Best Rated (Certified Refurbished) Blenders | Comparison & Reviews 2017-2018

Certified Refurbished = The blenders on this page are all Certified Refurbished by the manufacturer. Blendtec offers 7 year warranties, and Vitamix 5 years on their refurbished blenders. The certification process is extensive. You get a substantial discount over new, but still have a long warranty.
FourSide Jar or WildSide Jar? = Blendtec comes with either the FourSide Jar (64oz) or the WildSide Jar (90oz). Some blenders come with both Jars. Both Jars are made from BPA-Free Triton Polyester Plastic, and have easy to read measurement markings. Another difference is the WildSide Jar is 5 sided that helps to create a superior vortex for mixing. Both are shorter than competitors, making them easy to fit your blender under your cabinets for storage.
Powerful Motors = All Blendtec Blenders come with powerful 3 HP Motors, Vitamix at least 2 HP. This kind of power can pulverize just about any kind of food, ice, greens that you throw at it. To put this in perspective, a low end home garbage disposal only has a 1/4 HP motor.
Blender Watts = Watts are a measure of energy used, and is a good indication of the power that the blender can produce to crush ice, and make more consistent smoothies. So, higher watts are better. All of the blenders on this page have high watts, and a high HP motor to power through just about any food.
SmartBlend Technology = The Blendtec Designer 725 Blendtec blenders have SmartBlend, which will detect potential problems while blending, that could interfere with the perfect blend-including loading errors, overheating, or air pockets, the blender will then tell the user how to fix the problem.
Touch Slider Control = Blendtec Designer Series have a touch slider control to use your finger to easily change speeds on the fly.
Making Smoothies = For smoothies you should get a blender with at least 550-600 watts of power. Without enough power, a blender will struggle to chop up the contents finely enough, and have trouble pulverizing ice. You can also burn out the motor of an underpowered blender. These high end blenders under $400 have tremendous power and are the top of the line. High powered blenders are great for green smoothies with spinach or kale.
Glass or Plastic Jar = The main jar used to blend and mix smoothies or other products, is composed either of Glass or Plastic. Glass is rare to see, and most are made with BPA free plastic. Plastic weighs less than glass and is less prone to breaking if dropped.
Number of Speeds = Blenders can have many speeds from low to high. The number of speeds will allow you to adjust the power to the task at hand. Smoothies for instance require the top speed, to pulverize frozen fruit, ice, and seeds.
Pulse Feature = Pulse is a momentary blending controlled by a switch that you hold. This is in effect manual blending. Just hold the pulse button down long enough to blend and mix the ingredients to the consistency you desire.
Dishwasher Safe = You can put your mixing jar, or smoothie cups into the dishwasher for cleaning.
Pre-Programmed Blender = A blender with pre-programmed settings will automatically blend in the optimal speed for different types of blending. Some examples are Smoothies, Frozen Desserts, Purees, and some can even make Hot Soup. Most will automatically shut off when done blending a certain type of food/beverage.