Oster BLSTVB-103-000 Versa 1100-watt Professional Performance Blender with Two 20-Ounce Blend'N Go Cups

So much has already been written, I will simply hit my experience in one month of ownership.It was between this and VitaMix (VM) at $400-$500 (I rapidly ruled out Ninjas based on even their highest level machine having plastic coupling of blade to motor (underneath the cup) and the reviews saying they pretty much crap out suddenly after a few months). I'm delighted I got this for Smoothies. If I was a professional chef, making pastry dough, perhaps I would need the VM. I make only Smoothies.This easily smoothies ice cubes, frozen tangerines and bananas, etc. I freeze everything now--including spinach-in-a-bag, leftover yogurt, etc.--and just grind it in this Oster to a smooth pulp. I see no residual skin, pulp, etc.This machine even has a dedicated button for smoothies--it works for a minute or so, then turns off by itself. You can do other things...it just runs perfectly. Nice!This machine has no tamper stick like VM, the kind that one sticks in the top to mush food around. Why? It doesn't need one--the blade works in both directions, even when you hit the Smoothie button (ten seconds one way, ten seconds the other, etc. automatically). So, food doesn't get stuck, and it does a swell job. Might it be tougher on the motor to be bi-directional? See warranty note later in this review.Adding water, and how much, is the key to smoothie making. Too much, too thin; not enough, hard time making smoothie. You'll get the hang of it.I do not use the To Go cups bc they don't hold enough solids to make enough drink for my tastes. I haven't tried the food processor and likely never will.This machine, just like VM brand, has a 7-year warranty! Basically, you pay to return the machine, they replace it and ship you a new or refurbed one (at least that's what it says for both VM and Oster online; I haven't tried it).Key: the Oster official website sells replacement parts. The container, the blade, the gaskets ($1 each) and the lid are, all together, about $50. They have free shipping over $50. I love that I can replace the blade, or the gasket, should it be needed. I bought a whole "replacement kit" of these items from Oster. Comparatively, the VitaMix item--the full set that I described--are $125!!  Vitamix Eastman Tritan Copolyester Soft-Grip 64-Ounce Container with Wet Blade and Lid  (VM parts can be seen on Amazon). Bust a VM blade and you'll be springing for the whole enchilada since the blade is built into the blending container base; Oster allows single parts to be replaced (I think the new blade was $6.99).Clean up is a snap; run lid under water to wash it, then half fill the Oster container with water, blend on high for 15 seconds, open to air dry. Boom! No taking off the blades, or the rubber ring, or all that jazz. Cleanup takes under a minute, so I do it before I even drink my smoothie.It is powerful at 1100-watts (normal $40 blender is about 250-watts). I debated the Oster $199 model with the 1400-watt motor, but for smoothies, this one is ideal. Strong! Ice---no match! If one is a chef, maybe consider the 1400-watter to knead dough or make thick peanut butter or something. For the smoothie guys, this is enough.It's loud. I got a pair of earplugs to keep by the blender, no joke! Love these earplugs, and I suggest you order them with this blender unless you just want to put your two fingers in your ears each time, which is cool, too.  Howard Leight by Honeywell R-01538 Quiet Band Hearing Protector with Reusable Pods  These earplugs fit perfectly around the base for storage--no kidding!Tip: I considered a "juicer", but those are a beeeatch to clean, and I want pulp and rind. Sure, it's a touch thicker to drink, but I have had no issues. None at all. There is so much waste with juicers. Here, no waste. Grind seeds and all. The thickness depends on how much water one adds (fruit to water ratio).I tried Almond Milk as a base, but it rots in one week in the fridge, and cold water is so easy, now I just use tap water. Soy milk, cow's milk, you can use any of it that you have lying around.I add protein power, like Vanilla or Chocolate. Sure, I could add pea protein or nut protein, and would if I had them lying around, but in a quick minute, just toss in a scoop of the stuff bodybuilders use. And sweetener, the videos online would tell you bee honey or what not, and I tried it, but in the end, good old sugar or Sweet and Lo and this thing's sweet enough.You can get so many pre-diced frozen fruits in the store. Strawbs, pomegranate, cherrys, blah blah. Sure, I use fresh when I can, but to get a bag of, say, pineapple chunks (frozen and pre-cut) and toss them in here with a rotten banana and yesterday's unfinished dinner salad and, bam, some chocolate protein power to kill off the skunky taste--man, it's like Thanksgiving in Key West every day!I like that you don't have to take the stems off the strawberries or nothing. Seeds in your oranges--who gives a rat's patoot. And you know those oranges that you peel and it's like, darn, I'm leaving more white rind on here than I'm taking off. "Shed your skin, you crazy little, out-of-season Sunkist!" Well, before it was painful to eat that rubbery thing, knowing that you spent, like, a buck on the big ones and darn if you're going to toss it away--now, bam, just chuck it in the Oster "garbage disposal for the gullet" and it minces up so you can gulp it down like drinking a fruity picante. You win!Whenever we buy fruit, Jello cups, pudding, whatever, it all gets brown and old before we can eat it. For instance, yogurt: you know that "Oh, poo! Today's the expiration date, and I have a ten-mile hike this afternoon. Should I chance it?" Now, no problem...pop that bad boy in the freezer. In a week or so, when you're just lounging around watching the NY Jets eat sod yet again, spoon that vintage yogurt into the blender with a crummy packet of Swiss Miss Cocoa mix that's been growing cobwebs in your pantry, add some water, and beat the living daylight out of the thing. Then throw in some cashews that have been greasing up the bottom of a dish on the footstool for a couple weeks, plus a few of those licorice jellybeans that no one wants to ever eat, and bam, hit the smoothie button and go take a leak. It runs itself and shuts itself off. Come back in a couple minutes and, voila, dinner is served!This blender comes with a fancy "cookbook", but unless your kitchen has a ton of plantains, Valencia grapes, papayas and kiwi lying around, you'll likely just end up throwing some bananas in this baby and calling it a day.It's liberating to know that those "Hey, those bananas are looking pretty rancid!" moments can be tamed; just peel them, throw them in a gallon freezer bag, and boom, smoothie them anytime. Enjoy salads? I now buy bags of 1/2 priced salad--you know, the type with the big flourescent stickers that say "Buy Me!", but that ought to say, "I'm poison" because in, like, twelve hours it'll become compost right there in your grocer's freezer--well, buy a few bags just to freeze! Between getting my salads half price, plus using no salad dressing, I figure I'll have this blender bought and paid for in, like, a year and a half.Bloobs for cereal, can't eat them before getting fuzzy, right? Now just freeze them and, in month, make a blueberry-vanilla protein powder smoothie. Toss in some Gushers Fruit Snacks that your kids left lying around and it's delish! Booyah!Be the master of your kitchen again, the way it was supposed to be!!If I drink a smoothie, plus eat a frozen macs and cheese Smart One and a 1/2 jumbo bag of Cool Ranch Doritos (to add some crunch *wink, wink*), I'm good for hours and hours. Maybe even all night (but, admittedly, at midnight I'm too tired to make another smoothie, so I just eat a Ring-Ding and call it done).I drank 1-2 smoothies a day for a month and it has changed my life. They are nutritious and filling. This review is going to make you think I've lost my marbles, but I swear on a stack of Sports Illustrated magazines that I have ground up and drank everything that I have mentioned in this review. This thing is intense! You'll start putting your hand behind the couch cushions just looking for things to grind up and drink.I suspected that I might get the ka-poops with all that pulpy fiber coursing through my colon like a tractor-trailer truck on a lonely highway, but it hasn't happened. Maybe, like my ex-wife said, it was the Devil Dogs and Chicago Red Hot frankfurters that were tearing me up. All-natural doesn't seem to twink me out as much as I guessed it would.Yes, I tossed in a jigger of honey Jack once or twice. My brother, Mark, turned me on to the stuff and I'm a lightweight when it comes to booze. But, with icing, this baby is cold anyhow, why not? So sue me. I'm human. Honey Jack D likes the Oster, too. Never complained, anyway. Hope this review helped someone who is on the fence about living a healthy lifestyle. :-)Recommended!UPDATE: have owned it now for nearly four months, no issues. Used daily. Smoothies. Awesome! But when sticking hand in couch cushions to find things to grind and drink, here's something I learned the hard way: it's not powerful enough to grind Washington quarters and copper pennies.

Edit August, 2019:The blender has run into issues twice since purchasing it. Two times, Oster has replaced it with a brand new one. Contacting customer service has been a breeze and obtaining a replacement has been hassle-free. They truly do stand by their 7 year warranty.So many blenders on the market, so why choose this one?I was looking for a well built, powerful blender and considered the usual suspects (Vitamix, Blendtec, Ninja). Then I saw the Oster Versa 1400, and that quickly became my first choice. After a bit more research, I realized that part of the appeal of a powerful blender was flexibility- mainly, the flexibility to have a variety of jar sizes at my disposal- I don't want to grind a few tablespoons of coffee in a huge, 8 cup container, or buy an outrageously expensive 4 cup jar to make but butters. That narrowed it down to the Oster Versa 1100 or one of the many Ninja models available. With those 2 choices at hand, I realized I was going to have to compromise either quality (Ninja) or power (1100 watts vs the Ninja's 1500 watt model with a wide variety of accessories). Given the fact that I don't plan on blending my phone or an avocado seed, I figured that 1100 watts would probably be enough for my needs, and planned on ordering the Versa 1100 from Amazon. Nevertheless, I found myself in Bed Bath and Beyond, and the saleslady talked me into buying a Ninja Professional 1100 watt system, which was slightly cheaper than the Versa with the 20% off coupon. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to test out the power behind a 1100 watt system before ordering the Versa from Amazon. I even figured that if the machine seemed sturdy enough, I'd keep it instead of the Versa.Comparison between Ninja Professional and Oster Versa 1100I'll try to keep this short and explain what the Oster has going for it over the Ninja:-Single blend cups come with lids that close. The Ninja's single serve cups have a large hole that can not be covered.-The Ninja's jar blade system is attached to the the jar lid with a rubbery looking plastic material. The Oster's blade system is large, metal piece which is nested into a jar bottom. (As an anecdote, I had a Ninja Prep a few years ago that totally burned out while I was trying to make confectioners sugar. The heat turned the sugar into caramel and completely melted the blade system).-The versa comes with pre-set buttons, which means you can walk away from the system and let it do the work. With the Ninja, I had to be constantly touching the buttons. I never quite knew when smoothies were ready.-The Versa has a 7 year warranty, and the Oster brand has been around for a long time-The Versa's replacements are cheap and easy to find (and if, for example, I ruin a blade, I would just have to replace the blade; not the whole blade and jar bottom system).-The Versa's reverse blade technology is brilliant- it dislodges food stuck to the sides without having to open the container. This is particularly useful when using the single blend cups (with the Ninja, I had to remove the cup from the base, unscrew the lid, stick a spoon into it to move the food around, screw the lid back on and set it back on the base).-The Versa's large jar lid has an opening that allows you to add food as you blend. The Ninja's lid had to be completely removed, and there was one and only one way to remove it and put it back on- it was not necessarily intuitive or quick.-And finally- and this was the clincher for me- standard mason jars can be used with the Versa using the Blend and Go cup's blade and jar attachments. The possibilities are endless- I can grind coffee in a small, glass jar, pop on the lid, and store it. I can blend nut butters in the jars I plan on storing them in without having to mess with transferring the sticky butter to another jar and washing the container. I can have a dedicated garlic paste jar, and another dedicated spice grinding jar. I love the fact that you are not locked into exclusively buying brand-name jars for an outrageous sum, as you have to do with virtually every other brand. Perhaps Oster would prefer if I did- but the Mason jars work beautifully and often a ton of flexibility not offered with any other system. (This, by the way, was the main reason I chose the 1100 model over the 1400 model.)As far as performance is concerned, both the Oster Versa 1100 and the Ninja 1100 watt model work pretty well. Thus far, I have made creamy cashew butter, ground coffee down to an espresso grind, and made a variety of smoothies. Iced coffee and slushy iced tea are a breeze. I made mock ice cream using a frozen banana and frozen berries (super creamy and had real ice cream texture- no sugar necessary and the kids devoured it). I made tabouleh in under five minutes using the food processor attachment (this is usually pretty time consuming as you need to finely chop onions, tomatoes and parsley). I love the fact that neither the onions or the tomatoes turned into mush. I have not had it long enough to testify as to its durability or to try more recipes, but so far, I'm very pleased with this purchase.

Llegó mucho más rápido de lo que esperaba el paquete de importación. Vale la pena, en su relación calidad y precio sale ganando, porque con un sólo aparato tienes una licuadora potente (hace un poco de ruido), procesador de alimentos y sus aditamentos muy prácticos y de excelente calidad. Incluso me parece mucho mejor que otra OSter Reverse que es hasta más cara.

Por el precio pagado no veo donde se pueda encontrar una licuadora de ésta potencia con los accesorios que trae. La otra opción es la ninja pero cuesta 2 mil pesos mas. La he usado diario con mis licuados de fruta congelada y la verdad lo hace muy bien. No más pedazos dejados sin licuar en el vaso. Los vasos intercambiables son muy practicos. Lo que no me gusta es que casi todo esta hecho de plastico. No se siente muy solida la construccion y hace un ruido considerable. Pero supongo todas las oster son asi ruidosas. Estoy satisfecho con la compra

Easy cleaning

Llevamos buen tiempo usándola y funciona muy bien, tiene muy buena potencia y nunca hemos tenido ningún problema. El accesorio para hacerla procesador de comida funciona también muy bien.

I had this blender for less then 2 months and the plastic on the food processor started to melt! I called to get a replacement and they kept telling me that they would let me know once they had them back in stock as they do not have replacements for the processor at the moment. After a few weeks of this I requested to return it. They said they can only refund the initial cost, not any Amazon fees or the taxes. After a bit of back and forth they finally agreed to pay it all back to me. Wouldn't buy from Oyster again.