Introduced in late 2004, the Total Blender continues to be Blendtec's (a agency of K-Tec, Inc.) most user-friendly offering in the high-performance blender market. Contrary to the claims of many online reviews, the Total Blender was not naturally a improvement of the company's wildly beloved Champ Hp3 model found in numerous smoothie and coffee shops over the country in the early 2000s. There was, in fact, a redesign of the Champ Hp3. It is now known as the Hp3A and is a fine blender in its own right. The motivation behind the Total Blender, however, was to use the same mechanical components found in their industrial machines and incorporate them with a much simpler interface, resulting in the company's first model made specifically for home use. The following present combines information gathered directly from the enterprise with my experience of over 30,000 cycles of use as a representative of Blendtec at live demonstrations of the Total Blender over the country.
Package and Specifications
Basic Stamp Wireless
The Total Blender is made and assembled in Blendtec's Orem, Utah, manufacturing facility. Currently, the holder includes a motor base, jar, two-part lid, user manual, instructional Dvd, and method book. The purchaser has his or her option of black, white, or red motor base finishes. A coffee colored base was discontinued in early 2011.
The base of the motor comprises the majority of its heft (7 lbs. With an empty jar), and contains a direct-drive, 13 amp, 1560 watt motor, referred to in commerce circles as 3 horsepower (3 Hp). Blendtec used to refer to the motor as 3-peak horsepower, but now ordinarily refrains from use of the term horsepower altogether in its literature, packaging, and online descriptions, most likely due to the normal public's lack of comprehension of how true Hp is calculated, and, hence, potentially misunderstood. The Total Blender's direct-drive motor insures no loss of power incurred via friction generated from pulleys, belts, or clutches. Instead, the motor itself spins the jar's blade at high-torque speeds of nearly 29,000 revolutions per puny (Rpm).
Motor base dimensions are 7" wide by 8" deep, and the entire unit, with the jar in place - lid on - stands exactly 15" tall. The height of the Total Blender is an foremost size for consumers wishing to keep the unit on a countertop when not in use, as the appropriate factory height of upper-kitchen cabinets is between 17" and 18" above countertops. A three-foot power cord with a appropriate 120 volt, 3-prong plug extends from the rear of the machine. Also on the back of the base is the main power On/Off switch. The motor vents from its underside, and the entire base rests on four round, rubber feet, 7/8" in diameter. The colored portion of the motor base cover is made of a durable polycarbonate with no seams or openings for liquid penetration.
Traditional knobs and levers used to operate the motor are absent on the Total Blender. Instead, the interface consists of nine small buttons, each labeled with its corresponding function. Six are pre-programed "blend cycle" buttons. From left to right, they are labeled Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt, Ice Crush/Milkshake, Soups/Syrups/Fondues, Sauces/Dips/Dressings/Batters, Whole Juice, and Smoothies. Just above the row of blend cycles, one button manually speeds the motor up, one manually slows it down, and, finally, one is for pulsing. When lit, a small blue light next to the Pulse button indicates the main power is on. Just below the interface panel is a blue Lcd screen which displays information such as the particular blend cycle in use, time remaining in cycle, overload indication (if implemented), and total number of cycles run.
The manufacture of the Total Blender's jar has been patented by Blendtec. Because it is quadrilateral in shape, contents are able to be poured from any of three slightly tapered corners, all of which resemble spouts. The holder itself has a capacity of two quarts (64 ounces) and is made of a high-strength Bisphenol A (Bpa)-free copolyester. Measurements in ounces and cups are marked on two sides of the jar incrementally up to one quart (32 ounces/4 cups). It is also marked with the registered Nsf International stamp, meaning it meets the foundation's (formerly known as the National Sanitation Foundation) requirements for equipment and material intended for industrial foodservice, a normal benchmark for collective health standards.
The blade assembly features a particular 3" stainless steel blade that turns in one direction, clockwise. This assembly is sonically fused onto the jar and does not detach. From the underside of the jar, the slotted metal end of the blade shaft fits perfectly into the correspondingly-grooved drive socket of a titanium coupling. Along with the blade shaft/drive socket connection, a 1 ¼"-deep continuous lip extends from the lowest of the jar, insuring it rests securely on the upper extension of the motor base while the blender is in use.
The jar's lid has undergone any revisions since the model's inception. Now a two-piece design, the newest form consists of a rubber customary cover, molded to form a lip that fits snugly around the top edge of all four sides of the container. On each projection of this lid are subtle flaps designed for easy discharge from the jar using just a thumb and forefinger. A 2" by 2" occasion in the town of the customary cover receives the second piece of the two-piece assembly, a removable, hard-plastic cap which, when fitted into the opening, creates a four-way vent from which pressure escapes during the blending of hot recipes. The discharge of this cap from the customary cover also allows for the expanding of ingredients into the jar while the blender runs without having to remove the entire lid.
A 245-page method book called Lifestyles contains instructions on blender use, health and nourishment information, a Glycemic Index chart, dry and liquid measurement equivalents tables, an ingredient substitution chart, and over 300 recipes. Paired with each method is a nutritional content table similar to those found on food packaging, as well as its content yield.
Completing the Total Blender holder is a 19-page owner's manual and user guide providing security information, a more detailed overview of the blender's six blend cycles, troubleshooting tips, and details on the machine's appropriate warranty, which is three years from the date of purchase. Purchases made at foremost membership clubs - Costco and Sam's Club, for example - contain a warranty extension good for an added four years on the motor base. The titanium coupling (the drive socket for the blade assembly) and the stainless steel blade, however, are covered beyond the appropriate warranty. Though this is not specifically mentioned in the warranty's wording, both of these parts are guaranteed against flaw for the life of the machine.
Operation
Using the Total Blender can be as easy as loading the jar and pushing a button. For the majority of recipes, though, exquisite results using the pre-programed blend cycles do wish a bit of forethought from the user. Key to desired consistency with any blender is a permissible ratio of liquid to dry ingredients. When making ice cream, for example, too much liquid in relation to ice or frozen fruit results in a less-than-solid (runny) consistency. Likewise, too much ice in relation to liquid might supervene in a not-so-smooth (crunchy) dessert. In every Lifestyles recipe, both the volume and ratios of all ingredients have been pre-calculated to - when paired with their corresponding blend cycles - yield consistently exquisite results. In other words, if a user follows the recipe, and presses the right button, he or she will get the desired result.
Once a blend cycle is selected, users will detect multiple blade speed changes throughout its duration. No blend cycle runs at a particular speed. Instead, as few as three to as many as eight speed changes may occur over the course of a given cycle. Blendtec has carefully specific speeds and durations for corresponding ingredients in each of its recipes. Blend cycle duration ranges from 25 seconds on the Smoothie cycle to 90 seconds for Soups/Syrups/Fondues. Once a cycle is selected, a timer on the Lcd screen will count down, informing the user of the number of seconds before its completion. Once running, blend cycles are not intended to be stopped until the cycle ends. However, while the motor is running, pressing any blend cycle button will halt it. This is why no "Off" button is found on the interface panel. They are all "Off" buttons.
Along with user attention to ingredient quantity and ratios, equal point should also be located on the order in which they are loaded into the jar. When following any method in the Lifestyles book, the first ingredient listed goes into the jar first. As the user works his way down the recipe, the ingredients should be loaded from the lowest of the jar upward. If the spoton ratio of the right ingredients is loaded into the jar in the right order, and the spoton blend cycle is selected, the motor produces the desired result. User guesswork as to permissible blender speed and duration is thoroughly eliminated.
Of course, users won't want to be puny solely to the 300+ recipes in the book. For this reason, manual controls are also included on the interface panel. Marked with arrows indicating "Speed Up" and "Speed Down," these buttons way each of the blender's ten speeds incrementally, with Speed 10 representing the top at over 28,000 Rpms. The user moves from one speed to the next by pressing the button once for each successive speed.
The motor will also climb and descend automatically from one speed to the next if the button is held depressed. Once a manual cycle starts, the Total Blender will run for a total of 50 seconds at which point it will shut itself off. Instead of counting down from 50, however, the timer will start at zero and count upward. specific durations for specific recipes designed by the user can be monitored with the timer counting in this manner. For example, if the user creates his own smoothie method and determines, based on his specific ingredients, he needs to run the motor at Speed 6 for exactly 35 seconds, this is possible with the manual controls. In short, the manual buttons on the panel interface allow the user to operate the motor as he or she would any other blender.
This is not to say that blend cycles cannot or should not be used when making a method not included in the Lifestyles book. It's quite possible to accomplish exquisite results using a blend cycle in conjunction with a method found elsewhere or created by the user, himself. Any method that mimics one from the Lifestyles book in both quantity and ratio is likely to supervene in a similar consistency via the corresponding blend cycle. Adjustments can all the time be made to any recipe, however, whether from the book or not, using the manual controls. experience is the best teacher with the Total Blender. The more it is used, the more customary with the results produced the user becomes with both each particular blend cycle as well as the manually-operated buttons.
The Pulse button operates just as one would imagine. It will run at a medium-high speed for only as long as it is held depressed. Short bursts are great for chopping ingredients instead of pureeing. Longer durations can be used for anyone from cleaning the jar with soap and water to incorporating a forgotten or added ingredient to making a smoothie outright.
Performance
In terms of sheer power, I've yet to see or use a blender in this price range that matches that of the Total Blender. Any conceivable ingredient a user might want to blend will most likely be no qoute for this machine. In over 30,000 personal and demonstration cycles with this particular model (and many of my customers could verify that I do not "baby" these machines), I've never located anyone into the jar that has caused it to fail to run and run properly.
However, were a user to do just that, inside the housing is a sensor which will temporarily trip power to the motor. Instead of the motor running continuously and ultimately burning itself out trying to blend difficult ingredients - not uncommon with regular blenders - it will instead shut itself down and gift an "Overload" reading on the Lcd screen. If this occurs the user naturally removes or adjusts the ingredient(s) in examine and presses any blend cycle button, after which the motor is immediately ready to resume work. I demonstrate this highlight occasionally by placing the handle of a hammer into the jar against the blade while the motor is in an off position, and then holding it firmly against the lowest of the jar while simultaneously starting a cycle. Because of the sheer power of the Total Blender it is a battle holding the handle in place once a button is pressed, but after two or three seconds the sensor halts the motor every time. Likewise, there is an "Overtemp" reading that will appear if the motor has overheated during use. To date, I've yet to positively see this reading via normal use, nor have I been able to generate a demonstration which implements it.
This extreme power, along with the manufacture of both the jar and blade, is the key to consistently prosperous blended results with the Total Blender. Instead of swirling around the perimeter of a round jar, as ingredient contents tend to do at high speeds with most blenders, ingredients in this jar will deaden, in effect, as they hit the corners created by its quadrilateral design. In theory, contents are then redirected to the jar's center, where the patented blade manufacture and motor power incorporate to positively draw ingredients down into the cutting path of the blade to be fully incorporated. This vortex supervene is repeated throughout the duration of the cycle, meaning ingredients are permanently and consistently reincorporated, start to finish. On the Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt cycle the user can most clearly see this supervene at work. Ingredients from the top are drawn down to the blade, incorporated, then pushed up the side of the jar, back to the center, and drawn down again.
Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt and Soups/Syrups/Fondues are the blend cycles that best demonstrate the Total Blender's extreme diversity. Determining whether a method becomes hot to the point of boiling (if desired) or frozen like soft-serve are two main factors: the right ingredients, of course, and the permissible number of friction generated against them by the spinning blade. There is no heating element in the machine. Instead, the number of friction introduced to the user's ingredient contents on every cycle will determine to what extent the method heats. extreme amounts are created at 28,000 Rpms (the 90-second Soups/Syrups/Fondues cycle), enough to generate a piping-hot soup.
How hot, exactly, is carefully naturally by how long the blade spins. This particular cycle is 90 seconds. Most soup recipes calling for hot water as an ingredient are sufficiently warmed after one cycle. However, to increase the desired temperature of the final product, the user naturally has to restart the cycle. Extremely hot temperatures can be achieved in 4 ½ to 5 minutes (3 or 4 cycles). Partial cycles can also be run by pressing any blend cycle button mid-cycle, thus allowing for temperature-specific heating (requires the use of a thermometer). Keep in mind, concerning soups, hotter temperatures supervene in correspondingly decreased ingredient nutritional yield. This is something of which to all the time be mindful.
On the opposite end of the temperature scale, friction is also used to generate ice cream in the Total Blender. Much slower blade speeds on this cycle generate much less friction, obviously. But with the right ingredients and the right number of friction, in combination with the motor's high torque, the Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt cycle turns ice and/or frozen fruit and other ingredients into exquisite soft-serve ice cream consistencies. Fluctuating somewhere between the extreme blade speed differences of the soup and ice cream cycles, those for whole fruit juices, smoothies, sauces, dressings, and milkshakes are all created using cut off cycles that implement the exact same manufacture principals.
Extreme torque and blade speeds generated by the Total Blender can also rupture individual cell walls of fruits and vegetables, unlocking principal nutrients that would otherwise suck in unutilized when naturally eaten or blended less effectively. The Whole Juice cycle is designed specifically to promote a maximum nutritional yield from whole fruits and vegetables.
The patented manufacture of the Total Blender's blade also enables the same holder and blade assembly that blends "wet" ingredients to serve as a mill for grist whole grains, seeds, beans, and nuts into flours of any approximately any consistency. At lower speeds, instead of flours, the Total Blender makes exquisite nut butters out of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pecans. Uses of these kinds do not work on doing of the blade as it is manufactured with a rather blunt edge as opposed to the sharp edge found on most blender blades. The Total Blender utilizes its unique blade and jar manufacture along with the muscle of the motor to pulverize, rather than slice, ingredients loaded into it.
The Total Blender also makes exquisite bread doughs, cake batters, pie fillings, dips, salsas, fondues, syrups, frozen alcoholic beverages, baby food, etc. Recipes for all of the above are included in the Lifestyles book.
Performance Issues
Assuming no exquisite blending motor has ever been created, a full, present of The Total Blender must also contain its drawbacks. While this blender has few, in order of point to this user, they are listed as follows: Noise. It is loud. I have not taken decibel-level readings on it, and acoustics vary from one kitchen to the next, but I feel positive claiming it is as loud or louder than any regular household blender on the market today. Keep in mind most cycle durations are short, and noise will positively be dictated by both ingredient content and speeds. However, aftermarket sound-enclosures for the Total Blender are available straight through discrete sources on the internet. Blendtec, though, does not make one for this model.
As mentioned previously, it is recommend method ingredients be loaded into the jar in a particular order. No tool for assisting ingredients into the cutting path of the blade is included with this model, and for most recipes, regardless of the order in which ingredients are loaded, none is required. There will be occasions, however, where solid or frozen ingredients loaded lower into the jar delay the incorporation of the entire set of ingredients to the point where added blending times might be required after a pre-set cycle has concluded.
Cavitation is a tasteless occurrence surrounded by all blenders whereby an air pocket develops around the cutting path of the blade, preventing ingredients from reaching it. Extremely cold ingredient temperatures are the main culprits in this instance, and the Total Blender is not invulnerable to this condition. Adding liquid to a recipe, eliminating the air pocket manually with a spatula, or naturally running the motor manually at high speeds quickly remedies cavitation issues.
The distance of uninterrupted manual use (as opposed to blend cycles) of the motor is capped at 50 seconds. In other words, manual use duration via the Speed Up and/or Speed Down controls is also technically on a cycle. For manual blending requiring times in excess of 50 seconds, the user must re-start the blending process after 50 seconds.
Finally, use of the jar as a mill will supervene in the lowest 1/3 to 1/2 of the jar taking on a cloudy appearance - the supervene of puny indentations created by grains as they are being thrown against the jar's sides at extreme speeds during grinding. This, too, is tasteless with all polycarbonate and copolyester jars which are required for high-performance blending (glass jars cannot withstand the torques generated by these motors). Likewise, grist of oily beans (coffee, for example) may stain the jar. No doing issues supervene from these effects, however. They are purely aesthetic.
Summary
The Blendtec Total Blender is exquisite for anyone wanting an Extremely powerful, versatile blender that yields health benefits not available from regular blenders. For the money, one cannot find a stronger, more durable machine. Its American-made craftsmanship is superb. One could reasonably expect it to be the last blender he might ever purchase. This motor is "smart" enough to do the majority of the "work" for the user, yet also allows him to assume faultless operate of the blending process. The same motor and technology found in this motor can be found in those of coffee houses, smoothie shops and restaurants all over the world. Those places, too, have their options when it comes to blenders, and there is a surmise they ultimately pick Blendtecs. It's because they are worth every penny.
Blendtec Total Blender: A quote