Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ Compact System (BL491)

I ordered this system to help with our Wheat Belly way of eating. I am making almost everything from scratch now and my standard old blender wasn't meeting my needs. The price is fairly high, but I have a friend who recommended it so I gave it a try. I was prepared for how loud it is from being in her home when she used it. It is not a tool I would want to use in the morning if others were sleeping in the house still (but, we do have a small house). I knew about how the smartIQ feature worked but, even so, I was worried the first time I used it and it paused in the blending cycle. That is how it works - it blends and then pauses to let the food inside settle back down to the blades.I have used the set for various items, but nice thick 'shakes' are our families favorites. Our old blender would leave chunks of ice. This one breaks all the ice down and it makes a lovely smooth drink.I have also used the blender to mix a grain free dough, to make pizza sauce and to grind up flax and chia seeds (in the coffee grinder I purchased separately).When they warn you that the blades are sharp, they are not joking. I just tapped a blade with my thumb when I washed it the first time and I had one heck of a slice. Hubby had a similar problem when he took it out of the dishwasher. We are both more careful now.The negatives: the cutting blade base is rather large and hard for me to get a good grip on. I do have small hands (I can barely reach an octave on a piano) so that is more me than the product. I imagine the smaller drink system would be a better fit for my hand, but I wanted a more well rounded multi-purpose tool so I got this.I do not know why you are not supposed to wash the metal cup in the dishwasher. Is it just for cosmetic reasons (staining/discoloring the stainless steel?) or does it actually damage it? Well, I'm not going to be the one to find out. Not for as much as the replacement cups cost!On the topic of replacement (or additional) cups, I wish there were smaller ones available. My reasoning on this is twofold. First, I make my drinks by just 'eyeballing' what I put in and I tend to make too large of a drink which I cannot finish. I get the portions right - just way too much total product. The other issue is that it is very large to hold to drink from. (I guess we are back to my small hands again...LOL) because of this, I never take them with me nor do I use the lids.Overall, I think this is a great product. The accessories need to be more gently priced and there need to be smaller cup options for this model.

This system is awesome! I recently started taking fitness seriously and this particular kit (BL491) is perfect for my needs. It has the large smoothie cup (more like a pitcher) and two normal sized cups.I use the stainless cup to make a smoothie before I go to the gym in the mornings. I drink a little on the way but leave it in the car while I work out. 2 hours later the smoothie is still cold. Most of the ice has usually melted, but the liquid contents are about fridge temperature. Granted, that is 2 hours in the car at 6-8 in the morning with an average temperature of about 75F and not much direct sunlight. I don't know how it would fare if the cup spent 2 hours from 11-1 in a sun-baked car. Also, the manual states that the stainless cup is not dishwasher safe, but I have a modern non-heat-drying dishwasher and have not noticed any problems after many times washing it.I use the normal size plastic cup for smoothies around the house. I have yet to use the giant smoothie pitcher as even when sharing a smoothie with my wife, the normal size cups make enough. The pitcher cup could easily make a smoothie for like 4-6 people.I have used the food processor cup to blend up soup to make a thicker base and I'm looking forward to harvesting some garden tomatoes and peppers to make salsa. Haven't made any dough yet. The system uses a unique gearing mechanism where the smoothie cups are spun at the high speed the motor runs at, but there is some gear reduction from the high speed motor that turns another gear that turns about 1/4 the speed of the motor which the food processor cup attaches to. Thus, the food processor attachment is high torque and low speed, don't worry about accidentally blending up salsa into a smoothie (assuming you use the correct cup that is).The motor unit is POWERFUL. I generally use low speed for almost all of my blending tasks. Occasionally if I put too much ice in I have to pulse at high speed a few seconds to break up the ice, but then I turn to low speed for blending. Low speed does fine for blending liquid-y ingredients; not so well for pulverizing fruit/veggies, that's what high speed is for. The motor is much quieter on low speed than high speed, so early in the morning I try to use low as much as possible to not wake others in the house (yes, high speed is quite loud on this machine, about as loud as a vacuum cleaner, if not a little louder).

I got the basic ninja blender set with three cups for Christmas last year and loved it. I make smoothies most morning since. It's my on the go breakfast. I love it. I was looking for some more cups and lids when I saw this one. I liked that it had a full size blender so I can make margaritas or daiquiris for friends, and it has a food processor so I can make my own hummus or nut butters. I'm keeping my first ninja for a back up and I use all the cups but I was able to give my old Oster blender and food processor to our local Hospice thrift store and make some room in my cabinet. Win win win!!!!!! These are great. This new one is great for pulverizing fruit and veggies for my shakes. I don't want to use a juicer because you lose all the fiber that way. This grinds things up so smooth and fast. I use it so often it is the only appliance I have on the counter all the time.

This compact blender is so very powerful and efficient and does the job that you would imagine a great quality blender to do. I am very very happy to add this little baby to my kitchen appliance and it does wonders making smoothies and I also use it to prepare mixed frozen cocktails and to chop up my veggies. I did take out the extended warranty not because I'm leery of Ninja products but because I am elderly and I have learned throughout the years that if it can happen (It's breaking) that it can and will happen to me. So I can tell you that it really really gets the job done. I really do consider it to be one of the better purchases that I have ever made. How long that it does work well only time will tell but as for now I would purchase another one in a heartbeat ! :)