20 Best Blender For Smoothies With Ice (2023 Updated)

I’ve been seeing Vitamix commercials since I was a kid in the 70’s and wanted to get one in my 20’s but just could not afford it at the time. Instead, I got the usual standard $30 blenders over the past few decades.

In my 30s I got my first “juicer”. a popular infomercial juice extractor and was making my own juices for a few years with that, until I realized I wasn’t taking advantage of the “whole” fruits and vegetables, so I moved onto whole juicing with four different brands of juice/smoothie type machines that each only lasted a couple of years.

I was wasting money on wannabe Vitamix blenders over so many years. So, in November 2017, I looked again at Vitamix during an on-air special on a popular home shopping show that Vitamix sells on. With the affordable price & six payments, I decided it was the right time to take the plunge and finally get a Vitamix for myself for Christmas.

I’m so glad I did (I got the black. ). When I first tried out my 7500, I could tell it was noticeably quieter than the other popular smoothie blenders I had used in the past and the one I still had. When I say “quieter”, I don’t mean it’s “quiet”.

I mean that it’s definitely quieter than other blenders, but it IS a blender and is not going to be totally “quiet”. I’m comparing the sound of my Vitamix to my previous “nutri-” type blenders/juicers.

the Vitamix 7500 is definitely quieter than those. I got the model 7500 due to the shorter height to fit on the counter, under our upper kitchen cabinets. But, because our upper cabinets have a 3/4″ lip that drops down, I can’t leave the lid on my 7500 and slide it all under the cabinet, nor easily place the container with lid on the machine while it’s under the cabinet.

No problem, I just turn the 64oz container upside down, place it on the machine and then place the lid on the container “bottom” that’s now facing up. The whole unit slides under the upper cabinet perfectly.

The recipes I make the most are juices and soups, but I have done almond butter, ice cream, pesto, and sorbet, just to name a few. I make juices with many different ingredients, like lots of raw spinach, frozen berries, apples off our Gordon Apple tree, ginger, and flax seed.

For the liquid, I add Crystal Light Green Tea, to sweeten up the juice without a bunch of sugar. My favorite soups to make in my Vitamix are tomato bisque, potato cheese, squash, and broccoli cheese (and I don’t even like broccoli!) I’ve since picked up an “extra” Vitamix 7500 to give as a gift.

Oh, one other thing I recommend getting. the inexpensive Vitamix black plastic wrench. It’s used to change the blade, which you won’t need to do very often, but it’s also very useful for when you might buy an extra container on sale from an online retailer and when you go to use it, it leaks.

That’s what happened to me, but I knew right away that the blade assembly on the new container had somehow become misaligned or loose. I immediately ordered the Vitamix wrench and realigned the blade.

good as new!. and if you get a chance, look for the YT video of William G. “Papa” Barnard’s 1950 “informercial” for the first Vitamix. A man ahead of his time.

I have a classic 5200. My first experience with making anything other than a basic smoothy did not go well and I swore off making soups or anything else as a result (I did not follow the instructions but winged it).

Fast forward however many years later with both the discovery of whole vegetable blender processing working like a champ; a relative with an upcoming birthday, and complaints of trying to blend stuff but it not working; and a sale.

Enter the 7500. Also enter fears of the new low profile 64 container not blending well and doubts in making the purchase for a novice blender user. So I got permission to try the new unit to make sure it worked as well as the old tall units.

I tried the new low 64 and the 48 oz container, and two things stood out: you can put one or two cups of liquids in without it splashing the whole container to the top of the lid as it does in the classic tall 64 and 32 with just one/two cups of liquid; and especially the low 64 makes blending and chopping veggies a breeze, which I had never done before.

I put a carrot in and it blended to a consistent fine chop, I then added a celery stalk, onion, pickle, chicken breast, and a little mayo. I was blown away. Hint: I used smoked chicken breast, and it ended up tasting almost identically to the smoked salmon appetizer from a well known eatery.

Oh, did I mention it only took not even all of two minutes? I now make recipes in the classic tall as a result of trying it in the low 64. I have started motor oil smoothies which have also made a difference in my skin, energy, hunger levels, length of satiation and overall feeling of well-being (garlic clove; ginger; celery; spinach; 1/2 whole lemon; apple; handful of spinach; carrot).

You can also notice the extra power and it is more quiet than the old ones.

I love this blender. I never knew smoothies could be so smooth. I’ve had it just over a month now and I use it daily for blending greens, flax seed and frozen fruit. Previously, I was having to grind my flax in a coffee grinder and then put that in my old blender until I got the Vitamix.

It can all go in together now with the flax seed along with the other ingredients. It blends it thoroughly. I had been saving for the 5200 and had done research on that one until Vitamix ran their September sale for the 7500.

I think I’m more happier than I would have been with the 5200 because the 7500 fits just underneath my cabinets on my counter. Since I use it daily, twice a day, I want to leave it out and can with this one.

I love too being able to rinse out my blender, add dish soap with water and blend it for easy cleaning. One hint-don’t wait until later to clean it, do it immediately or you will be scrubbing flax seed from the blender.

I don’t find it too loud but it does have a tone that made both of my dogs bark so I trained them to love that sound with treating them every time the blender is on. Now, when I blend, they both sit and wait for their treat.

The only thing I find it doesn’t blend well is dates. I occasionally add dates to my greens, flax, frozen mango, coconut water and water and it struggles with the dates. I will have to start soaking dates before I add them.

I have made a non dairy ranch made from cashews and they pulse very well. Definitely the best blender I’ve ever had and I’m so glad I waited for their sale. I’m also happy I purchased it from their website since ,when you create an account before purchase, it automatically registers your blender with them.

You can build up points and receive discounts towards other items or purchases They have a lot of recipes on their site, I would suggest visiting it for ideas.

I received the Vitamix A3500 blender yesterday within 2 days. Set up was very easy without reading the instruction manual and quickly made a berry smoothie. It blended well, although there were very few tiny black berry seeds that didn’t blend completely, but it is 100 times better than my old Ninja blender.

The noise level is not that loud. The blender looks very nice and sleek on my countertop. I love the black stainless steel color. It’s a beautiful new color Vitamix has introduced. It took me 20 years to finally look into purchasing a Vitamix blender as it is an expensive blender and another 3 years to research and compare with other blenders! Overthinking was stressing me out and finally I decided to purchase this blender as life is too short! When this blender was delivered, I was surprised it came in a plain light brown box with a big black Vitamix logo instead of a nice looking fancy box that I would have kept incase I moved and needed to store my Vitamix in it.

Also, I find the 64 OZ container too big as we are only 2 people in the household and also it cannot fit it under my countertop over the blender unit. I wish there was a choice to select the type of blender for the basic package during the time of purchase as buying an additional smaller blender is also too costly.

Hence, giving it 4 stars for now. I will provide more reviews in the near future and hopefully my rating will go up.

I’ve had two of these blenders and I would say I am 99% satisfied. I really like the fact that it is a glass blender – it is very sturdy and does a great job. The only problem is the mounting plate which is made of rubber and plastic, and which does not consistently lock onto the base.

Even if the pitcher appears to be seated properly, there have been times that I will turn it on only to hear the mounting plate on the base grind against the teeth of the mounting plate on the pitcher.

Unfortunately, twice this has resulted in having to replace the unit as the plastic teeth have been shredded, preventing the jug from locking onto the base properly (and preventing the blades from turning consistently).

It is a real shame that they decided to use plastic/rubber on the most important part of the mechanism, on another wise very well built machine. I’m sure most consumers would have paid a few more dollars to have a proper/sturdy metal locking mechanism between the pitcher and the base.

Having a vitamix is awesome. I’ve purchased one years ago but returned it bc it was too loud so never fully had or tried a vitamix. Been researching and reading reviews before finally purchasing. With the A3500 I purchased the stainless steel container bc I hate anything plastic even if it’s bpa free- What about pthalates, lead, cadmium, PFOA etc.

Nonetheless, a full time mom of three ages 4 and under kids, and health food conscious I been cooking and making things at home instead of buying. I’ve had this for a month now and every mornin I been making smoothies in just a few seconds even with the kale stem and is so smooth no chunky bits vs before.

I’ve made soup and sauces, but butters, non dairy milk, oat flour. It’s a life saver and my money’s will be worth as I been using everyday despite its price and not used up plastic container. Luckily I been waiting and putting off to purchase bc of how pricey it is but when it had a sale on the website I jumped the gun.

I wish I can take it w me when I travel! Minus 1 star bc My gripe that vitamix is supposed to be healthy conscious, but they still use plastic containers and now it’s just in the corner getting dust and some money wasted.

Another is how I’m not able to scrape and get every bit of food out even w the scraper. Still can’t wait to see what else I can make w this bad boy, instead of buying crappy food!.

This is my second Ninja. There really isn’t any substitute for this blade when making peanut butter or blending things down to a liquid. I didn’t buy one with all of the attachments this time because I never used them.

They changed the design and the old attachments don’t work with it anyway but I expected that since my old one was pretty old. I’ve never liked that finding replacement parts is pretty tough for these but, as it turned out, I never needed any.

With this one, I purchased the insurance, just in case something does happen and I need a part. These seem to be reasonably priced now, so I’m not too concerned. When I purchased my first one, they were definitely a luxury item.

I do have a regular blender too but I always turn to the Ninja. it’s just a heavy duty powerhouse blender and, even if it takes a little time, it gets the job done without the lumps that my regular blender floats forever.

I do have to work some things down with this one too. It isn’t effortless but I get better results and rarely end up with hidden lumps. Sometimes, I just turn it on and work on something else and it works out most of its problems on its own.

This model has automatic pause durations in the preprogrammed blender settings, something that my old one didn’t have. It allows everything to settle between blends so you don’t have a choice of over blending or having to push things down every few seconds.

It definitely helps with some things but some things, you just have to manually push them down. Cleanup on this blender is about the same as any blender. You do want to get under the blade to get it cleaned out good, so a little soapy water blended in it does most of your work but the blade just sits in it and you have to pull the blade out and actually rinse out the indent.

The lid has lots of little crevices too. But I rinse mine as soon as I pour out the contents and haven’t ever had any trouble cleaning it. My old blender looked brand new when I tossed it out. It cleans up well and doesn’t discolor even though its all plastic.

This Ninja Professional Plus Blender Duo is a really nice machine. I love that this blender comes with both a large pitcher and two smaller blending cups. Often I just need to make a single cup for myself, so it is really nice being able to use the smaller blending cups in that circumstance.

They are a little easier to clean than the larger blending pitcher. When blending for multiple people, it is great to still have the larger pitcher as an option. When blending with the smaller blending cups, I would strongly advise that you rinse out the blade part right away after using.

I had another Ninja single serve blender in the past, and rinsing right away can help to keep the rubber ring in that piece clean and just makes cleaning quicker and easier overall. It is also a good idea to quickly rinse out the larger pitcher right after blending as well.

This machine performed really well during my usage. The small blending cups worked really well for blending for one person, and the pitcher does a great job with larger batches and with blending frozen ingredients.

When blending, this runs for a bit and then pauses to ensure that unblended pieces fall down to the blade and get blended fully. Once the drink is blended in one of the single serve cups, you can take off the blade and use one of the provided lids with a spout which is really nice for taking blended drinks on the go.

The larger pitcher has a spout that makes it easy to pour out what you have blended without having to take the lid off. Cleanup is pretty easy on both the small blending cups and the pitcher. The blender cups in particular are really easy to wash out which makes it very convenient to use them for single serve drinks on a regular basis.

The larger pitcher makes blending large amounts easy and really does a good job at blending things such as ice and frozen fruits. It doesn’t do quite as good at blending leafy greens and I think this is due to the design of the blades which is different from that in the single serve cups.

With this machine, you have the flexibility to choose what works best. So for things like crushing ice or heavily frozen smoothies, the big pitcher should perform really well. And with drinks that contain many different things including greens and such, the single serve blade and cups work great.

I’m not sure if the blades and such for this blender are dishwasher safe, but when handwashing, the big pitcher is more work to clean. It has more to clean as far as blades go, and unfortunately Ninja did not include any sort of brush to clean them.

It would have really helped if Ninja had included a brush to help with cleaning the blades both on the big pitcher and the single serve blade. That being said, the ability to easily remove the blade from the big pitcher does make cleanup a lot easier.

You can take the blade out of the pitcher entirely so you can clean both pieces separately and you can get all the way down into the pitcher without having to worry about getting cut by the blade. This blender also has suction cups on the bottom which help to hold it in place wherever you are using it, and it also has a piece that sticks out in the back which makes it easy to wrap the power cord around for storage.

This blender feels like it is a solid piece of equipment and also has a great design that is aesthetically pleasing. Overall, I am happy with this product and would recommend it to others. The flexibility that it offers in blending is great, it worked well throughout my testing, and it is easy to clean up.

I don’t write many reviews, but I felt compelled to write this one. I bought the original Ninja blender about 15 years ago. I don’t usually “upgrade” while my original product is still working. But I bought this unit primarily because the full blender did not fit underneath my cabinet and the smoothie cup does (I primarily use the blender for smoothies).

I like that the same motor can be used for both. So, I can keep the full pitcher inside my cabinet and the smoothie cup on the counter for easy access. I brought the older (still working) blender up to my seasonal cottage.

Due to covid, I had not been there in 2 years. I went up this year and used the old blender while there. I could not believe the difference in ease of use and performance between that old one and this model.

I used to think that was the best blender out there. There is no comparison – the blending features and power on this one really put the old model to shame. Great innovations, Ninja!.

The blender works average to good. The chopper does not chop; purees substance on the bottom and does not chop what is on top. It’s so not worth using at all.