Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(73 customer reviews) 154 of 168 people found the following review helpful
Will do the things other won't but with some caveats,
July 10, 2010 Mark Fellows "Gadget Guy" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Vitamix 1709 CIA Professional Series, Brushed Stainless Finish (Kitchen)
After about a week of use, I feel that I am qualified to write intelligently about this blender. I am very sure, and experienced that this very expensive blender will do what most others won't. However, there are some issues I have with the CIA. My first issue is that it has a variable speed control, but yet the manual says not really to use it for too long, or you could overheat the 2 HP motor. You are supposed to start in low, and as rapidly as you can take it all the way to the top speed on the variable control, and then switch it out of variable and into HIGH position.
I believe the variable control is there just to keep us from stripping the teeth off of the drive shaft that goes into the gear for the chopping blades. If you just turn it on in high, you will get a grinding noise. This is one of my main complaints.
The other complaint is how you can't run it too high, or you can't run it at too low, or you risk shutting the device off for up to 8 hours while...Read more
81 of 86 people found the following review helpful
Necessity or Luxury?,
December 21, 2009 Pat Srinivas (Overland Park, KS) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Vitamix CIA Professional Series Blender
Necessity or Luxury: Depends on if you have experienced it (& if you plan on using it regularly)
As a guy who takes his smoothies and soups very seriously, it is a necessity for me. While some might argue about the price (Covers the purchase of an average blender every year into perpetuity if purchase price is invested in an annuity), I find comparisons to other blenders moot as the results from the Vitamix is not reproducible by an average blender (no strawberry/blackberry seeds in your smoothie, no bell pepper seeds in your soup). And, cleaning takes seconds!
The Motor of the Vitamix 5200 is the same as the CIA Commercial blender and costs a little less. The CIA edition comes with an exhaustive recipe book and a CD. Did I mention the blend sound reminds me of a revving Ferrari? (All the more reason to go RED!)
92 of 99 people found the following review helpful
Does most of what it advertises,
February 1, 2010 J. Miller - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Vitamix 1709 CIA Professional Series, Brushed Stainless Finish (Kitchen)
However, please be aware that unit cannot handle heavy loads that thicken quickly. Be sure there is plenty of liquid if used on high speed. Unit twice in two weeks shut down on me, once for 8 hours because the ingredients thickened quickly (potato-leek soup). I had to finish recipe in my food processor. Because of this sensitivity, if I had to do it over again, I would put my investment elsewhere.
