Getting a blender can be the final touch added to any kitchen, with many people not realizing how much they will love and use it until they get one.
They’re versatile enough that they can be used for a variety of things, not only blending smoothies and juices. They can be used for finely chopping food, making soups or other dishes, and can even be used to make cocktails.
The blender market has been booming recently, and with a seemingly endless choice of brands to choose from, knowing the differences between them and what they offer can be difficult.
That’s why we’ve made this article to compare the two most popular blender brands, Blendtech and Vitamix. We’ll go through their performance, special features, and how well they work in certain situations, so you can choose the best blender for you.
What Is Blendtec?
Founded in 1976, Blendtec’s products are all about innovation. As their website says “At this very moment we’re designing and engineering the next generation of kitchen technology.”
Known for making “ The world’s most advanced blenders”, Blendtec has constantly been at the forefront of kitchen innovation. Their products have become so popular that they are now used in both professional kitchens and homes worldwide.
Their motto is to be “Versatile, Reliable, and Profitable”, and from their massive range of products, it seems like they have successfully achieved all three things.
Blendtec sells a huge variety of products apart from their many blenders. They also make dispensers and self-serve machines so you can make the perfect drink every time, jars and lids to keep all your foods fresh, and a large range of accessories to go with their products so you can make your blending experience even better.
Blendtec is a company that is reliable in everything they do, and an excellent choice to buy your kitchen products.
What Is Vitamix
Vitamix as a company is much older than Blendtec as it was founded in 1921, though of course, they didn’t begin to make blenders or other modern kitchen products until many decades later.
Vitamix makes blenders and other products that are built to last, and boast that their products can be used every day and still last for years. This is another brand that is popular with both chefs and home cookers, due to the reliability and the quality of the products they make.
While they sell other products besides their blenders, the blenders are definitely the star of the show for this company. The motto for their blenders is “Buy Dependable, Not Disposable”, highlighting the value and high quality of their products.
Vitamix boasts that its blenders come with many features that make them stand out among other competitors. They use hardened stainless steel blades, which they say are so strong that they don’t even need to be sharp, and should always produce high-quality results no matter how much the blender is used.
They also have tiny blends, with every angle of the Vitamix container being designed to create their uniquely controlled vortex, which folds the ingredients back to the blades for faster, smoother blends. They also claim that their motors are one of the longest-lasting ones you can get from any blender or company.
With all this in mind, let’s take a deeper look into the similarities and differences between Blendtec and Vitamix products to find out which one is the best.
Blendtec VS Vitamix
Build Quality
Blendtec
A lot of Blentec products come with their exclusive Wideside Jar design, with the most popular product being the Blendtec 675. The fifth side of the Wildside Jar creates a strong vortex in the jar’s center, pushing the food down into the blade for a smoother consistency.
Blendtec blades are broad, blunt safety blades with wingtips. These blades were designed to blend without the need for a tamper. The jars from Blendtec are incredibly durable, and they can withstand a two-story drop without shattering.
Another popular Blendtec product is the Designer 675. This offers a beautiful and contemporary all-touchscreen interface. Simply choose one of the five preprogrammed cycles and leave the blender to grind while you’re away.
There’s a dedicated pulse button and a manual speed touch slider for mixing at any speed. The numeric LCD shows how long you’ve been mixing or how much time is left on preprogrammed mixes.
Vitamix
The Vitamix Ascent Series blending jars are one of the top sellers for the company. Over time they have been improved to make them easier and more efficient to use.
The most striking feature is the revolutionary Self-Detect wireless technology integrated into each Ascent jar. This allows the blender base to communicate with the jar, determining its size and adjusting the power level and maximum blend time to avoid damaging the jars.
The 64oz low-profile jar is also extremely durable, and it will be able to survive the inevitable drops and falls it may face over time.
Vitamix blades are blunt with a little taper on the edges. The blade is made up of four sharp prongs. Vitamix blenders use a tamper tool to push thicker mixtures back down into the blades when blending.
Vitamix’s standard manual speed-dial is included in the Ascent A2300, allowing you to tailor your blends to your preferences.
On the A2300, there are three settings for hot soup, frozen desserts, and smoothies, providing great versatility for just one blender. When you select a preset, the new LCD timer counts down to show you how long your mix will take to finish.
The toggle controls for play/pause mixing and pulse function are also sturdy and easy to use.
Winner – Draw
Both the Blendtec and Vitamix blenders are equal in their build quality
Power
In comparison to Vitamix’s 2.2 HP motor, Blendtec takes the lead with a 3.0 peak HP motor in their Designer 675. Blendtec’s higher-end versions have an even more powerful 3.8 peak HP motor, which is enough to blend nearly anything.
Winner – Blendtec
The Smoothie Test
Seeing as this is what blenders are mainly used for, let’s see how the two brands compare.
Blendtec
Blendtec claims that their blender doesn’t require the use of a tamper, however, this is not the case for this task. To make a thick smoothie in the Blendtec, you’d have to stop it regularly to stir the ingredients, which would add minutes to the blending time.
This is because of the flat-bottom Blendtec container that hurls contents out to the sides, away from the blades. You will then probably hear the blades spinning ineffectively.
Vitamix
With Vitamix blenders, you can pulverize frozen fruit rapidly into a soft-serve-like consistency by using the Vitamix’s tamper to keep the frozen fruit engaged with the blades.
While the Blendtec can take minutes to blend the smoothie to the right consistency, Vitamix blenders can achieve the same results in usually just under a minute. This is because of Vitamix’s narrowly tapered jar that efficiently pulls ingredients into the blades and helps to create a continuous vortex.
Winner – Vitamix
This is the best option to choose if you will mainly be using the blenders for smoothies.
The Ice Cream Test
Another popular thing to make in a blender is ice cream. When looking at a blender for this job you need to look out for how well they crush ice, and how well the liquid ingredients freeze around the crushed ice, as this is what creates the blended ice cream.
The smaller the ice crystals and the faster they’ve moved around, the more frozen and creamy the ice cream.
Blendtec
The Blendtec’s Frozen Dessert function begins by blending at a low speed before gradually raising the power to shatter the ice. While the Blendtec seems to do an excellent job at first, after only 20 or 30 seconds, the ice cream may begin to freeze on the jar’s edges and will no longer be able to blend well.
To overcome this you will have to stop blending and push the ice cream back into the blade before resuming mixing.
Despite this, you will still be left with delicious ice cream, though you may find some large ice crystals in the mixture due to it not blending that well.
Vitamix
Vitamix’s Frozen Dessert setting for ice cream is similar to that used in Blentec’s blenders, though it seems to work a lot better. As the ice breaks up and begins to freeze up on the jar walls, you can use the tamper to push everything back down into the blades.
In less than a minute, you should have thick soft-serve ice cream. Because there were few ice crystals, the ice cream was smooth rather than “crunchy,” and it held its shape nicely.
Winner – Vitamix
These blenders can crush the ice better than Blentec blenders and guarantees smooth ice cream every time.
Overall Winner – Vitamix
In these categories, Vitamix came out on top, though when choosing between the two you have to think about what kind of blending experience you would prefer.
While Vitamix features easy to understand physical control dials and switches, Blendtec has a sleeker and more futuristic design due to its touch screen and time presets.
What you will be using the blender for will also influence the blender and brand you buy. Both brands offer a huge selection of blenders so no matter what you want to use the blender for, you should easily be able to find the right one for you.