I have been looking for a blender for a few weeks now. We have started making smoothies at home and burned up our old one. Our girls like the "Chocolate Elvis" recipe from the local smoothie place which contains peanutbutter, bananas, yogurt, ice, and milk. I guess this is really hard on blenders. I bought one at Target 2 weeks ago that had "700 watts peak power" on the box. It died in 2 days. The power spec on the bottom of the blender said 450 watts. I think that is false advertisement. I have seen this on 2 different blenders now.
I have been leery of buying any blender with the little plastic teeth couplers because of all the bad reviews here on Amazon. I also wanted to stay away from anything with only 450 watts.
I was in another store and saw this blender. It has a new design for where the blades couple with the motor. "Commercial quality couplers with 12 interlocking teeth....coated for quiet operation".
We have had it for a few days now and have made some pretty thick smoothies. So far, so good. No burning smell like the one that was immediately apparent with the Target blender. My youngest daughter complanied that her smoothie was "too smooth". I guess she got used to the chunks of ice that our past blenders have left.
Kitchenaid doesn't seem to advertise the actual power specs on their blenders. On the bottom of this one it says that it draws 6 amps. Which is about 720 watts or about 0.9 horsepower.
My only complaint so far is the soft start feature. The blade starts at a slower speed then quickly increases to the speed you chose. This process still throws everything up into the lid, which is what it should prevent. It works fine though as long as you have the lid on. It also works if you start with the slowest speed and work your way up.
Overall this blender seems to be well made and pretty well thought out. The cord storage on the bottom is a great feature. It has much bigger feet than the previous model. So far, I would highly recommend this blender for the person looking for a good blender in the under $200 range.
Added comments:
It is a year and about 300 smoothies later and we still have this blender. I would highly recommend it!! KitchenAid KSB560ER 5-Speed Blender with Polycarbonate Jar, Empire Red
We bought this Kitchenaid blender over a year ago, and after several months the container started to leak. The leak was small, and we put up with it for awhile. We finally got tired of the mess, however, and called the factory. We were told that the container had been redesigned, and they would send us a new one immediately even though our warranty had expired. When we got the new one we could see that it had indeed been redesigned, and have used it for some time now, and NO LEAKS. A leak proof container plus the other great features of this blender now warrant a definite five stars.
My husband and I make smoothies almost every single night (as in, 6-7 nights/week), so we're really hard on our blenders. We have been through 4 blenders in the last 3 years alone. We started with a cheap Oster blender, but quickly realized that it was pretty much useless for the thick smoothies we like to make. Next, I bought the Back to Basics Smoothie Elite, which was great for as long as it held up, but as it turned out, that was only 6 months. So, we upgraded to the Back to Basics Smoothie Professional, which was great until I dropped the glass jar into the sink and broke it, only to find that you couldn't buy a new one ANYWHERE so my $120 blender was now worthless.
After all this, I decided to stop fooling around and buy a Kitchenaid. This blender has all the power you need (way more power than any of the first 3 blenders I bought; both the smoothie blenders came with a stir stick, but such a thing isn't even necessary when you have the power of this Kitchenaid), and is a steal at $99, since we've had it for a year now and it's still as good as new. The motor is unstoppable, the blade is fantastic, it cleans easily, the jar is polycarbonate (i.e. unbreakable if you drop it), and there is a removable plastic piece in the lid in case you do want to use a stir stick.
I love this blender, and when it dies (which I hope/believe will be years from now, given how reliable my other Kitchenaid appliances are) I will be replacing it with the exact same make and model. It's everything a blender should be!
After going through 2 Waring PBB blenders - one motor died and blades on both pitchers broke soone after purchase - and many hours of research both online and in store I went out and bought the ksb560 today (would have bought it here but I had a 20% off coupon for store). I was reluctant to buy a "plastic" pitcher but this one is light but sturdy and dishwasher safe, although I would not put in dishwasher but just rinse out after each use. The pitcher has small pinholes on the bottom so when it is turned upside down it drains any excess water left over from washing and does not effect the pitcher otherwise i.e. does not leak contents when upright. On top of that it has a soft grip handle to make holding it easier and is easy to place on and remove from base. A glass or stainless pitcher is also available. The blender base is made of durable metal and not cheap plastic like other models. The clutch on this particular model has been redesigned and better than the other similar KitchenAid 5 speed. I visited KitchenAid's online forum and learned the company actually listens to its customer's complaints about the clutch breaking off so easily. Now for the best part, its quiet!! It blends perfectly and in spite of what others have said about the slight hesitation or what KA calls "soft start" when you first turn it on I really did not notice. The ice crush feature works great, I used it this morning on my frozen strawberries and everything was crushed, no small lingering lumps. I have not used it on ice yet but the manual says you can crush ice without the use of water or liquid which may be a plus for some but ice crushing is not my main use. I use this 2x/day for protein shakes one for me and one for spouse. One more BIG plus and kudos to KitchenAid is that they will replace it if the blender fails within the 1st year and they will arrange for replacement sent to you free of charge.
UPDATE: As much as I love this blender I have had problems with the clutch coming loose. Instead of purchasing just the jar (at $60 a pop) I decided to just get a new one for a few dollars more. This time I got it in black. After a couple of months the clutch part that makes the contents spin came loose. Kitchenaid sent me a new one but this one lasted just under a year. TOO bad because I really liked this blender. I think I am going to switch to Cuisinart for a longer lasting experience. I can't be replacing the jar every few months. - Kitchenaid Blender - Kitchenaid - Smoothie Maker - Kitchen Appliances'
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