Blendtec vs. Vitamix

 

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A high-quality blender is one of the most important appliances a cook can own.

Whether you’re a smoothie lover, a fan of warm soups, or someone who’s partial to a good purée, your blender will be your best friend in the kitchen.

Because of the versatility and effectiveness of the blender as a culinary appliance, the market for blenders and food processors has become extremely competitive.

Two of the frontrunners in the race to be crowned the best blender brand are Blendtec and Vitamix.

Read on for a comparison of these two superior blender brands. By the end of this article, we hope that you’ll have some idea of which brand will best enhance your cooking.

Blendtec

An Introduction to Blendtec

Blendtec was founded in 1975 by inventor Tom Dickson. Originally based in Utah, where the company still primarily operates, Blendtec is now a household name all over the United States as well as throughout the U.K. and Europe.

Blendtec is committed to improving people’s everyday lives through the convenience of blender technology.

Blendtec Blenders

There are many reasons why Blendtec blenders are the go-to for so many amateur and professional chefs around the world.

Intuitive Controls

Blendtec’s blender designs are constructed to make the experience of using your blender more intuitive and user-friendly. The main features Blendtec employs to achieve this is are touchscreen interfaces and pre-programmed settings.

Granted, a touch screen interface might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it ensures that the unit is technologically advanced, which is a good sign when it comes to assessing quality and functionality.

Meanwhile, programmed settings allow you to easily select the kind of blend consistency you’re looking for without having to tinker with rotary dials.

Compact Designs

Something else that makes Blendtec blenders stand out on the kitchen appliance market is the fact that their designs are typically very compact and storage-friendly.

Although blenders are very useful for multiple purposes, you don’t necessarily want your blender to take up a lot of space, especially when it’s not in use. Therefore, the ability to slide your blender underneath the kitchen counter for easy storage is important to a lot of potential buyers.

Blendtec blenders are low-profile enough in terms of size to fit into most kitchen spaces, no matter how small.

No Tampers

Despite all the other beneficial features of Blendtec products, it should be noted that Blendtec blenders do not come with tampers included.

This makes it much more difficult to manually accelerate the blending process and agitate the contents of the blender to minimize lumps.

Therefore, if you want a perfectly smooth blend without any lumps or remaining seeds, Blendtec may not be the brand for you.

Overview

Pros

  • Compact build – Easy storage
  • Touchscreen interfaces – Intuitive
  • Pre-set programs – User-friendly

Cons

  • No tampers included – No potential for acceleration

Vitamix

An Introduction to Vitamix

Vitamix was founded a few decades earlier than Blendtec, in 1949, by William G. Barnard.

Barnard was inspired by the idea of improving the quality and functionality of blending appliances, making them more efficient and reliable.

Today, Vitamix is one of the most popular and well-reviewed blender brands worldwide.

Vitamix Blenders

Versatility

One of the main reasons why Vitamix blenders have become so popular is that they are extremely versatile in terms of the tasks they can perform and the consistencies they can achieve.

Whether you want to liquefy, purée, or emulsify your ingredients, your Vitamix blender will be equal to the task.

However, the control navigation required to achieve these different blends is where Vitamix suffers regarding user-friendliness.

Vitamix blenders typically don’t have cluttered control panels, usually only featuring a couple of dials. However, users will need to learn how to operate these dials perfectly in order to get the settings just right.

Because of this, we probably wouldn’t recommend a Vitamix blender to a complete beginner.

Included Tampers

Vitamix blenders come with tampers, unlike Blendtec models.

The inclusion of a tamper with a blender is crucial if you want to be able to achieve totally smooth, lump-free blends. This is because being able to push the ingredients down towards the blades increases the blades’ ability to break down lumps in the mixture.

For this reason, Vitamix blenders are considered some of the best on the market in terms of smoothness and efficacy.

Bulkier Builds

Unfortunately, Vitamix blenders are typically larger and bulkier than Blendtec models, which can make storage difficult.

If you have plenty of space in your kitchen, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but if you don’t have a lot of space to work with, we would recommend opting for a Blendtec rather than a Vitamix.

Warranty

If you’re worried about the potential for premature breakage due to quality control, which is unfortunately not uncommon with regard to culinary appliances, it makes sense to pick the model with the longest warranty.

Vitamix blenders have longer warranties than Blentec blenders by a margin of about two years on average, so if the safety net of a long warranty is important to you, Vitamix is definitely your best option.

Overview

Pros

  • Long-standing brand – Trustworthy
  • Includes tampers – Smooth blend
  • Multipurpose use – Versatile culinary applications
  • Longer warranty – Less risk involved in purchasing

Cons

  • On the bulkier side – Not great for storage
  • Minimal automation – Not the best choice for beginners

Final Thoughts

Both Vitamix and Blendtec blenders make fantastic additions to any cook’s kitchen. However, depending on your personal priorities, one is likely to suit you better than the other.

If you’re a beginner to using blenders, we would definitely suggest opting for a Blendtec because the controls and settings are much easier to navigate. Moreover, Blendtec has the additional benefit of manufacturing compact models that are easy to store in any kitchen set-up.

However, if you’re an experienced blender-user and you want to enjoy perfectly smooth blends, Vitamix is the brand for you. Vitamix blenders come with tampers for lump reduction, and they are capable of executing an enormous variety of consistencies.

With that being said, the downside to Vitamix blenders is that they tend to be larger and more difficult to store, as well as more complicated to work with.