken tortilla soups in the demos -- they are putting in a piece of chicken which includes the bone. It reduces it to a liquid.

[slkinsey]

My latest acquisition has been the Vita Prep 3 1005. I realized I "had" to have this after making several recipes from Keller's Under Pressure which featured some variation of the instruction "puree in a Vita-Prep, then pass through a chinois or fine-mesh conical strainer." I noted the specification as to brand of blender, but since my experience is that my KitchenAid food processor can do most anything specified for the Robot Coupe food processor, I figured: "how bad could it be to just use my Osterizer?" The answer was revealed to me when I had to add extra liquid to to the container in order to get a vortex, and over the course of the multiple hours I spent passing the various purees through the chinois. It could be very bad indeed to use the Osterizer instead of the Vita-Prep, and I had picked recipes that seemed to feature an unsually large number of purees.

The Vita-Prep 3 is to other blenders as a Ferrari is to a Vespa. The blender base is 3+ horsepower. You could use it to power a lawnmower! I used it extensively in my preparations for Christmas dinner. One dish I made was a double recipe of Keller's Puree of Sunchoke Soup with Arugula Pudding and Pickled Radishes from Under Pressure. I had made this once before, in the pre-Vita-Prep era. This involved, among other steps, blanching, shocking, squeezing out and pureeing over a half-kilo of arugula leaves. Using the Osterizer, I had to add extra liquid to the container to get the leaves to blend. It took forever to pass through the chinois, and I had to cook it down to eliminate the added liquid. With the Vita-Prep, I simply tossed the chopped-up blanched/squeezed arugula to the container with a few ice cubes, revved up the blades, and after finding the right angle with the "accelerator tool" I got a vortex in a few seconds. 30 seconds later, I was passing a thick, bright-green puree through the chinois with little effort. Later on, after I had finished removing some lobster from the shell for butter-poached lobster, I tossed the shells into the Vita-Prep with some water and ground them into little pieces along with some aromatics. That went onto the stove, and within a very short time I had made a strong, fully-extracted lobster stock that formed the basis of an amazing sauce for the lobster. I even turned a blender full of ice cubes into snow in short order. These sorts of things simply can't be done using a regular blender.

I'm already imagining all kinds of things I can do with this blender. To me, one great advantage is the ability to make silky-smooth, thick purees without having to add any liquid or do any post-blender cooking of the puree to thicken it. Finally I'll be able to make the roasted red pepper sauce I've imagined.

[jsmeeker]

What makes me want a Vita-Mix/Vita-Prep is watching Rick Bayless's show on PBS. He uses it a lot there. A lot of the stuff he makes involves sauces made from dried chillis. Using a standard blender at home, it works, but there are always bits left that need to be strainder. The Vita-Mix will make it super smooth. And will do it more quickly than the blender I have.

They are super sweet. I want one. But boy, are they spendy.

[prasantrin]

Once in a great while, Costco has Vita-Mix promotions for a very good price. The last time I saw it (which was probably about 2 years ago or more), it was priced at about $250 Canadian and included several bonus pieces. If you check their website, or Costco's website, you can find out if they're doing a promotion at a Costco near you.

[docsconz]

What makes me want a Vita-Mix/Vita-Prep is watching Rick Bayless's show on PBS.  He uses it a lot there.  A lot of the stuff he makes involves sauces made from dried chillis.  Using a standard blender at home, it works, but there are always bits left that need to be strainder.  The Vita-Mix will make it super smooth. And will do it more quickly than the blender I have. 

They are super sweet.  I want one.  But boy, are they spendy.

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It was with Rick in Mexico that I first coveted a Vita-mix. My wife gave me one for my birthday. It is wonderful.

[slkinsey]

Vita-Mix? Mix?! My Vita-Prep laughs at your Vita-Mix!

So... any fun tricks anyone does with theirs? Last night, as an experiment to text the VP3's usefulness for everyday cooking (as opposed to advanced cooking projects) I tossed a few pounds of carrots along with some onion and celery and chicken stock into a saucepan and simmerd everything until tender. That went into the VP3, where I added some fresh parsley, and then through a sieve. A touch of cream, some salt and a few curry spices later, and I had a silky-smooth curry carrot soup as good as you're likely to find in most restaurants. Probably took 10 minutes of actual work. I could have diced the vegetables in the VP3 as well, but I was chatting with a friend and didn't want to make the noise.

[docsconz]

Vita-Mix?  Mix?!  My Vita-Prep laughs at your Vita-Mix!

So... any fun tricks anyone does with theirs?  Last night, as an experiment to text the VP3's usefulness for everyday cooking (as opposed to advanced cooking projects) I tossed a few pounds of carrots along with some onion and celery and chicken stock into a saucepan and simmerd everything until tender.  That went into the VP3, where I added some fresh parsley, and then through a sieve.  A touch of cream, some salt and a few curry spices later, and I had a silky-smooth curry carrot soup as good as you're likely to find in most restaurants.  Probably took 10 minutes of actual work.  I could have diced the vegetables in the VP3 as well, but I was chatting with a friend and didn't want to make the noise.

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Yes, Vita-Prep. For Thanksgiving I made this roasted pumpkin and chipotle puree.

[jsmeeker]

What does a Vita-Prep 3 get you over a Vita-Mix 5200? The controls seems pretty much the same. is the only difference 3 HP motor vs. 2 HP? And for home use, wouldn't 2 HP be enough?

[docsconz]

What does a Vita-Prep 3 get you over a Vita-Mix 5200?  The controls seems pretty much the same. is the only difference 3 HP motor vs. 2 HP?  And for home use, wouldn't 2 HP be enough?

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¿Quién es mas macho?

[jsmeeker]

What does a Vita-Prep 3 get you over a Vita-Mix 5200?  The controls seems pretty much the same. is the only difference 3 HP motor vs. 2 HP?  And for home use, wouldn't 2 HP be enough?

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¿Quién es mas macho?

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LOL

How much more will it cost me to be more macho? Let me guess your answer.

"It doesn't matter. It's worth it"

[docsconz]

What does a Vita-Prep 3 get you over a Vita-Mix 5200?  The controls seems pretty much the same. is the only difference 3 HP motor vs. 2 HP?  And for home use, wouldn't 2 HP be enough?

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¿Quién es mas macho?

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LOL

How much more will it cost me to be more macho? Let me guess your answer.

"It doesn't matter. It's worth it"

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We actually got a refurbished one direct from the company for a reasonable price. I couldn't tell the difference.

[slkinsey]

I think that a 50% increase in power over the Vita-Mix 5200 definitely makes a difference. A lot of what makes the Vita-Prep so great, and what enables you to do some of the things you can do (especially without burning out the motor) is the power. This is not to say, of course, that the 5200 isn't pretty cool.

[weinoo]

But, the Vita Mix has the following:

New Swedish-built 2 peak HP motor, custom designed for this machine, runs substantially cooler with energy savings and improved performance.

And the Vita-Mix has a 7 year factory warranty vs. a 3 year warranty for the Prep.

[slkinsey]

That's certainly worth considering. Although I should point out that were talking about 7 years of predicted home use versus 3 years of professional restaurant use.

[jsmeeker]

That's certainly worth considering.  Although I should point out that were talking about 7 years of predicted home use versus 3 years of professional restaurant use.

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Right.. And for me, it would be for home use.

[slkinsey]

I suspect you're missing the point. Three years of restaurant use is thousands of times more than 7 years of home use. Calendar days are meaningless. It's the miles you put on the blender that matter.

I'm not saying that the 5200 isn't a good machine. I'm sure it's a great machine and that you'd be happy with one. But, just doing a casual search on eBay, I see that a new 5200 goes for around 400 bucks. A new Vita Prep 3 1005 goes for around $480 on eBay. For an additional 80 bucks, you're getting 50% more power and you're getting a machine designed to stand up to the rigors of use in a professional kitchen. Seems like a no-brainer.

One interesting demonstration I saw on youtube demonstrates the difference that a 3+ horsepower motor can make compared to the 2 horsepower motor. When you want to power through some tough, thick, fibrous material, that extra power is going to be the difference.

[weinoo]

A new Vita Prep 3 1005 goes for around $480 on eBay.  For an additional 80 bucks, you're getting 50% more power and you're getting a machine designed to stand up to the rigors of use in a professional kitchen.  Seems like a no-brainer.

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I'd be willing to bet that both machines are designed to be used pretty rigorously, with very similar raw materials. After all, if there's only an $80 price difference to the end user, it's not like they're using titanium in the Prep vs. balsa wood in the 5200.

Undoubtedly the 3HP motor is designed for the higher volume of blendables that might be stuffed into the container as well as the chunks of whatever woody, fibrous products that might be thrown into it by some prep chef in a restaurant's kitchen.

But just like I wouldn't necessarily use a John Deere tractor to cut my lawn (which I don't have), I'd probably be perfectly happy with the John Deere lawn mower to do the same task. It's not that often that I'm grinding up wood in my blender.

As mentioned above:

since my experience is that my KitchenAid food processor can do most anything specified for the Robot Coupe food processor

And just to take it a step further, let's suppose that each unit fails after it's warranty period is up. And we're going to need the blenders for the next 11 years.

Now, with the Prep you've spent $1,920, whereas with the 5200, you're still on your second blender, and you've only spent $800, a savings of $1200 - easily enough for a Robot Coupe but not quite enough for that John Deere lawn mower.

Interestingly enough, our friends at Cook's Illustrated tested blenders in the July, 2006 issue. One thing that might be of interest in the article states:

Manufacturers typically indicate motor power in horsepower or watts (both measure power; one HP equals 746 watts). In previous tests...we discovered that the wattage listed on the package has little, if any, correlation to performance.  That's because this number is a measurement of the power consumed (emphasis theirs) by the blender motor, not the power generated by it. Our blender tests confirmed this: The 500-watt Jenn-Air Attrezzi, for example, was better at crushing ice than the 1,380-watt Vita-Mix.

BTW, their winning blender was the L'Equip R.P.M. at $134 (click). The best buy was a Braun PowerMax at $50!

[slkinsey]

I'd be willing to bet that both machines are designed to be used pretty rigorously, with very similar raw materials. After all, if there's only an $80 price difference to the end user, it's not like they're using titanium in the Prep vs. balsa wood in the 5200

Those are deep discount eBay prices. A typical retail price of the VP3 is around $650, and I've seen it listed for more.

As mentioned above:

since my experience is that my KitchenAid food processor can do most anything specified for the Robot Coupe food processor

Also as mentioned above, I found that this wasn't true with respect to blenders.

And just to take it a step further, let's suppose that each unit fails after it's warranty period is up.  And we're going to need the blenders for the next 11 years.

Now, with the Prep you've spent $1,920, whereas with the 5200, you're still on your second blender, and you've only spent $800, a savings of $1200 - easily enough for a Robot Coupe but not quite enough for that John Deere lawn mower.

That's assuming that they fail immediately after the warranty period. Which I do not assume would happen. But if you want to look at the warranty, we shouldn't look at your assumption, we should look at the manufacturer's assumption. The manufacturer issues a warranty because they assume that you won't need to use it. So, Vita-Mix assumes that the 5200 won't need warranty repair for at least 7 years of normal home use and the VP3 won't need warranty repair for at least 3 years of restaurant use. So, let's assume fairly heavy use of both machines and do the math. Someone who really used his Vita-Mix a lot would be using it, say, an hour every day. This is an extremely generous assumption, by the way, because most culinary home users of the Vita-Mix won't use it nearly this much (serious "health juicers" might). This means that Vita-Mix is confident that you can use the 5200 for around 2,555 hours without anything breaking. In a restaurant, on the other hand, heavy use can be conservatively estimated around, say, at least 4 hours a day. This means that Vita-Mix is confident that you can use the VP3 for around 4,380 hours without anything breaking. If we extend those hours back to the assumed one hour per day habits of home users, we get 12 years.

So, if we follow your calculus and assume that the product will need to be replaced based on the warranty expectations, then after ten years, we have spent $800 on the Vita-Mix and only $480 on the Vita-Prep.

More to the point, from a purely money-wise perspective, I don't quite understand why someone who is already willing to spend 400 bucks on a blender wouldn't be willing to spend 20% more on a model with 50% more power that is designed to stand up to the rigors of being bashed around a professional kitchen. Your lawnmower comparison fails, because you will always have the same lawn. If, on the other hand, you might need to mow different kinds and sizes of lawns on different days, then you would be well-advised to acquire the more powerful mower. Because a lack of power will limit your ability to do certain things, not having too much power. No one ever said: "My blender is too powerful to make this mayonnaise. How I wish I had a less powerful blender!" This is because you can always adjust the blender speed down. On the other hand, plenty of people have lamented that their blender is not powerful enough to make a smooth, thick puree out of fresh parsley with no liquid added, or because they choked the blender on that second batch of hummus for a dinner party.

As for Cook's Illustrated... let me just say that they rarely test for the things I am likely to find important.

Edited January 2, 2009 by slkinsey (log)

[weinoo]

In a restaurant, on the other hand, heavy use can be conservatively estimated around, say, at least 4 hours a day.  This means that Vita-Mix is confident that you can use the VP3 for around 4,380 hours without anything breaking.  If we extend those hours back to the assumed one hour per day habits of home users, we get 12 years.

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This assumption is that the blender is literally ON for four hours a day - hogwash. I've worked in restaurant kitchens, and when the soup needs to be pureed, or whatever needs to be blended, the blender is on for maybe 10 minutes - unless they're making enough soup for 1,000 portions. And then they're buying a really big blender made by John Deere.

More to the point, from a purely money-wise perspective, I don't quite understand why someone who is already willing to spend 400 bucks on a blender wouldn't be willing to spend 20% more on a model with 50% more power that is designed to stand up to the rigors of being bashed around a professional kitchen.

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But perhaps that person was going to buy a $100 blender to start with and has now upped that by 300%?

As for Cook's Illustrated... let me just say that they rarely test for the things I am likely to find important.

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So, your blender is used for none of the following, which CI tested: ice crushing, smoothie, soup puree, hummus and peanut butter? I realize they did not test the ability of the blender to do wood chips.

[slkinsey]

In a restaurant, on the other hand, heavy use can be conservatively estimated around, say, at least 4 hours a day.  This means that Vita-Mix is confident that you can use the VP3 for around 4,380 hours without anything breaking.  If we extend those hours back to the assumed one hour per day habits of home users, we get 12 years.

This assumption is that the blender is literally ON for four hours a day - hogwash. I've worked in restaurant kitchens, and when the soup needs to be pureed, or whatever needs to be blended, the blender is on for maybe 10 minutes - unless they're making enough soup for 1,000 portions. And then they're buying a really big blender made by John Deere.

If it's a professional kitchen that is using the blender for multiple items such as pureed sauces and marinades, coulis and the like, smooth soups, house-made mayonnaise and other dressings, nut butters, and more at any real volume... it seems very likely that they're using the blender at least four hours over the course of a 10 hour day. You use it for one thing, clean it out, and use it for something else. Looking at some of the higher-end cookbooks, I have been surprised at how often one would like to use a high power blender. Meanwhile, of course, the vast majority of home Vita-Mix users is actually racking up something closer to an hour a week (and probably more like 2 hours a month) rather than an hour a day of operation. I don't think it's reaching at all to suggest that a blender in a restaurant is getting 4 times the use of a typical home blender. It's actually being quite generous in favor of the home user.

More to the point, from a purely money-wise perspective, I don't quite understand why someone who is already willing to spend 400 bucks on a blender wouldn't be willing to spend 20% more on a model with 50% more power that is designed to stand up to the rigors of being bashed around a professional kitchen.

But perhaps that person was going to buy a $100 blender to start with and has now upped that by 300%?

So, the $100 buyer would have to go up by 300% to get a 5200 and 380% to get the VP3. They're still in the position where the VP3 costs only 20% more.

For sure there isn't a huge list of things you can only do with the VP3 or that you can do significantly better/easier with the VP3 compared to the 5200. But, then again, the list of things you can do in the 5200 that you can't do in the $134 L'Equip R.P.M. the Cook's Illustrated guys liked isn't all that long either. Why not buy that and save yourself 266 bucks over the 5200? The reason is that you're spending that 266 bucks in order to be able to do the few things you can't really do in the L'Equip R.P.M. If you don't care about those things -- don't buy the 5200! I could say similar things with respect to buying the VP3 over the 5200, but the price difference both in terms of percent and real dollars is much smaller than the difference between the 5200 and the L'Equip R.P.M.. The reason I would still recommend buying the VP3 over the 5200 is simply because if you want the 5200 it's already clear that you want to do these things, and since the percent increase in price is small relative to the percent increase in power, why not have the extra capacity?

As for Cook's Illustrated... let me just say that they rarely test for the things I am likely to find important.

So, your blender is used for none of the following, which CI tested: ice crushing, smoothie, soup puree, hummus and peanut butter? I realize they did not test the ability of the blender to do wood chips.

I often have problems not only with the things they test, but also how they test them. I wouldn't say that ice-crushing is a major priority for me. But I also have my doubts as to whether the CI people used the adjustable speed in the 5200 in the best way for this task. In addition, as I have done myself to satisfy my curiosity, the VP3 (and the 5200 as well, I imagine) can turn a container packed full of ice cubes into dry snow in relatively short order. Is this something any of the other machines can do? Meanwhile, the Vita-Mix excelled at making smoothies and soup purees, both things that are important to me. But how about how well the various machines were able to make a smooth puree out of a fibrous raw vegetable such carrots or fennel? How good were they at making a thick puree of parsley or cilantro, including the stems and without any added liquid? While we're at it, just how smooth were those soup purees? How long did it take to pass them through a chinois? Were they making a potato puree (easy) or a carrot puree (significantly more difficult to get smooth)? Could they do what I did yesterday in making a shrimp bisque, and drop in cooked rice, boiling shrimp stock and raw shrimp that came out silky smooth and passed straight through a chinois? What technique were they using to make the hummus? Since I often find that their criteria for various dishes are not the same as mind, I also have to ask: What were their goals in making the hummus, and are they the same as mine? I could go on, but suffice it to say that my preferences for cookware and also for cooked dishes do not often coincide with CI's. Some of CI's conclusions directly contradict my own. For example, they say that having a tapered base is critically important. Really? Well, I suppose this is true when you have a lot of liquid in there. But my experience is that if you want to make a relatively thick puree, a narrowly tapered base makes this impossible unless you add enough liquid to create a vortex -- which is exactly what you don't want to do.

Edited January 2, 2009 by slkinsey (log)

[Alex of the North]

We've had a couple of these, the main problem that we've had is with the electronics in the Blending Advance System and the Portion Blending System. In the future, I'll be avoiding these in favor of the simpler Drink Machine Advance (I recently picked one up cheaply at an auction, I'm going to keep it as backup). I have a coffeehouse and I use them mainly for smoothies and shakes that I make with fresh fruit and frozen yogurt. On a typical day we use it about 30 times for about 30 seconds, or for about fifteen minutes total, over a year that's 91 hours ice crushing. It's not a big part of our business, so that's probably the low end of commercial usage.

[slkinsey]

You're talking about the Portion Blending System Advance, I gather. Seems complicated.

Like you, I think I'd rather stick with a more "normal" blender system in that context. I guess that the advantage of the Drink Machine is that you can put your product in there and get the blend you want with the press of a button by using one of their preprogrammed settings?

[ojisan]

Why you don't need a 3 hp blender:

http://www.vitamix.com/household/infocenter/3horsepower.asp

[Chris Amirault]

From the website:

Q. Is a 3 horsepower blender needed for household applications?

A. Absolutely not. Vita-Mix household products are built to maximize the performance for the expected application, not the horsepower of the motor. Some machines use misleading INPUT horsepower rather than the more accurate peak motor OUTPUT that Vita-Mix uses.

Given that avocado pit obliteration by th e2+ HP 5200, I'm convinced. Holy crap.

[ojisan]

What's the difference between the 5200 and the Professional/CIA versions?