S/o vitamix vs Ninja

[Murphy101]

I bought a ninja a couple years ago. It was one of the more expensive options at the local wackomart, but still considerably cheaper than a vitamix. At the time I wasn't sure I wanted to invest in a better quality.

 

Now I think I am.

 

Here are my cons about my ninja.

 

It still blends smooth fairly quickly. I'll give it that.

 

But it's a PITA to clean. Seriously. Every time I make a frozen banana, cashew butter, coconut cream smoothy, I weigh my desire for a frosty against how much I hate cleaning this thing. And honestly the hate for cleaning it wins frequently.

 

It's also a pita to scoot the blasted stuff from the top of the blender down between and around the blades to mix in with the smooth stuff at the bottom. This is what making a smoothy is like. Put stuff in blender. Pulse it a second. Grab the longest and skinniest teaspoons and push everything blasted against the lid and sides down into the mix. Pulse. Push everything down again. Pulse. Push everything down again. Repeat until everything is staying all smooth at the bottom. Not granted this probably takes less than 5-7 minutes, but I spend more time pushing stuff down the sides than cutting, adding, and pulsing. It's annoying.

 

And lastly, not everything I want to blend, I want to blend into a purée. Do they not make blenders with varying levels anymore?

 

Does the vitamix significantly improve on any of the above?

[The Girls' Mom]

I have the ninja that blends in the single serving cups and don't have that issue at all.  The blade rinses easily, and the cups go right in the dishwasher.  On the rare occasion that something gets stuck at the top, I can take it off the blender, shake it up a little and re-blend.  

[Murphy101]

I have the ninja that blends in the single serving cups and don't have that issue at all. The blade rinses easily, and the cups go right in the dishwasher. On the rare occasion that something gets stuck at the top, I can take it off the blender, shake it up a little and re-blend.

Mine does not have single serving cups. Bc we would need 12 cups. ;)

 

ETA: Also, not everything can just be rinsed off. So I have to clean it off.

[HRAAB]

I have nothing negative to say about my Vitamix, except the cost.  It has a plunger that fits in the lid, so I am pushing down the fruits/veggies as it blends.  For clean-up, I fill it partway with water, put in a drop of soap, turn it on high, let it run for a minute, then rinse.  I do clean it right after use because if I let it sit, I'll have to scrub it.  I use it mainly for smoothies, ice cream, soup (especially in summer with fresh garden veggies), and tomato/pasta sauce.  I love my Vitamix.  It was hard to cough up the money, but it is one kitchen gadget that I can't imagine living without now that I have it.

[Butter]

As long as I wash our Ninja right away, it comes clean quickly and easily.  I don't have the issue you described with mixing and having to push things down either.  I've blended thing not pureed many times in our Ninja.  Seriously, that things gets used 5-6, sometimes more, times a week in our house.

 

OTOH, my mom has a Vitamix, which I have used many times, since we shared a house for several years, and I hate that thing.  It is a pain to clean.  It often makes liquidy things frothy and gross.  I'm just not a fan.

[Cottonwood]

I have nothing negative to say about my Vitamix, except the cost.  It has a plunger that fits in the lid, so I am pushing down the fruits/veggies as it blends.  For clean-up, I fill it partway with water, put in a drop of soap, turn it on high, let it run for a minute, then rinse.  I do clean it right after use because if I let it sit, I'll have to scrub it.  I use it mainly for smoothies, ice cream, soup (especially in summer with fresh garden veggies), and tomato/pasta sauce.  I love my Vitamix.  It was hard to cough up the money, but it is one kitchen gadget that I can't imagine living without now that I have it.

 

 

This, for me, too.  

 

Also, I do use it to chop veggies as well.  I flip it to low, put the number dial on 3 or 4, and add 1/2 an onion or green pepper, or whatever at the time, flip it on, then off once it's chopped to my liking.  Then I add the other half of the veggies, flip on then off once done.  Scoop all out, a bit of soap and some water, put it all on high to clean it, rinse in sink, let dry.  I can't use a food processor to do that in such a short period of time, nor have it that ease at clean up.  Much quicker than manually chopping as well.  The key to chopping veggies in it is 'less is more'.  The base if pretty small so too much bulk causes it to not chop as well.  The only thing I use my food processor for now, is to chop dates to the point of a paste for...various recipes.  It's too gummy for a higher power device and needs much less power.  But that's it.

 

I don't have any experience with a Ninja, but my brother had one and sold it for a Vitamix, after much agony over the price and says the same thing I do...can't imagine kitchen-life without it.  My Vitamix has done anything I've asked it to do and some of the things I do are stinkin' tough.  The results are never chunky but smooth, creamy, and green juices and things are equally as nice with no unprocessed bits.  I could go on and on.  My vitamix is my right hand man!  I use it daily and on a 'kitchen day' here, I use it multiple times.  I have a dry blade containers as well use it for grains, spices, flours, some seeds, coffee beans, etc.  

[redsquirrel]

I am super lazy and even I can manage to keep my vitamix clean, lol.  I love my pusher! I can load that baby up with an apple and kale and a quarter of a lemon and half a cucumber and some water and it all gets turned into a beautiful smoothie. If anything isn't going down well, I just use the pusher to push it down towards the blades.

 

I have actually started using my vitamix more and more often instead of my food processor because the vitamix is so easy to clean. I made hummus and pesto and peanut sauce this weekend and it was very easy to go from one to the next. I just had to give the vitamix a good rinse with soapy water and it was back in service. Nothing to take apart and the space inside makes it easy to clean. I don't put my hand in where the blade is though, it is sharp.

[kathkath]

We had a 30yo vitamix finally bite the dust this year. Love the ninja we replaced it with but we did buy a bunch of extra cups. 8? they are awesome and the kids love making their own. My only issue is how doggone loud it is. Louder than the vm. It is easier to use and blends better than the old vm.