NinjaQB1004 Blender/Food Processor with 450-Watt Base, 48oz Pitcher, 16oz Chopper Bowl, and 40oz Processor Bowl for Shakes, Smoothies, and Meal Prep,Black

You get a lot for your money with this blender. Makes perfect green smoothies. I don't really use the other food processor bowls and blades that come with the set, but it's nice to know they're there.After reading other reviews, I always handle the blade by its top, and give it a spin to make sure the blade is centered on the spindle. The same sharpness that makes it dangerous makes it effective! It hasn't cut me yet.I was surprised at the quiet power the Ninja has, it is really remarkable. Best blender I've used. To me, it is better than a Vitamix. The motor-at-the-top arrangment is clever and logical. You pop in the blade, fill the pitcher, put on the lid, pop on the motor, and blend (quietly) away.My brother had talked about the health benefits he'd seen from drinking green smoothies. I'd seen Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and wanted to try a diet change. Bought a juicer and this blender to make hybrid smoothies. Your taste may tend toward Margaritas, and I completely understand, but these days I'm trying out the green smoothie way.Here's a typical morning smoothie:For the liquid, you can use water, or fresh veggie juice. I use fresh veggie juice, perhaps to justify the purchase of my Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor- juice 3-4 large carrots and half a cucumber or zucchini. Sometimes if I have an extra apple or orange, or want a lime or ginger flavor, I juice those as well.Pour the water/veggie juice into the Ninja, along with...1 cored apple (not peeled), one peeled orange (keep the white skin, lose the outer orange), 1 1/2 cups of Kale or Spinach (fresh or frozen), 2-3 teaspoons Spirulina, 1 banana, some frozen pineapple, peach, berries, or mango, 1/4 avacado, protein powder (I combine Rice Protein with Vega Vanilla is best), and sometimes frozen shelled edamame (soy beans). I vary the recipe depending on what's on hand, and rotate the kale and spinach.The blender keeps all the fiber of the kale/spinach, apple, orange, and fruit... along with the nutrients from the juiced veggies. Hybrid.The Breville juices fast, and cleans up fast. The Ninja blends it fast and well, and also cleans up fast.Tip 1: Pulse and blend. Do both and it will thoroughly all ingredients. If you only blend, it won't all mix.Tip 2: For weekday speed, move prep time to Sunday afternoon. You can prepare a series of smoothies using frozen spinach/kale, frozen fruits, and add-in-powders. Store them in the freezer in individual freezer containers. On a weekday morning, just pour a Ziploc into the Ninja. Add the apple (cored) and orange (peeled) fresh. If you have time, juice the carrots and cucumber, and add the juice. If you don't have time, add 2 cups of water.Tip 3: Freeze you Bananas! - Buy/wait for peak freshness. Peel whole bunch. Cut, and lay separated segments on wax paper in the freezer for an hour. Store in a Ziploc.Highly recommended blender.

I've owned this blender for years and absolutely love it, so when I accidentally damaged the cord, I decided to buy a new one to replace it. Why I love it:1. No messes or spills. With the bowl or pitcher on bottom, even if I attach the top wrong, it will not make a mess like my old blenders with the bowl on top, leaking or spilling if the parts were not aligned just right.2. Very easy to insert, remove, and clean the blades. You can reach into the entire open bowl/pitcher to get at the blades.3. Unit will not turn on unless the lid and power unit are properly connected. After I insert the blade, I pop the lid on. It has rubber around it which ensures a clean seal. The blades are on the bottom with the stem up through the center. I then place the power unit on top. It can only fit it one way and attaches to the blade stem. If something is not aligned right, power does not work. That only happened a couple times and it just needed a simple adjustment to work.4. Easy storage. After mixing, I remove the power unit, then the lid, then pull out the blade from the stem, and I can easily pour out my mix, or serve drinks from the pitcher, or put a lid on it and refrigerate it for later. With my old blenders, I had to pour the contents into another container when done.5. Blends just fine. Works better than my old blenders since the blades reach up higher and the bottom is much wider.

I was a little skeptical on how well this ninja processor would work but needed a new small food processor. I have a ninja blender that I love so I took a chance and ordered this one. Wow! This thing dices or completely liquifies an entire onion in a FLASH. Super fast, easy to use, multiple sized containers makes it versatile. Money well spent. This is a useful little power house. Highly recommend.

The jar for our 5-speed KitchenAid blender broke and we consulted a "leading consumer magazine" to see what to purchase. We had always dreamed of a Vitamix and had expected to see that as the top rating, by far. To our surprise this device was as highly rated for about one seventh of the price. It was so inexpensive, in fact, that it was worth a try even though we really really really wanted a Vitamix. Coincidently the local Whole Foods was having a Vitamix special with product demos.In a nutshell, we are growing to love the Ninja. It took some getting used to since it is harder to add things while mixing and kind of funny to have the motor on the top. But it does the job very well. Our most serious test is to make smoothies, which are fruit, milk, ice, protein powder and a little vanilla. The old KitchenAid would always leave large chunks of ice, even on "liquefy". The Ninja takes care of the ice very well, leaving a nice smooth smoothy. It isn't Italian ice smooth, but the ices is uniformly like grains of sand. The fruit is integrated completely (the KitchenAid would sometimes have a hard time with peach skins or frozen fruit.) If anything, the smoothies might be too smooth, perhaps entrapping a bit too much air, but they are delicious.I am sure the Vitamix would be at least as good, but given the improvement from the KitchenAid, we certainly could not justify the price. So far we are big fans and, at the price, easily recommend this.The good:Blends everything very well, including iceThree mixing bowls and three blades of different sizes-- you don't have to clean the jar just to make another thing-- you can use the smaller jar for smaller batchesThe jar is a nice pitcher after blending (no blade or heavy bottom unit)Dishwasher safe, so easy cleanupNo leaks at the bottom or tightening/untightening the blades for cleaningCompact and easy to keep in a cabinetThe bad:To add something while mixing, you have to take off the motor and the topThe top gets messy while blending, so taking it off will leave a little mess on the counterIf overfull, liquid can get above the lid and into where the motor attachesOne speedBlades are sharp, so some care is neededYou have to hold down the switch while blending