PRODUCTS I'VE USED - MY THOUGHTS
I LOVED this blender while I had it. I used it to chop onions, "grate" carrots, make drinks. I did not use it to make nut butters (I don't think it could) but at the time it worked for what I needed. I wore it out making banana soft serve ice cream! Its shortcoming is that the power head has a plastic gear, that the plastic top of the blade fits into. These strip. The blades are amazing (and cut your fingers easily!) When I stripped the gears (hard things jump in the blender and push the power head off allowing the gears to strip!) I decided I needed something a little more permanent. I paid $40 for this system on ebay (with 2 extra pitchers and 2 lids for storage)
This Ninja Pro was pretty good too! It worked well but would not make nut butter without a crazy amount of scraping down! It would make snow for snowcones with no effort though! Unfortunately my pitcher cracked and sprayed avocado chocolate pudding all over! Canadian Tire was good enough to give me a gift card for the full purchase price ($100) since I had owned it less than a year and it was still under warranty. My biggest complaint was that sometimes the pitcher was just too big for the amount I wanted to blend. The blades were still great, the motor seemed good. Not a very concise or complete review but those are my memories!
Ninja 1100 Kitchen System tries to be a Vitamix. Does it succeed? No. But it is good and it cost $150 so I think for the money it does a pretty good job! I like the different speeds and the different sized pitchers and the batter beater makes a nice smooth banana softserve after it gets all chopped up with the cutter! It WILL make nut butters! I've made coconut butter, sunflower seed butter and pumpkin seed butter, but I had to be patient! Very Patient. Yes I have to scrape down quite a bit (maybe 10-15 times! sometimes more!) but it does work. It makes a great smooth cashew cream for vegan ricotta or sour cream kale chips. I'm pretty pleased. Would I love a Vitamix? Absolutely! But that's not happening right away. For now this does what I need with not TOO much exasperation on my part! ( I have not tried to make dough - I have a Kitchen Aid!)
Here's a more complete review: http://pthirty1.com/oh-ninja-blender-how-do-i-love-thee/
Here's a more complete review: http://pthirty1.com/oh-ninja-blender-how-do-i-love-thee/