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Blend-Off: Vitamix vs. Blendtec
By Lesley Stockton This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full Vitamix vs. Blendtec guide here. Vitamix and Blendtec are the two biggest names in high-powered home blenders. In our testing, we've always preferred Vitamix. We still get asked about Blendtec, though, maybe thanks to its popular "Will It Blend?" campaign, which features a Blendtec pulverizing iPhones and other objects that would taste bad in smoothies. The image of a phone turned to dust is a compelling demonstration of raw power, but pulverizing a phone and making a good smoothie are two very different tasks. To prove it, we pitted the Blendtec Designer 675 against the Vitamix 5200 (our top-pick blender) in a series of tests, and the Vitamix won every time. The Vitamix was much better at smoothies, soups, nut butters—the things you'd need a kitchen blender for, in other words. We chose to compare those two models because they offered roughly similar features and control schemes. The 5200 is Vitamix's original variable-speed model, and it offers the power and performance Vitamix blenders are known for. Vitamix blenders with preset blending programs are more expensive, and we don't think they're worth the extra cost. Meanwhile, lower-end Blendtec machines have only preset blending programs, and the Designer 675 is the lowest-priced model that offers manual speed control in addition to those settings.
