"Thank you for an incredibly helpful website. Your articles and detailed responses are a pleasure to read. I am a cookbook author and also host a cooking show on the Food Network in Canada. I will be recommending your site FOR SURE.” Greta Podleski, Waterloo, Ontario | This video is the second of five in a series comparing the Blendtec Total Blender and the Vitamix 5200.  The goal of the video series is to help you, the consumer, select a high-performance blender that best suits your and/or your family’s needs.  While the Blendtec and Vitamix are both excellent machines, there may be differences in appearance, operation, and/or performance that draw you toward one over the other.  Hopefully, this series will shed some light on these differences and assist you in making the best possible decision. In this video we run a longer test – making hot soup out of common vegetables – with a goal of trying to determine if there is any noticeable power difference in the two machines in terms of the temperatures generated over extended blending durations.  

Although the technical specifications in terms of horsepower, wattage, and amperage is slightly different on these two blenders, this does not necessarily translate to a practical difference on blended results. However, if after conducting an identical test in both machines one produces a higher temperature than the other, it may be possible to determine which of the two is more powerful.hamilton beach blender 51103 reviews This test incorporates the exact same ingredients in both blenders and is performed on the highest speed setting for each.  ninja supra kitchen system 1200 wattsThe duration of the test is 3 minutes for the Blendtec and 3 minutes, 10 seconds for the Vitamix. vitamix aspire platinum blender

The decision to extend the Vitamix duration an extra 10 seconds was based upon a delay in tamping the ingredients during the demonstration and is noted in the video, itself.  Because a tamper is included in the Vitamix 5200 package, it has been used in this test. This video has not been edited. Both blenders produced a hot soup resulting from friction created by the blades and ingredients during the tests. bamix gastro 350 professional hand held food processorA pre-cycle temperature of 77*F was recorded in both blender jars prior to running the test. osterizer commercial blender model 352After 3 minutes, the Blendtec produced a soup measured at 134*F while the Vitamix’s soup was measured at 118*F. waring 3573 blender jar

The conclusion for this test is that both the Blendtec and Vitamix do an excellent job in creating sufficient friction required for cooking soups. The Blendtec, though, produced a 16*F hotter temperature over the course of the same blending duration. It might be fair to say that, in a practical application such as making soup, the Blendtec is a slightly more powerful machine. One consideration to make when heating ingredients in high-performance blenders such as these is that research suggests nutrients in foods diminish significantly once they are heated above temperatures ranging from 105*F to 118*F. oster fusion blender costcoTo keep ingredients “raw,” blending to temperatures below this range is suggested.Become a better cook, even with no skills!The Vitamix has long been the kitchen appliance that serious home cooks have yearned for. It's what professional chefs have in their arsenal to quickly smooth out soups, make sauces, and juice produce.

Sadly, not many of us can play with a Vitamix because of the steep price tag -- they normally run anywhere between $450-$750. And any other blender is pretty much a joke when compared with the power of the Vitamix. (Hamilton Beach doesn't stand a chance here, guys.) The Ninja, which came out in September of 2013, was advertised as the home cook's answer to the wonders of the Vitamix at a fraction of the price. This blender, starting at $199, depending on the model, claims to perform as well -- if not better -- than the Vitamix. We had our reservations and felt that it was time to put this claim to the test. We compared the Ninja Ultima and the Vitamix 5200. Since juicing is huge these days, and one of the more difficult tasks for a blender to accomplish, we started out with a green juice recipe to get straight to these blenders' true capabilities. We didn't make the task easy. The juice had ginger (not grated), kale (which we know is almost impossible to juice), apples, cucumber and celery.

The results were impressive: see for yourself. (We had a bit of a slow start with the Ninja, but that was our bad.) The Vitamix has an easy trigger, but the Ninja wants you to push the ON switch like you really mean it. Both blenders are tearing apart those ingredients. (Remember, the Vitamix got a head start.) The Ninja's claim to fame is its dual stage blending, which is essentially a second, detachable blade at a higher height in the blender. It helps to powerfully blend ingredients where other blenders get stuck. While it clearly does its job, this piece also makes it a bit of a challenge to add ingredients to the pitcher because it blocks ingredients from finding their way to the bottom. It can also cause ingredients to momentarily get stuck in the top part of the pitcher as it blends (see above). And in fewer than 60 seconds, we got juice. What we found was that both blenders were able to completely juice some serious produce. While there was a good deal of pulp in the juice (which is to be expected), all ingredients were perfectly blended.

The Vitamix produced a much thinner juice than the Ninja -- even after they were both strained -- but that isn't something that a little water couldn't remedy. We're not going to lie, we were impressed. But you can't know the true worth of a blender until you know how well it makes a milkshake. So after we drank an entire glass of kale, we got to making milkshakes. And not just any milkshake, but a Klondike Kandy Bar Chocolate Ice Cream Milk Shake. We added two Karamel and Peanuts Klondike Kandy bars, a pint of Ciao Bella's Caramel Bourbon Chocolate Ice Cream and milk. As soon as we turned the blenders on, we had milkshakes. It was almost a joke. While both blenders turned the ingredients into milkshake instantaneously, there was a difference in the texture of the milkshakes. The Vitamix produced a light and airy milkshake while the milkshake made by the Ninja was thick, rich and intense (but equally delicious). The Ninja and its dual stage blending seem to really pulverize the ingredients while the Vitamix creates a suction that cycles the ingredients to the core, which in turn aerates the milkshake.