A few months ago I bought a Ninja blender, mostly based on the reviews on here. I liked it- at first. All those blades! It was like cleaning a ninja death star. Ok, I'm not the most coordinated, and I don't use a dishwasher, but after 2 fairly serious cuts (you can't clean one blade without another blade being in a bad spot) I had to reconsider how wise it was to continue to use it. I considered a Vitamix, and luckily mentioned it to my sister who said I was nuts (the expense). She told me she had a Cuisinart SmartPower Blender series (model cpb-300) and loved it. It was less than $70 and my sister is picky, so I decided to give it a try. I LOVE it. It takes much less space than the Ninja did (which went to the thrift store) and I use it constantly. It mixes up my green drinks, malts, chops onions, ICE! Carrots for carrot cake, it seems there is nothing it can't handle and clean up is a breeze. The unit itself has a much smaller footprint than the ninja or any other blender I've had in ages, and I leave it on the counter all the time. Precious real estate, but hey, I use it 3 to 4 times a day. I've been through many blenders, and I have to say this one is the best, AND it doubles as a food processor. No option for slicing, but if you just want to chop things up, it will do it. It comes with 2 blades, a blending one and a chopping one, a main mixing pitcher, 4 individual drink mixer containers with Lids, and a smaller chopping blender.
Thanks for the great review! I am a fan of Oster's all purpose blenders myself. The Beehive Brushed Stainless Steel is around 70.00 and works great. Some online deals will offer free attachments with it. There are also programmed blenders. These are made in North America and usually come with a warranty. I like the feature that you can choose glass as opposed to plastic and also that the blades reverse. The size is normal unlike the huge Vitamix that you mentioned. I have not yet compared Cuisinart blenders though, but they also sound high quality. I had a food processor once and was very happy with it. The price you listed was a bit lower than the Oster as well.
