There are two reviews of the ninja blender here.
[product="26697"]Ninja Bl 700 Rc The New Model Digital As Seen On T V 1100 Watts Of Bower [/product][product="11442"]Euro Pro Ninja Master Prep Blender And Food Processor [/product]
Already had an old Hamilton Beach (probably circa 1980's) that worked fine for most things. Brought home a Vita-Mix from the restaurant we sold that is now dedicated to making smoothies and frozen margaritas. Commercial food processor died and we were gifted a Ninja "Pro" model along with the food processor attachment and a bunch of other accessories. Bearing in the large container's square lid burned up after a half dozen uses making pitchers of smoothies. Individual serving size (I believe is the equivalent to the "Bullet") attachment works fine. Food processor is total crap. More trouble to use and clean than it's worth to drag out and set up. Second most useless food slicer since the Presto Salad Shooter. The smaller round blender body is about the only thing I still use, and that's just for blending dips or soft spreads. Makes at least as much noise as the Vita-Mix, and I don't know the particulars of the electronics but the Vita-Mix could also double as a tree chipper, whereas the Ninja, not so much. Big difference in price, but ultimately The old Hamilton Beach still makes great shakes, my stand mixer is my general go-to appliance, and the food processor is just something that I need to replace. For single serve smoothies I suppose the Ninja's worth keeping (it was after all a gift) in a corner, but as a center piece in any real cook's kitchen, I'd stay away.
I love my Ninja well enough. I couldn't afford the breville so this was the next best thing. I start every morning with a smoothie for myself and the single serving attachment is my fave.
I was going to direct you to the 1200W VitaMix 5200 if you want a pro blender, but they're still in the $400+ range and I see the new 900W Nutribullet - I'm using an older 800W one these days - is around $88 on eBay. My N-bullet does a good job on smoothies, malts, and the like. I find the screw-together, upside-down, press-to-run feature a little fussy. It cleans itself well, though.
I've had the Vitamix 5200 for seven or eight years and it's just terrific. If you ever have the urge to reduce a cellphone to powder, they demonstrated that in a VitaMix commercial a few years ago. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif
The acid test is a frozen Daiquiri or Mojito. Haven't tried that in the Nutribullet yet. With the VitaMix they're sensational. If you're a pretty serious foodie/cook I suggest you keep saving up till you can go with that. Carefully search coupons and deals online and you can realize some savings.
VitaMix is US-made, while N-bullet is Chinese, if that makes any difference to you. The Vitamix is also about three times heavier. For electric motors, weight implies both power and durability.
They show a dizzying array of combinations on their website, but pick a simple one. I've gotten along fine with the one standard container.
I have a Ninja and wish I didn't. It works fairly well for smoothies with only fruit but if you use greens it has a tendency to leave behind fairly big chunks. I am able to tolerate them but my husband refuses to drink them because its like drinking a salad since you have to chew it.
I wish I had bought just a regular blender. I have an singe serving blender that I bought at Costco years ago that works way better.
I have a magic bullet knockoff I bought on eBay, but haven't used it much. Looking forward to making soup etc. You can check it out at getmagicbullet.com.
Yeah, there's enough liquid. I can take a part of the smoothie and blend it in my little one and it comes out totally smooth.
The Ninja doesn't work very well on dates either. I think it has something to do with the blade set up. I thought having the blades staggered and in the pitcher would help but it just seems to prevent the normal cyclone you get with a regular blender. It seems a lot harder to get a nice smooth product out of it.
Dates are a pretty tough project. I'm not surprised they don't liquidate in a smaller blender. Maybe more liquid and a longer run would do the job.
Mike
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