VillaWare 5785-SI Smoothee Bar Blender and Server, Silver

I've had this machine for about a week, and it's getting the job done. This is my second smoothie blender. The first (another brand) gave out rather quickly. At $30 if this one dies in two months I'll still feel like I got my money's worth.

Strong points:
Extremely good price.
Heavy blades.
A wide pitcher facilitates an even mix with odd shaped ingredients.
Strong 700 watt motor.
The spigot is high enough from the drip plate to allow a 24oz bar glass under it.

Weak points:
The power buttons are on the side, and not in a recessed area. I was pushing the machine to the back of the kitchen counter and bumped the pulse switch against a bowl, spinning the blades and sending the stir stick flying across the room.
The drip tray screen vibrates off while the machine is running. The little clips that are meant to hold it just don't get the job done.
The spigot is a little narrow making it very slow to pour a thick beverage. More often than not,...Read more

I've had this "smoothie bar" for a year, and after a bartender I'd hired once told me it's utterly unusable, I'd stubbornly been trying to prove him wrong ever since. Well, I give up, and I just ordered a professional-grade blender made of metal by a trusted manufacturer so I can get rid of this piece of junk. Now I want to warn others about this VillaWare Smoothie Bar's bad design and cheap materials.

First of all, the flare of the cup is such that it forms an airgap above the blades, requiring constant scraping of the sides to push the contents downward manually. Forget that plastic stick. Look at the photo. It doesn't reach the places it needs to, so you still have to stop the blender to scrape. And you have to use your rubber scraper anyway because a round plastic stick just isn't designed do the job!

While you're looking at the photo, notice the vertical ribs inside the jar. Too bad they don't slope towards the pour spout because when you pour,...Read more

This smoothie maker was certaintly inexpensive yet showed its fatal flaws immediately. Every component of the blender is plastic, including the spigot. With each cleaning you need to reattach the plastic spigot and fine hairline cracks appeared immediately although I never was able to tighten it to the original downward angle. These cracks allow liquid to creep out as I add ingredients or use the mixer. I figure I have about a months worth of smoothies to make before it gives out completely. The spigot is not very useful for dispensing the smoothie so you quickly learn to bypass it and pour directly from the top. That tends to be messy since the top is so large that larger quantities come out and drip down the sides of your glass no matter how careful you are.
Also the bottom of the smoothie maker needs to be tightened extremely hard or it will vibrate loose during use. When you try to remove the blender from the base the bottom separates from the top and your smoothie...Read more