Blendtec Total Classic Original Blender

I don't really feel "worthy" of reviewing this, because I can see there are A LOT of Vitamix and Blendtec experts here who know far more about the technical details than I do. So my perspective is a bit more simple, and perhaps a bit more ignorant. But here's my general opinion for what it's worth: I DID do some comparison research between a Vitamix and Blendtec, but to be honest, I bought this last summer and by now I've forgotten half of the reasons that convinced me to that this would be the better choice for me. I do know one of the main things was the need for a 'tamper' to push things down into the Vitamix and that just seemed annoying. The Blendtec has yet to need anything pushed down or assisted in any way, it just sucks everything right in and blends things completely, first time, every time. I think there were some other factors about the power of the motor, etc., but again, I'm sorry that I did not review this back when it was still fresh in my mind. But you can see TONS of other reviews for the technical stuff. I just know I had a crappy blender and was sick of it not being able to complete the simplest of tasks properly, and wanted something high quality and versatile. I love the WildSide Jar because it's big and it's also easy to clean. I just take the jar off and rinse it out, along with the two-piece lid, that's it. With my old cheap blender I had to disassemble the blade unit at the bottom and there were more pieces to clean. I have a friend who uses her Blendtec for ALL kinds of things, including grinding grains. But she does admit that her jar becomes pitted as a result and so I am too chicken to try it with grains for now, I want to keep mine nice. I do like the various options: you can choose the type of item you're making and it seems to know just what to do, speed up, slow down, how long or short, etc., and takes all of the guess work out, while displaying a digital countdown of the time left in the cycle. It does also have the 'pulse' option if you're doing something that only requires some quick blending, as well as speed 'up' and 'down' buttons that I rarely need. I will say, this is LOUD. I was not expecting it to be so loud, and when I first turned it on it scared the heck out of both me and my poor dog who hit the deck like a airplane was flying through the kitchen. I'm used to it now that I know to expect it, but it was very startling at first. It also speeds up and down during certain cycles, and at first that was mildly alarming but now seems kind of exciting in a silly way, like I'm watching a magic trick in action. Also, HOLD the lid when using it. It fits nice and snug, but I decided to try my hand at homemade tomato soup (it even heats the soup!) and didn't think to hold the lid and it came flying off and I literally had soup ALL over my kitchen (much to my dog's delight, who spent the next half hour licking everything she could reach and decided this loud thing wasn't so bad after all). So be warned, it's powerful. On that same soup-disaster note, I did have the opportunity to appreciate the simple, seamless design of the control panel and body. It was very easy to clean all the soup off, since there are no old-style buttons for things to get stuck in. Just wipe off and voila. I had no issues with it being refurbished. No fancy box, just a plain white box, but it still arrived in sparkling new condition and I would have not known that it was refurbished by the look of it. It's a large, heavy unit and takes a good amount of counter space footprint-wise, but it's not terribly tall. In fact, I think that's another reason why I chose it over the Vitamix, I think it's shorter than the Vitamix, but don't quote me on that. It's heavy to the point where it stays out on my counter rather than getting put away after use, so consider that as well. Still, I'm very happy with it and I suspect it does far more than I have done with it, but it feels great to have such a quality and versatile appliance. It's amazing to be able to throw very largely cut carrots, etc into it with very little hand cutting first and watch it just liquefy it with no effort. It comes with a handy book that's quite nice, hardcover and spiral bound, with some recipes. I tried one of them reluctantly, a dough recipe, and couldn't fathom that it could do dough without making a sticky mess all over the blades. But it does! It made a neat little ball of dough that popped right out with very little left on the blades which I found to be very impressive. I have no real complaints, other than to warn of the loudness of it, but otherwise it's been fun to use and impresses me every single time I try something new with it.