Homemade smoothies and frozen drinks go down easy on a summer day. Chris Olsen grinds through 40 blenders to find the best.
Blendtec has a series of wacky videos around the theme "will it blend?" These super successful viral videos are getting millions of views on YouTube. You can see if glow sticks, golf balls, and a rake handle really blend. The iPad is the latest object to face destruction in the series.
But how good are Blendtec blenders with food? Consumer Reports tested Blendtec's Countertop Total Blender and 40 other blenders, putting them through a battery of tests.
"We evaluated how well they made icy drinks and smoothies, crushed ice, and grated cheese, as well as puréed," the magazine's Dan DiClerico said.
Crushing ice didn't come easy for all the blenders. With one, hardly any of the ice was crushed, even after a minute, and testers also use ice to check durability. Several blenders failed the test.
"On some the gears broke, while with others the motor burnt out and they wouldn't even turn on," DiCerico said.
And the task of grating cheese separated the great from the not-so-great.
"You can see there's a lot of fine cheese and very little waste. And with this one, there's very little fine cheese but several chunks, as well as medium pieces," said Consumer Reports' Cindy Fisher.
So how did the Blendtec do?
"The Blendtec blender did rate very good in our tests," DiClerico said.
The top-rated blender overall was the $580 Vita Mix, especially with summertime favorites such as icy drinks and smoothies.
The good news: testers found a best buy that did just as well for under $100. It's this Oster which sells for $65. It's got a digital display, 18 speeds and all metal drive system for durability.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
