Vita-Mix 1300 TurboBlend 4500
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Our Price: $398.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Vita-Mix 1300 TurboBlend 4500
Customer Review: makes incredible salsa, soups and smoothies
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought our Vita-mix 5000 about three years ago at a Costco show. I'd watched the demo folks whip out an incredible array of drinks, smoothies, soups and finally salsa. The salsa sold me. It is phenominal.
All you do is throw in four to six roma tomatoes, about a third to a half of a medium sized slice of white onion, cilantro (to taste, we like a big bunch of it), two medium carrots, a pie shaped wedge of white cabbage, one Serrano pepper, half of a red and a green bell pepper (although we often throw in the whole thing), a peeled clove of garlic, juice of half a lemon or a whole lime and an equal amount of apple cider vinegar, season with real salt, seasoned pepper and McCormick brand Mexican seasoning, blend it up until the pieces are about an eighth to a sixteenth of an inch in size (about 30 to 45 seconds after the initial tamping is done).
We are talking world class salsa. Goes down smooth with a slight afterburn.
My wife almost keeled over when I told her what this monster cost. We'd never spent over $50 for a blender before. But I figured if she hated it we'd take it back. As it turns out, she converted when she tasted the salsa.
The blades on this machine turn so fast that you can actually heat water to a near boil within five minutes or so (there is no heating element, it gets hot because, freaky as it may sound, the blades are spinning so fast that the friction of the water heats it). So, soups are pretty simple. And because it isn't overheated the nutritional value is not boiled out. The tortilla soup in the receipe book is fantastic.
And talk about an easy way to make whipped hot chocolate after being out in winter cold. No more scalded milk. You can flavor it with any fresh spices you like.
The kids love to make smoothies with it. Green drinks are easy. We have a friend who makes one almost every morning by filling the container half full of fresh spinich, two pears (seeds, stems and all), a couple of cups of water some frozen berries (usually strawberries or rasberries). They love it.
We've tried the bread. It works. But we think the receipe needs tweeking for high altitudes (and we haven't quite figured out what to do). So, we haven't done it much. Unlike other reviews I've read, we didn't find that clean up was a big deal. Just throw some water in and a drop of soap and spin it on high for a few minutes. Rinse it. You're done. It cleans itself.
It will crack wheat for cereal (it will also grind it into whole wheat-flour). Make rice milk on your own. Amazing fresh cashew/peanut butter.
My only complaint is that it is rather tall. But we solved that problem by keeping the container in a lower cupboard. The base stays on the counter. Maybe not the most elegant solution, but it works.
We've had a tamper go bad when we used it without using the lid (which keeps it from hitting the blade). Unfortunately, once cut, stuff gets inside... I can only imagine what it congeals into. Anyway, the customer service people were very cool about it. They sent us another one for free (even though it was our fault that it got cut). We thought that was nice.
Note to VitaMix: It might make sense to make the tamper out of a solid material. That way, if it got nicked it wouldn't be big deal.
Customer Review: Vitamix is fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned the Vita-Mix Super 5000 since 1997, and I love it. I can grind flour, make juice, soup, ice cream (the fruit smoothies I make with this are to die for)--in short, every kind of food processing you can imagine. This baby is built to last and has a 7-year warranty.
In 2004, a couple weeks after the 7 years were up, I was very upset when it broke down. I thought, "Isn't that just the way these things tend to go with warranties?" I searched for Vita-Mix on the web (the URL is their name, and there is a link on this page, to them, too). I clicked on the button for service, got their 800 number, and called them at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, and they were there. The service rep was friendly and knowledgeable. She asked me to describe in detail the symptoms of my ailing Vita-Mix. She then said, when I asked about it, that even though I was past the window period to do so, the company would still allow me to buy a three-year extended warranty for $120. I jumped at that, and found out that I could use it to cover the parts (and shipping) to fix the problem. She said I needed an "assembly piece" that sold for $75 without a warranty, a "drive socket" worth $12.00 and the shipping of $9.95 would be no charge to me. She said she was including a small wrench and instructions and I can fix it myself. So right off the bat I used most of the $120 to fix my first problem.
I've never seen anything like this kind of service. When our tabletop water distiller broke, we had to send it in for warrantied repair, which cost $50 shipping (we paid), and weeks to get back. I think shipping the Vita-Mix to the company might have cost nearly that much, so I was delighted to have this option of getting the parts in 10 days to fix it myself and have my beloved Vita-Mix back working within a week and a half.
If you are ever in the market for a food processor that is professional quality that works great with amazing customer service, this is it. The price is very competitive for what you get, and the product itself is fabulous. (Only one tiny little caveat--which is true for =any= blender--wear earplugs when you do the very high speeds or you could hurt your ears.)
Update March 23, 2009: I've owned the Vita-Mix 12 years now, and I still love it! See my comment to this review with today's date which contains information on my experiences with the sales personnel of the Vita-Mix company today.
Customer Review: Money Well Spent!
Summary: 5 Stars
This purchase was the best ~$400 I ever spent. I've had it less than a week and I'm not quite sure how I got along without it before.
I went from a Waring professional blender to the Vitamix 4500 when the glass container on my Waring blender shattered. The Vitamix containers are polycarbonate (hopefully shatterproof in my case) and BPA free!
I purchased the 4500 model over the 5000 series because I was not interested in a variable speed dial. The two machines are identical other than the dial, and as far as I can tell, variable speed blending is not necessary and is rarely (if ever) used. I start the machine on low and flip the switch to high, that's it... instant savings of ~$100.
I have used this 2-3 times a day since I've gotten it. I've made smoothies, fruit slushies, water ice, fruit topping, a cashew nut cheesecake, and marinara sauce. In all cases, the Vitamix has performed beautifully, not to mention it has out-performed my Waring blender by leaps and bounds. I haven't gotten a chance to make soup yet, but as soon as this heatwave ends, I'l give it a try!
The addition of the "tamper tool" is a nice touch. It's really just a big piece of plastic that fits through the hole in the top of the cover, but it's set up so no matter how you move it around to get the food towards the blades, it will never come in contact with the blades itself. Ingenious! I have a few nicked wooden spoons to prove that such a device is actually necessary once in a while.
The ease of cleanup is what really sells me on this blender, though it seems a shame to call it just a blender. Fill with 5 cups hot water, add a dash of soap, start it on low and run it on high for 30 seconds. Instant dishwasher! I've cleaned the outside of the carafe too when needed. It's so nice not to have to disassemble everything (it doesn't disassemble at all, in fact) and hand wash.
I don't regret this purchase one bit, and I was very afraid that I might since it wasn't cheap... but it was worth every penny, and then some. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.
Customer Review: Impressed
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm new to being vegan, and even newer to making green smoothies. It was tough for me to shell out the dough for an appliance as common as a blender, especially when I already own a magic bullet and love it, but after receiving it, I understand why it costs what it does and why it's worth the money.
As I said, I already own a magic bullet, which I still love for what it can do...easy cleaning, and it does pretty good job of pureeing, except, when it comes to veggies or flax seeds the bullet will frequently leave chunks, which has an unsatisfactory effect on my gag reflex. I would put whole kiwis in and get chunks of unblended skin that got caught in my teeth, I'd put in soup and the skin of the potatoes would remain whole, etc. Then, I heard that the vitamix would completely liquify whatever I put in it. I bought one on impulse vowing to return it if it didn't work.
It did. It did everything they promised.
So far, i've put whole kiwis, flax seeds, chia seeds (and you know how small those are!), even a whole lime INCLUDING the peel. The result was not gritty or grainy, but smooth and completely liquid. I was astounded. I even put in a whole avocado seed, and it completely pulverized it to liquid (must add water). When I poured the liquid into my blenderbottle, it had a smooth consistency. A completely homogeneous liquid (for you nerds out there :-)).
A more amazing thing I discovered is how long the smoothie stayed well-mixed. When making smoothies with my magic bullet, the smoothie would seperate into it's individual components if left in the fridge for several hours. Smoothies made with the vitamix remain completely homogeneous for 7 hours, at least. That's the longest I've tested it to date.
If you're going to get into green smoothies, or you're simply tired of unsatisfactory blending, this will be the last blender you buy.
Customer Review: ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, much more than I expected !!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
An avid home cook that is a collector of both cookbooks and cooking gadgets writes this review. My family has been following the "Eat to Live" plan for a little more than 4 months and we were looking for way to make healthy food more quickly. We eat a lot of frozen fruit smoothies and destroy blenders fairly quickly. This blender is absolutely unbelievable! I am thrilled with my purchase of this blender.
I have summarized my observations of this product below:
Pros:
1. Very easy to make vegetable juices that retrain all the fiber and nutrition
2. Has no difficulty pulverizing rock hard frozen fruit right out of the deep freeze
3. Recipe book is jammed packed with recipes and ideas for a healthy lifestyle
4. Simple to use, excellent directions in the included cookbooks
5. There is an optional container for grinding flour
6. Buy whole organic wheat berries and make your own flour in 1 minute
7. Make your own organic brown rice flour at home in 1 minute
8. If you have ever looked for garbanzo bean flour you know how difficult it is to find (make you own in from dried beans in about a minute)
9. Use the machine to make your own gluten free flour
10. Extremely easy to clean you simply add 5 cups of water and a few drops of dish soap and run for one minute, then rinse
11. Make hot soup in less than 10 minutes
Cons:
1. Price
Overall I recommend this product to anyone that is looking for a way to make maintaining a healthier lifestyle easier and faster. This machine is fabulous!! This product has many more uses than I imagined when I first purchased it. I highly recommend this product to anyone that is trying to prepared healthy foods for their family. This product deserves many more stars than 5. I highly recommend this product.