BlendTec Home Blender Product Review

October 22, 2008 by |Product Reviews|Comments (31)

Alternate Title: Will it Blend…Damn right it will!

Back a month or so ago I was blending a smoothie and decided that my poor little blender just wasn’t cutting the mustard…err…pineapple. Of course it didn’t help that I’d been eyeing a certain blender for over a year now (yes…I eye blenders). But let’s be honest – your eyes would stray too if you saw a blender that could blend an iPhone or a hockey puck.

What? You don’t believe me? Ok…here ya go – a YouTube video from their site (which, btw – if you want endless entertainment, check it out).

So….it was decided, I needed this the BlendTec Home blender. A quick virtual credit card swipe later and it arrived the next day courtesy Amazon.com.

I’ll save you the process of putting it together – it was pretty complex…ya know, two pieces and all. And I had to plug it in all by myself! So the first thing I set out to do was to create a quick smoothie using all fresh fruit that I froze myself.

Which brings me to a little trick about smoothies. The way to make them taste like the good smoothie places is to NOT use ice or any water. Simply use fruit and fruit juice. This is because water/ice offers no flavor (duh), and only serves to chill. Whereas using frozen fruit and then cold fruit juice is perfect and packed with flavor – plus – no sugar added.

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So in goes some orange juice, a bit of apple juice (both great bases) and then some bananas I froze a few days before, plus some peaches I picked earlier in the summer and froze, as well as some pineapple I also chopped up and froze. Then ya hit the smoothie button. Or really any other button that you see fit.

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And it swirls. Then you drink it. Pretty simple ehh?

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So after the smoothie it was time to up the ante. What about an Oreo milkshake?

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Ok…so it can make a milkshake. Time to kick it up another notch. How about peanut butter?

Yup, just straight peanuts. Nothing added, no oils, no funky ingredients – just simple peanuts.

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You can of course stop it along the way and make any consistency peanut butter. I prefer chunky, so my next batch I made chunky instead. And then a few days later I also made almond butter (just using straight almonds). Good stuff! Oh, and there’s no weird oil sitting on top of the peanut butter after a few days – just nice clean peanut butter.

Of course, the problem you quickly find is that you buy a lot of fruit. I end up buying as much fresh fruit as possible and then cutting it up myself and freezing it. Like bananas for instance. When the bananas on my counter aren’t getting loved fast enough, I’ll just peel, cut and freeze them on sheets. Then once frozen individually I toss them into plastic containers. They taste great in smoothies!

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But now that it’s fall and nearly winter, some fresh fruits are more expensive than I want them to be. So I go to a nearby Restaurant Depot and pickup boxes of frozen fruit. Each box costs me only $10 – so it’s incredibly cheap that way at a dollar per pound – similar to Costco. Plus, it’s all just pure fresh fruit – NOTHING added.

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Two cool features are an easy to read ounce level on the jar, plus a nifty odometer (that you can see in above photos) as to how many times I’ve used it. Of course, it’s a bit off because each ‘cycle’ counts as one use, whereas something like peanut butter can take a few cycles.

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However, perhaps the best part of the BlendTec is the MASSIVE cookbook that it comes with. Recipes for everything you can imagine from salsas to breads to soups. I’ve made quite a few things thus far in the blender, my current list is:

  • Peanut Butter
  • Almond Butter
  • Countless Smoothies
  • Pancake Batter
  • Raspberry Syrup (to put on pancakes)
  • Milkshakes

I haven’t yet blended any sneakers though, so someone will have to try that one out themselves! In short, I love this blender and it’s earned it’s keep and a place on my counter since arrival. Yup, it’s a bit expensive, but at least it lasts and it blends the crap out of everything I throw at it.

As always, if ya have any questions – just post them below and I’ll respond in the comments.

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31 Comments

  1. Burnt Couch
    October 22, 2008 at 5:44 am #1

    I don’t mean for this to come out rude or anything,….but do you have a job? what is it that you do for money? I’m just curious cause your blog is great and has such detailed content, how you have time to train and write And work, I don’t know.

    thanks!

    Reply
  2. Maggs
    October 22, 2008 at 6:18 am #2

    Great review. I do the frozen banana thing too (only I just peel and put in a plastic baggie and freeze). That blender is on my Christmas list. I bet it makes great hummus too! Can’t wait to try it on almond butter.

    Reply
  3. Sarah
    October 22, 2008 at 12:59 pm #3

    I’m laughing at burnt couch’s comment…

    Blender looks awesome! Once again I am jealous of your gadgetry. I love the Will It Blend segment – seeing the iPhone die was sad, though.

    Reply
  4. Jen
    October 22, 2008 at 1:08 pm #4

    I have to buy that blender to make peanut butter. I’m sure I’ll end up putting in some chocolate chips and making some chocolate peanut buttery freezable snacks that will remind me of Reese’s PB Cups. *Going to Amazon.com..

    Reply
  5. UntPawGal02
    October 22, 2008 at 1:56 pm #5

    Nice review of the blender… the Oreo milkshake looks delicious :)

    Reply
  6. Kelly
    October 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm #6

    I watched that little video with my jaw dropped. Awesome. I can barely get my blender to cut through an ice cube.

    Reply
  7. Lesser is More
    October 22, 2008 at 6:03 pm #7

    For all the good this blender could do (ie making smoothies and fresh peanut butter), I think I would use it for pure evil things (ie chopping up an old walkman I have, the cassette tapes that went along with said walkman, making oreo milkshakes, making a massive smoothie out of every Halloween candy known to man, you know…simple things like that). Evil I tell you. But awesome at the same time.

    Reply
  8. Donald
    October 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm #8

    This is fantastic. My blender is kind of on the ropes – this looks like a perfect replacement.

    Reply
  9. CoachLiz
    October 22, 2008 at 7:10 pm #9

    iSmoke…ROTFLMAO!!!

    My kid found these videos on You Tube over the summer and they are frick’n hilarious! I love the one where all the action figures are put in the Blend Tech and the only one who will not blend is Chuck Norris, lol.

    I have decided to get my husband the Blend Tech for Christmas because we finally broke the blades on the blender we got as a wedding gift 15 years ago and have cracked the bottom of a Sunbeam he picked up at a garage sale.

    Thanks for the product review!

    Reply
  10. NW Cyclist
    October 22, 2008 at 10:37 pm #10

    Hey- how to you have access to Restaurant Depot? The website says you need a business license or non-profit certificate to become a member. Looks like a great blender! I’m also looking forward to the review of the computrainer.

    Reply
  11. Ray Maker
    October 22, 2008 at 10:39 pm #11

    RE: Access to the Depot…

    I have a small business license…mostly from a former life, although occasionally used for consulting – but still valid. Of course, obtaining a valid biz license is an easy manner in most states (WA/VA I’ve done it).

    Reply
  12. Liz
    October 22, 2008 at 11:05 pm #12

    Making your own peanut butter- I am so in awe. Why are you not my neighbor?

    You should grind up peanuts and banana and make banana peanut butter. Would that keep? It probably doesn’t matter because you should just eat it all at once.

    Reply
  13. Audrey
    October 23, 2008 at 1:44 am #13

    I do hold myself out as a bit of a blender connoisseur after this summmer and I agree with your assessment!

    -Audrey-

    Reply
  14. SLB
    October 23, 2008 at 12:13 pm #14

    Holy crap…mind your fingers!

    Reply
  15. Sarah
    October 23, 2008 at 7:22 pm #15

    This is my most favorite review ever. Maybe because I am most likely to buy this thing?

    ANYWAY this was fantastic. When I lived in Berkeley one of my housemates had a VitaMix which seems similar to this. It could blend ANYTHING. And I loved it. I may have to ask for this for Christmas…

    And what is this Restaurant Depot place you speak of? It sounds awesome. Matt is a small business owner so um…I need to look this place up!!!!

    Reply
  16. triguyjt
    October 24, 2008 at 3:49 am #16

    I want me one of those hockey puck shakes,….haha

    funny stuff…

    Reply
  17. Xena
    October 27, 2008 at 7:06 pm #17

    Why are you putting ice in an Oreo shake?!!!
    FAIL

    Vanilla ice cream is the only acceptable base.

    Also Laughing at Burnt Couch.
    Insomnia is the first requirement for having a blog.

    Reply
  18. Tyler Toone
    January 10, 2012 at 8:06 pm #18

    Great review! I am planning to buy one after I made the best tasting almond butter with my buddy’s Blendtec. Simply add a bunch of almonds and a few tablespoons of coconut oil and voila! fresh almond butter that costs way less than buy in the bottle at the store.

    Reply
  19. Matt A
    January 27, 2012 at 6:01 pm #19

    I bought one of these for my wife for Christmas based on your review. This blender really is that good. Nice job finding this one.

    Reply
  20. Sweet Potato
    November 11, 2013 at 10:17 pm #20

    That Oreo smoothie looks AWESOME!!!!! Gotta try!!!
    LMAO @ Burn tCouch

    Reply
  21. Chris
    June 2, 2016 at 1:14 am #21

    It’s been a few years… Is the Blendtec still going strong? I’m trying to decide between this and a Vitamix. Any thoughts?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      June 2, 2016 at 2:59 am #22

      Yup, still going without issue! I haven’t tried the Vitamix, nor really looked at the rest of the market. So hard to say these days. But otherwise happy with mine.

      Reply
  22. Ricardo Oliveros-Ramos
    February 15, 2019 at 5:19 pm #23

    Any chance to get a 2019 DCR blender recommendations? Making smoothies should be like the 4th discipline.

    Reply
  23. John Reinke
    January 1, 2020 at 3:00 am #24

    Ha! I just stumbled upon this review! I’ve been using a Blendtec for years because I’m a serious green smoothie fiend! A regular blender won’t cut through the greens and other produce nearly as well as a Blendtec.
    Besides blending about anything, the other two biggest features of Blendtec which the other high speed blenders (such as Vitamix and Ninja) DON’T have is:
    1) finger-friendly blades – so you can’t cut yourself while cleaning it, and
    2) low profile – so you can keep it assembled on the counter and fit it beneath cupboards.
    A few years ago, Vitamix attempted #2 and ended up copying the Blendtec square jar so closely that they got in legal trouble and ended up settling with Blendtec. Blendtec turned around and used the settlement money to give free jars to their existing customers. We only had to pay a shipping/handling fee of about $12 per jar. ;-)

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      January 1, 2020 at 9:47 am #25

      Haha…such an old post! And yet, still our blender, more than a decade later!

      Reply
    • Daniel B.
      April 3, 2020 at 9:02 am #26

      I purchased a professional BlendTec blender off eBay not long after you posted this. I still use it all the time. Great blender. Also thanks to you, I ended up doing 2 full Ironman triathlons and 4 half IM. It’s all your fault :-)

      Reply
  24. Frankwin
    October 30, 2021 at 3:52 pm #27

    Hey Ray,

    It’s been a few years… Is the Blendtec still going strong or did you get a new one?

    -Frankwin-

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      October 30, 2021 at 11:01 pm #28

      Indeed, still have the same one! We don’t use it a massive amount these days (merely because living in Europe, it’s still my old US unit on 110v, so I have to pull out the transformer). But it gets use probably once a month.

      Cheers!

      Reply
  25. Scott Griffith
    December 10, 2022 at 3:27 pm #29

    You were right about the “endless entertainment”! LOL! That guy Tom cracks me up!

    Reply