Vitamix A3500 Brushed Stainless Blender

I had been wanting to purchase a Vitamix for years, particularly because it was advertised to make soup. But I hesitated due to the price. I mean, who can justify paying $600 for a blender. But recently I got into a whole food kick and I decided that eating soups made from fresh vegetables would be a helpful. So I took the plunge.I decided on the Ascent A3500, because I like all the bells and whistles. I like the fact that I just push a button and it does all the timing and speed transitions for me. I can set it and walk away, where as with some models, you have to manually control the speeds and settings while you are blending. It also got a lot of good reviews and recommendations. So for me, this was the model I decided to purchase.I also decided to order the blender through Amazon Prime, so I could send it back if I didn't like it. I like the safety net of being able to change my mind if I decide I don't want to keep something. Especially now that I can just drop it off a the UPS store to make a return.Anyway, out of the box, I really liked the blender. Yes, it smelled like it was burning at first, as the motor was broken in. And, yes it is loud (don't expect to have a quote conversation standing next to it). They say the Accent A3500 is quieter than other models. I can't imagine how loud they are if that is true. It is also really big. But I found a place on my counter for it, and left it there. Right away I made a smoothie. And, I was impressed with how smooth it came out. I had put in spinach, flax and chia seed, as well as frozen fruit and ice. It can out so smooth. Unlike some smaller blenders that left small bits of ice.I next made some Leek and Artichoke soup that was delicious and it had me convinced I had made a good choice. Although there are some soups you can just blend straight in the blender (tomato soup for one), most soups you have to do some prep work and cook the ingredients on the stove first to meld flavors. But after that, you just throw everything into the blender and voila! Pureed, hot, steaming soup. The friction of the blades is what heats the soup. And, again, so smooth. I like drinking my soup (think Campbell's Creamy Tomato), and this blender gets the ingredients blended so well that you can do just that. No chunks.I continued using the blender almost everyday in some fashion. However, after a few days of use, I started getting an error code E 1, that would keep the blender from working. After doing some research, I learned that it was a sensor error; the blender was having problems reading the container connection. The literature said just to turn it off and turn it back on. That worked at first, but I started getting the error code a lot and turning it off and on didn't work.I looked on line and found this was a problem for some of the Ascent blenders and people had been instructed to send the blender back for repair if it persisted. Since I bought mine on Amazon, I returned it and ordered another. The first order was a package deal with a book. Wanting to see if I could get a blender from a different batch, I ordered it without the book.The new blender has been great! I have had it for a little over a month, with no error codes so far, and I use it almost everyday. My main uses are smoothies, soups, and a new one for me, nut butters. I've made three batches of cashew butter and it was delicious!! So much so, I had to quit making it, as I was eating too much. Note: I had the blender plugged into a power strip and it would trip the strip when making nut butters. However, when I put it in a regular plug (no strip) it did fine. I think the power strip was too sensitive.The other thing I really like is the the self cleaning feature. While you may have to take a wash cloth to the inside once in a while, for the most part, the self cleaning does the trick.So, bottom line, is the blender worth the bucks? Yes. However, there appears to be an issue with the sensor on some Ascent models (a bad batch?), so you may have to send it back or send it to Vitamix for repair. If that sort of thing makes you crazy, I would use caution. Other than that, I really love the Vitamix A3500.

We absolutely love it. This machine is insanely powerful and virtually idiot proof. The idea of boiling soup in a blender was trippy to me at first but the texture of soups and smoothies produced is unparalleled by anything I’ve ever tasted. I’ve never been great about eating my vegetables but the way this blender processes solids turns the coarsest fruits, nuts, and vegetables into pure buttery, velvety ambrosia. In fact, I’ve found that even some soups I’ve made that are traditionally served hot taste amazing chilled. Due to safety and durability concerns about repeatedly heating plastic at such high temperatures, I sprung for a separate stainless steel container (which, for no good reason I can think of, Vitamix only offers in a barely adequate 48 oz capacity option) for making hot foods. As advertised, the bowls and cups are easy to clean with just a drop or two of dish liquid and water. The controls are easy to read and intuitive and, as suggested earlier, it’s a very intuitive machine overall. Btw, I tried a competing brand’s slightly less powerful blender over the holidays and I’ve found that the Vitamix outperforms it by leaps and bounds. Worth every penny.

I really didn't want to spend a lot on a blender, but after looking at all of the options I went with the Vitamix and am very pleased. I use it daily for smoothies (with the optional smoothie cups) and weekly to make soups. Both come out extremely smooth, the machine is super-powerful but not too noisy, and the pre-set buttons make it very easy to use. The self-cleaning feature is especially nice, since I hate cleaning anything by hand with sharp blades. One caution: the pitcher that it comes with is very large, so I also purchased the mid-size pitcher, and I use all of them (smoothie cups, mid-size and large-size pitchers). It's worth the money.

Amazing, so happy with it. My family and I have been using it to make smoothies everyday and amazing ice cream too! Great speed and super smooth consistency. This is our first Vitamix. I used to juice a lot but found the juicers a hassle to clean. Vitamix is so easy to clean that I don't think I'll ever go back to a cold-pressed juicer again :p Plus this particular model is also dishwasher safe.One thing though, I tried using it to cook hot soup by dropping freshly cut veggies into it, but I didn't know Vitamix cooks it differently from the normal process... The ingredients don't get properly "cooked through" like they would if you were to cook them in a pot, so some veggies like onion could be really bitter if dropped directly into the Vitamix. Understanding that I have to cook them in a pot before dropping them in, I just didn't use the hot soup function as much anymore. That said though, other functions work perfectly. The smoothie function actually works better at fast cleaning than the actual cleaning option.Am looking into buying a smaller container for smaller batches of food like icecream & spreads, etc.All in all a great product and can't be happier with it :)

Wow! What a blender! I’ve never had a blender this expensive, so can’t compare to other expensive blenders. However, I am truly impressed with the performance of this blender. It can blend anything. I made a carrot, watermelon and banana milkshake. After it was ready, I thought why not add some mint, so I added a few leaves and ran it again. It completely incorporated the leaves. I couldn’t even see the tiniest bits of the leaves. No other blender I have used would have done that as the rest was already liquid.For those who want to use it for Indian cooking: it makes great idli dosa batter and also makes a very smooth coconut chutney. You might want to get the smaller jar for making small quantities of chutney or spice mixes.The countdown timer and the presets are wonderful features. I can turn it on and do something else and it takes away the guesswork for regular jobs like smoothies or the cleaning cycle.