Oster 6706 6-Cup 450-Watt, 10-Speed Blender, Black

I just bought one of these to replace.. well, one of these. I have used many "budget" blenders like this one in the past and I finally decided that this is my favorite one in this general price range. My old one's motor actually worked just fine, it is just that I ended up cracking the plastic jar. Ordering a replacement jar was only about $2 cheaper than just buying the entire new setup, so I went ahead and replaced the whole thing.I only use mine for smoothie-type drinks, but I usually have 3 each day. Each one has 20 to 25 whole ice cubes and this blender has no problem grinding them up and blending my smoothies. I would say that my old one went through 500 shakes or so before the jar started cracking and the motor was still good to go. You can get a lot of use out of one of these things making it a solid $20 investment.There are 10 speeds (5 buttons each with high and low functions) and a pulse button that makes it easy to chop up little residual bits that evade the high speed blades. I feel like I really put this thing through a beating and it takes it without much effort. One thing worth noting is that it won't entirely "smooth" some ingredients, kale in particular. Small bits are left of some vegetables. Then again, this is a blender and not a juicer.If you are looking for an inexpensive blender that can handle icey drinks and smoothies without burning out on you, I would highly recommend trying this one out. Like I said, I got several hundred uses out of my old one and it would still be working for me now had I not needed to replace the plastic jar. Whenever this one runs its course I will probably end up buying yet another.

I replaced my old Oster blender (white) with this one (black). The motor in the old one is still good but the little metal thing that attaches to the jar that spins finally broke. All the parts seem to be exactly the same except the new one is black where the old one was white. This one is a little quieter and seems to be more efficient. I use this almost exclusively to make smoothies. The ingredients for the smoothie are 1 cup almond almond milk, tablespoon of peanut butter, tablespoon of chocolate powder, 2 frozen bananas, about a cup of frozen blueberries, and 8 - 10 nice sized frozen strawberries. I put the strawberries in last but have to put them in one at a time. And when I put them in, I keep the cover off and push them down with a spoon. The drink is so thick at this point that there is no back splash. Be careful not to push the strawberry down too far or the spoon might get scratched by the blade. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because this smoothie is very thick at the end of the process and the Oster is more efficient and quick making it than the ninja. I borrowed the ninja from a friend for a week and I like my Oster much better. The way I make my smoothie I have to frequently stop the blender and move the ingredients around to get all the chunks blended. The Oster does a little better job of this and it's so much easier. With the Oster I keep the top off, turn off the motor, and can mix the ingredients or take off the jar and shake it. With the ninja it's a 2 part process of taking off the motor, then taking off the top, then mixing. And while stirring, the ninja blades get in the way. Also, the oster has several speeds while the ninja has one. I like both products but for what I do, the Oster is superior. And cheaper!

Let's face it, if you buy this, you're looking to save a little cash. Welcome to my world. I received it quickly and started to use it immediately. Sure, it's a little loud if you're chopping ice, it'll probably wake up your roommates, dogs, cats, kids, but rest assured, your neighbors will probably only think you're doing a little remodeling when you make your breakfast shake.It has a top, which is good. Some higher speeds will probably throw some liquid on you.It has a clean function, which basically is just a low speed in which you can throw in some dish soap, water, and turn on. Whatever, that's cool, I'll still throw it in the dishwasher.But hey, it's $20. You can spend that in a night at a bar. Or you can stay at home and make some margaritas, and when the neighbors come over to complain about the noise, at least you won't have to drink alone.

I love my blender! I make smoothies everyday and it works perfect, have not had a problem with it. The only two things I would say are not as great are the lid, which is not hard plastic, is softer, like it is supposed to fit the lid super tightly, it does fit but sometime I'm afraid that it will not hold the clear plastic lid, since you really don't feel it snap there and it almost fell inside the jar while it was mixing. Another thing is the way the jar attaches to the motor, it doesn't snap it in place either so you kind of have to hold it in place. I know is not going to fly out of place, because I left it unattended for a few second, but I wish it had that feature.Other than that is great for soups, crushing ice for margaritas and mixing fruits for smoothies without having to chop them in too little pieces!!

I have had this Oster blender for almost a month and I am very pleased with it. We mostly make fruit milkshakes with it and I have a large family so it gets a lot of use. The top is a softer plastic than the jar portion and I read about people having trouble with the plastic center portion falling in, but it has never fallen in for us. Now, we don't take the middle portion out to add ingredients and that could be why but from the comments I was worried that we were going to have trouble in general with this easily falling in and that hasn't been the case for us. The motor is loud but I don't find it to be any louder than any other blender I have had. I like the different speeds and settings. Clean up is easy. It does a good job blending the fruits that we have used (mostly strawberries and bananas). My son has chopped up ice in it before for slushees and it worked well. I had been hesitant to buy it because of some of the negative reviews, but so far, so good and we are very happy with it.