BL642 Nutri Ninja Personal & Countertop Blender with 1200W Auto-iQ Base, 72 oz. Pitcher, and 18, 24, & 32 oz. To-Go Cups with Spout Lids, For Smoothies, Shakes & More, Dishwasher Safe, Black

First, I have never owned a blender. But I introduced my wife to smoothies (from a shop) and we were spending $20/day for us both to have one. After a week of that, I knew I had to do something! I searched the web for the one that did outstanding for blending frozen fruit and ice. I read tons of customer reviews and then settled on this model BL642 Nutri Ninja / Ninja Blender Duo with Auto IQ (note the owner's manual has BL640). We cleaned everything and started it up right away. We use the blender cups because we like different fruits, and I like to add protein powder (I am a vegetarian, plus we use these smoothies as our breakfast meal replacements). I love how you can choose the pre-programmed blends! It has never failed to make the perfect consistency (if you put the correct amount of liquid). If you see that it's not blending well, then you just need to remove (following safety precautions, like turning it off) the blender cup, add more liquid (we use either juice or almond milk) and blend again. Some recipes I use Greek yogurt and other times I use protein powder or chia seeds for that extra protein. I knew there would be trial and error for creating recipes, but so far, no errors! Everything just tastes delicious. 8 days to the shop and this pays for itself (but you can get it cheaper on Ninja's website). Plus I can choose the quantities of fruit combinations (my wife likes more banana than strawberries in hers) and use the vegan unflavored protein powder brand that I want. It's only been a week and we've used it 6/7 days. I can't wait to try more recipes!! If you love smoothies, don't hesitate on this blender duo. Yes, it's a little more than the others, but the accessories and amazing ice crushing blades make it worth it!

The Ninja Battle: A Smoothie Showdown with a Sonic Boom The mornings began peacefully. Birds chirped, sunlight peeked through the curtains, and I dreamt of delicious, healthy smoothies. But that dream quickly turned into a full-blown battle when the new arrival entered the kitchen – the Ninja BL642 Nutri Ninja. This sleek, black machine promised creamy smoothies and nutrient-packed concoctions. I eagerly prepped my ingredients – frozen berries, spinach, almond milk – and hit the power button. The blender roared to life, a sound that could only be described as a dragon awakening in my kitchen. Conversation ceased. The cat bolted. My peaceful morning vanished faster than a banana into the blades. The battle raged on. The Auto-IQ setting, a supposed convenience, felt more like a taunt. Each pre-programmed cycle seemed to relish in building suspense, the motor whirring louder with each passing second, before finally reaching a deafening crescendo and then, blessed silence. My smoothie was ready, perfectly smooth and delicious, but at what cost? My ears were ringing, and a thin sheen of sweat had formed on my brow. Now, don't get me wrong, the Ninja is a champion. Those blades are samurai sharp, conquering ice and pulverizing greens with ease. The personal cups are fantastic for grabbing a smoothie on the go, and the pitcher tackles family-sized creations in seconds. Cleaning is a breeze, a welcome respite after the sonic assault. But be warned, bringing the Ninja into your kitchen is like inviting a rock band to live in your blender. If you crave a silent symphony while you sip your morning greens, this might not be your warrior. But for those who value power and speed, and maybe enjoy a little heavy metal with their breakfast prep, the Ninja BL642 is the ultimate champion. Just remember, this battle might be won with delicious smoothies, but your ears might take a few rounds to recover.

This blender gets the job done! I primarily make smoothies and milkshakes with the blender. Note: The blades are very sharp. I accidentally cut myself once when I was washing the blender.

We knew we wanted to get more vegetables and fruits into our diet, and were close to getting a juicer. Infomercials on the Nutribullet changed our mind about that - it became pretty clear that the quantity of fruits/vegetables to make juice equated to a whole lot of clean up, a whole lot of wasted nutrients, and a whole lot of calories. When I started researching the Nutribullet, I ran into Consumer Report reviews that talked about parts breaking for that product. They recommended the Ninja. I am very happy I went with that recommendation. We use ours primarily for smoothies and protein drinks. It is possible to adjust the consistency from super thick to very liquid, just by adding some ice or fruits or vegetables with a lot of water in them. The recipe and instruction books are easy to follow and have good hints and suggestions so in no time, we have found ourselves making up our own combinations. Now we keep protein powder, a bag or two of frozen fruit, some pineapple coconut water and then add in whatever fresh fruits & veggies look good at the farmers market. My particular favorite is a kale tonic. This was based on a juice I have at my favorite breakfast place, and it was super easy to figure out proportions. One fuji apple, one handful of kale, one lemon and half a cucumber with some shaved ice make a great drink that I am not worried about having from a diet/calorie perspective. And more from a diet perspective, my husband and I both find ourselves using this rather than reaching for something else with more calories and less nutrients. If it wasn't easy to use and clean up, we would be back to our evil ways when it comes to snacking. I am very liberal about what I put into the mixer including seeds and skin, though I do take off the lemon peel. I have found that chopping it into chunks makes it easier to fit everything in the container, but you don't need to worry about the blades cutting stuff up and pulverizing it. I bought the large blender but have not used it yet, indeed we almost exclusively use the largest "cup" and the smaller blade assembly pictured. It is ridiculously easy to clean up. It could go in the dishwasher, but you can also handwash it easily, there is nothing and nowhere for food particles to hide. Just be very careful around the blades. I would be remiss not to mention the Auto IQ feature. This is really a set it and forget it feature that takes all the guesswork out of how long to blend or at what speed. My husband likes to experiment with the other settings, but this button makes smoothies as easy as put the ingredients in, turn it on and walk away. There are industrial strength suction cups on the bottom of the unit that keep the unit from traveling. It's loud, but so what. You have to be careful not to overfill, the unit will leak a little in that case. There are also a few lessons to learn about what should be on the bottom and top to keep it mixing smoothly, but its not a big deal to make a mistake or two with this and figure it out. These are all common sense things. Highly, highly recommended.

I have been loving this! I have used it almost daily since getting it, works great for my almost daily smoothie and everything else I've used it for so far. The noise complaint of other reviewers, I don't get. It's barely louder if at all louder than every other blender I've ever used. The blades are sharp and can be scary to clean, yes. If you let the stuff sit on there and dry on there. Just rinse right after you use and you won't have this issue. Better to have sharp blades that work than dull blades that are "easy to clean" and don't do the job. I love this blender and the capability of large batches of things or single batches. I definitely use the single serve the most and it is great! Love just taking it off the blender base and sticking the lid on and drinking straight out of it. So much nicer and cleaner than transferring to another drinking container. Some functions won't work with the single serve containers, like the "smoothie" button, which is a little misleading considering the most typical use for the small containers are probably "smoothies", but I'm not knocking a star off because it doesn't affect how well it actually works. I just use the medium button and it blends my smoothie very smoothly. I use a combo of frozen fruit and fresh fruit for my smoothies, no ice. So if you're wanting a smoothie with ice, I would bet the large container will work better for that that gives you the "smoothie" option. But really, this blender is great and I would recommend it to anyone!

I'm all about not spending more than I "need" to on any particular item, maybe to a fault. My spouse, not so much. After we suffered through our old Nutribullet for a year or so, she got fed up and decided to spend some money, and as much as I hate to admit it (i REALLY hate to admit is), she was absolutely right in this case. Now with her 20th Roomba it's another story, but that's a story for another review! Back to this monster. It has way more power than the Nutribullet, is actually quite a bit quieter, and it has this cool "pulse" programmed into it where it blends, then stops and lets the contents settle, then blends again. Now this may sound gimmicky (it did to me), but it works. With the old, alot of times it would blend the top part and the bottom would be a mass of bananas or something. With this one, it blends the whole smoothy all the way through, every time. The NB's motor failed and started smoking after a year; this one is going strong on month two, and just seems much more powerful and sturdy. Plus, we love the different sized containers that can all be used to blend. All in all, well worth the extra money. If you smoothly the way that we smoothy (most days of the week), you can't get wrong taking this particular plunge!

Excellent blender. Only drawback is that I have to make small ice cubes to ensure that the items I want to use can handle the ice.

We were upgrading our old (but in good shape) Kitchen Aid blender, and after a lot of research started off with buying the Blendtec Total Blender. Seems like there's no way that could be a bad purchase if the item is $400, right? It's a $400 blender, but you're not getting what you pay for. Right off the bat, my husband and I were not happy with how light and flimsy it felt. It literally bounced away from me on my counter when trying to make a single smoothie. I tried to make a juice in it, atrocious. I tried to make the ice cream per their recipe EXACTLY on three different occasions, and all I got was a wet smoothie. We had it two days and I was so disappointed in its performance that I returned it immediately. Enter the Nutri Ninja. I was originally turned off by this machine after seeing videos of it online and not being into the idea of the blade being an additional part that needed cleaning. Turns out, that extra blade is the saving grace of this machine making it perform SUPER WELL, and at half the cost of the Blendtec. Right out of the package, I felt better about the Ninja. It was engineered to address basically every problem I ran into with the Blendtec. It's carafe felt like it was sturdy enough to survive a fall if it met one. The base was heavy enough to ground the blender. Suction cups on the bottom to prevent it from running away. A locking mechanism to ensure the carafe doesn't fly away during blending. Just awesome! So far, I've made some really amazing smoothies and ice creams, no sweat! I only have two complaints. The first is that while I love how effective the center blade helps make the blender, it also takes away a lot from interior space when loading it for a smoothie. So I find myself having to my ingredients in around the blade which is a bit dangerous. But hey - it blends everything! And my second complaint is the blender top for the individual serve containers. Every time I've tried blending with it, it leaves big chunks of ice left in, and I have to keep on removing and shaking the container to get the ice down to the bottom. It's just not that effective. I've resigned myself to just using the big container unless I'm making something with very little or no ice. Overall, it outperforms the Blendtec. It worked so much better right out of the box. It feels like it's worth $400, but it's only $200. It's engineered to address a lot of the main issues you run into with a regular blender. It's just amazing. If you want to try the Blendtec, do it, but for me the Ninja was the clear winner. So happy with this purchase!