Ninja 16oz Personal Blender, 48oz Countertop Blender, and 40oz Food Processor with 550-Watt Base with Slicing /Shredding/Grating Attachments (BL201)

I purchased this blender almost a year ago and absolutely love it. I was using the Ninja chopper to make smoothies and that was always a huge mess because I had to pour it into another cup and always spilt some in my rush to get to class on time. So then I purchased a smoothie blender from Walmart where you simply filled your tumbler with your ingredients, turned it upside down and into a base, and it would blend it that way; all you had to do was swap the blades out for a lid and you were good to go. I used that daily for about 2 weeks and then noticed a faint plastic burning smell and did some research online and found that you could NOT use ice cubes in it, and it also suggested to not use frozen fruits. Well...that's just plain stupid so I searched online for a system that had ready-to-use tumblers and lids. I've always loved Ninja products and have NEVER been disappointed, so I researched this particular set and came to the conclusion that it had everything I needed and then some. I've also never owned a blender in general so I figured this was a good deal because I got my blender, 2 smoothie tumblers and a few extras.So the product...they were NOT kidding on the box when they said that it can turn ice into snow. I tried it out with my little cousins and we were all pretty skeptical. It sounded like we were trapped inside an economy size blender, it was so loud. But I'll be damned if it did not make the fluffiest "snow" we've seen. They were super excited and ran upstairs to grab their snow cone syrups (my aunt has the weirdest stuff on hand sometimes) and they used it for snow cones- in a bowl. I've since used this to mix dough, which works marginally, but I'll still stick with my KitchenAid mixer (god, she's gorgeous). I also use this to make a very delicious hummus, and have made tons of sauces in it. Of course, it works like magic on smoothies, I can throw in WHOLE ice cubes and frozen fruit and not worry about over heating it. Another random thing I used this for was to try and grind whole coffee beans. I posted a question and even chatted with Ninja customer service about it (though that particular representative seemed like he would've rather stared directly at the sun for three hours than help me), and was assured that while it COULD grind the beans; it would not be a fine enough ground to really be suitable for that regularly. I still gave it a try and was pretty surprised that it did what it did. They came out like a medium-ish ground and I did not taste or notice a difference in that versus the fine grounds we're used to. So it CAN grind beans and other nuts, but depending on your preferences, you might not like the results.I noticed some people mentioning how sharp it is - why does that surprise so many people?! It's a Ninja system so automatically you KNOW it's gonna be sharp as crap, and second, IT'S A BLENDER. Do you want dull blades doing your blending or perhaps you have no idea that blenders are supposed to use sharp blades in order to do its job. I still don't understand people marking down their ratings simply because they're not smart enough to not get cut from this thing. My 10 year old uses this on his own to make smoothies and he has YET to get cut.Clean up with this is a breeze, as I just put all the parts in the dishwasher. My only negative comment for my original purpose in buying this is that the to-go lids do not have a seal, so if you accidentally bump it in the car; it might come out through the top. Also, the lip on the opening of the lid often makes me feel like I'm having to hold my lips open in a weird "goldfish mouth" kind of way. Or almost like I have to make out with it to keep the smoothie or drink from running all over the lid and out. Maybe I'm the only one with that problem but I feel like I've gotten some funny looks from people on campus when I'm drinking out of this.With my Prime account, it arrived on time and as promised and can say that we are very happy with our purchase.

I tend to be pretty skeptical about buying anything without first reading through reviews of similar products.. so I looked around for a couple days, going back and forth with my Mom (who has had her share of blenders, including the famous Vita-mix), since it was a gift from her; we decided this fit the price range and what I needed it for.I placed my order March 2nd received it two days later (thanks Prime!) and immediately started using the smoothie cups; which worked great!-Please keep in mind, my "smoothies" tend to consist of nothing more than frozen fruit and nut butters; which I think most blenders can tackle.It took me awhile to pull out the big guy just because I didn't want to wash it. I started a Whole30 challenge and finally pulled it out to make my own almond butter.. That took some work, what with scraping the side every two minutes, but I think it goes for most blenders when making nut butters... I'm no chef, alright? Just your average joe. I also used it to make Whole30 approved muffin batter (meaning nothing thick, there were no grains), another batch of almond butter, and just today some banana ice cream.. which I will be making again repeatedly from now on in it!--Some Thoughts:1) There was some concern with the blades as they seemed to have bent a little in the first couple rounds. I don't know if this is a normal "breaking in" process or something, but they haven't bent any worse nor has it impacted the blending process.2) Not a huge fan of the pulse aspect itself, I prefer a blender I can adjust the speed to or turn on and not have to stand by.and 3) I don't know that I would trust it with the task of mixing cookie dough.However, these things are not a big deal for me. I would rather grab a mixer for dough and I've adjusted to the pulsing.--Long story short: I love mine, I would recommend it to a friend, and I give it four stars.

This is my second Ninja product, and while I generally love it, my rating lacks a fifth star because of a couple of design choices that necessarily trade off some ease-of-use: One is about their blade design - that cleaning it is a delicate matter, involving much care to avoid cutting oneself. That said, I have successfully managed to never cut myself doing it, so it's obviously not a huge deal - just something to be aware of, and may be a consideration if you have kids whose job it is to wash things - this item would be best handled by an adult.I make smoothies with the tumblers almost daily, and the results are consistently great once you master the optimal order in which to add your ingredients to the cup (#protip: don't start with peanut butter; it will mainly stay stuck to the bottom). The more annoying aspect of this design is actually the design itself: with a regular blender, the container stays on the base and you can quickly remove a lid on the top to add ingredients, or to stir up a stubborn clump stuck to the side. With this, you have to take the whole tumbler off the base, unscrew the blades from its 'bottom', set it down somewhere, blades dripping, while you add/stir, then re-assemble and continue blending. This is more of a PITA than the careful cleaning of the primary spinning blades. But it is counter-balanced by the ease of just trading out the blades for a tumbler lid to enjoy your smoothie, and then only having the one tumbler to wash (well, also the blades and lid, obviously), versus a blender + drinking glass. Best if you are usually making a single serving, because the other downside to this design is that if you want to make two, you either have to make them one-after-the-other, or just use the big container. I've never actually done that for smoothies, so I can't speak to the results. I mainly use the big container for dough-making (freaking great - beats the heck out of hand-kneading, no question.)