The first time it was used the insulation gave off a smell reminiscent of overheated plastic. It had plenty of blending power. The electrical draw wasn’t checked but it was so loud a telephone call had to be cancelled because it was too loud to hear the conversation. Here’s a fact. One horsepower is 746 watts. If a blender draws 746 watts it’s a one hp machine but the power at the motor is less than one hp because of the electrical and mechanical losses that could be high so caveat emptor buyer, ~beware.

Buying the Vitamax was a well researched purchase. Loads of video’s show the Vitamix 2hp blenders up against the competition. All of the 2 hp. blenders do well on their own and the Vitamix seems to win against them all. Not in every type of test but the owners are enthusiastic supporters.

The store demo was well done. I plunked down the $529.99 cash and went home and tried it. Two days later it went back because of the acrid smell of overheated electrical insulation. Meanwhile I tried a GE blender to make vichyssoise potato soup along side the Vitamax. Both made it smoothly. Next was a peeled and quartered orange, a test the impressed me at the in-store demo. Both the 2hp Vitamax and the .8hp GE did fine. The cleaning method used for the in-store demo; half full with water and some detergent worked the same for both models. The vichyssoise clung to both the glass of the GE and the plastic of the Vitamax equally well.

Is the Vitamax worth $529.99, the price with sales tax? Sure, especially to people who have plenty of money but the burning smell didn’t go down well with me. It was returned. Vitamax has a lesser model, the #5300, for $402.79 including tax and there are lots of on-line deals for refurbished Vitamax Blenders. There’s also the Omniblender 2 hp for about $250 on-line as well as the Oster Versa model with 1400 watts, basically 2hp, which was at Walmart but out of stock, allegedly because of a recall. Why didn’t I review the Blendtec? Not enough time but it’s also a great machine with good specs like the Vitamax. Remember this about that.  I returned it.  

DASH makes a 2.2hp Super Blender, (my words) that was selling at Sam’s Club for $99.91. That’s a terrific blender at an awesome price. It’s a bit more powerful than the Vitamix, has more built-in programs, the blender jar fits a Vitamix but the Vitamix doesn’t fit the DASH. The Dash is a bit more handy and a bit easier to operate. It has two additional blades, -six, compared four on the Vitamix.

All of the powerful Super Blenders heat up the blend during blending. The friction as the blades move through the liquid heats up the food. the blades chop up the product but mostly they are moving through the liquefied product, not cutting it. the movement creates friction. The friction heats the product.

MAKING SOUP   What a waste of energy, heating blended products by friction in the blender. Put the stuff in the microwave. A 1,200 watt microwave heats a bowl of soup in a minute. A 1,500 watt blender takes eight minutes. That’s 12,000 watts compared to 1,200 watts. 

NONE OF THE SO-CALLED TWO HP BLENDERS HAVE TWO HP BLENDING THE PRODUCT. Not one. That’s because the blenders need power to work so the power at the blades, the net hp is probably about 78% or so of the electricity being used by the motor. Seventy eight percent of a two hp motor is about one and a half hp. That’s not such a big deal for a blender but the car manufacturers aren’t allowed to advertise the gross hp. They have to advertise the net hp so the 2 ho blenders would be 1.6 hp if they were advertised like car engines.

Bottom line: any 2 hp blender will blend just about anything you put in it. Are they worth the money? In terms of their usefulness, yes. Any one is a good deal. The DASH for $99 bucks is the best deal.     

Views: 24