Does anyone else have one? DH bought one for me a few weeks back as Costco had them for a good price, and I have to say I'm really liking it!!

I made DH a smoothie just now that consisted of OJ, banana and frozen strawberries only, and it whizzed up as thick as a milkshake - the seeds from the strawberries were completely pulverized, too, so it was really smooth and creamy. It didn't separate, either, like fruit smoothies usually do after a while.

Apparently you can even grind grain in it - has anyone tried doing this before?

I don't know much about them, except my parents had one and it lasted for years! So the quality is good, but I don't know much else.

I have one and love it too! I haven't tried anything fancy, like grinding grain., but it's worked beautifully for everything I've used it for. DH likes to say that its motor is as powerful as a lawn mower engine -- maybe it is!

How much did you have to pay for it at Costco? Our blender is horribly inadequate and the vitamixes do look awesome, but they are so expensive I just can't stomach the cost.

I *think* it was $399, with all the extra bits and pieces included. Pricey, yes - but my old blender was a KitchenAid that was $169, and it wasn't anywhere near as powerful and ultimately wore through the little teeth in the base of the machine.

I think whether it's worth it or not all depends on how often you would use it. I use a blender a LOT, for everything from soups to smoothies to yorkshire pudding batter (only occasionally! ) to pureeing fruits and veggies to add to my son's meals, so it was worthwhile to invest in a really good one. If I add up what I've paid out in cheaper blenders over the years, I would have been further ahead to just buy a Vita-Mix from the beginning! Everyone I know who has one has had it for years and years....some have even had them passed down through the family!

Meg - it is a bit like having a power tool in the kitchen!! One of these days I'll get brave enough to try some grain!!

Yeah, that's probably too pricey for me. I have issues with spending money on kitchen gadgets, which is odd given how much I cook. $100 is probably my limit.

I also don't really use my blender that much, although I'd probably find more uses for it if it were a better blender. I have a good food processor that I inherited (I'm familiar with the passing appliances down through the family concept, it's how I got my KitchenAid mixer and my Cuisenart food processor ), so I can use that for a lot things that I would use blender for. I wonder if I could use the food processor to make smoothies?

Wow that brings back memories. Yeah, I grew up with one also - we loved how loud it was as kids!! Maybe my Mom still has it, I'll have to check. (Although, I vaguely remember that 1 of my 6 sisters has it.) Anyways, I know she ground her own grains for making bread, as well as making oat flour from oats. I also remember that she would put frozen peaches (maybe some water?) into it and we would have the best, freshest sorbet!

BTW - I think they run closer to $500-700? Probably cheaper at Costco or fairs. I remember my Mom got hers at the county fair one year.

I don't think they are in the $500-$700 price range unless you buy a lot of accessories. I bought mine at Costco last year and I love it. I think it was $349.

After I burned out 3 blenders within 2 years and the fact that I was using a blender multiple times per day, I figured a vitamix was a good investment. It is really awesome.

Amazon carries VitaMix for anywhere from $330 to $550, depending on the power of the unit.

Consumer Reports rated the VitaMix 5000 ($400) as the best blender, with the Blendtec just under that at the same price. Coming in third was the Breville Ikon BBL600XL for $199. Breville has a newer more powerful version out which is $299.