Blenders, even the famed magic bullet series, often stumble when they’re confronted with frozen fruit or other hard, dense mixers. Getting that liquid to solid ratio just right becomes a sort of impossible scientific endeavor, a culinary pursuit of cold fusion. And nothing ruins a good dinner party like a smoking blender that reeks of burnt rubber. Enter the Vitamix 5200 series, which boasts restaurant-quality blades, a low-friction ball-bearing motor “designed to last a lifetime,” a high efficiency motor, and a specially designed tool to help with thicker soups and smoothies. When you think of high–efficiency, you think of extra power and that’s what this blender is: powerful. It can handle whatever smoothie or soup mixture you throw at it and keep chugging. So if you’re a guy who likes his protein shakes with frozen bananas or cut apples, there’s no worries, it’ll handle it. And making mixed drinks like margaritas will be equally breezy. This is a blender that has your back. [$465; vitamix.com]
The Blender That Actually Blends
The Vitamix 5200 Series is powerful enough to make a smoothy out of a log. Still, there are better uses.