Blendtec Total Blender Classic is a powerful blender that does a great job with smoothies, powerfully capturing and pulverizing the fruit so that the smoothie is perfectly, well, smooth. It also does a great job making hummus. Despite its large size, it is reasonably light and has a two-year warranty.
The only major issue we had during our testing was that we found it very loud and, at around $400, very expensive. Still, as you’ll see in our Blendtec Total Blender Classic review, we consider it one of the best blenders.
Blendtec Total Blender Classic Review: Price and Availability
The Blendtec Total Blender Classic costs $379 for a 75-ounce jar or $399 for a really huge 90-ounce WildSide+ jar. A separate model, the Blendtec Total Blender 575 Classic, which comes with a 75-ounce and a 90-ounce jar, costs $499.
It is widely available online at Blendtec’s website and at retailers such as Amazon, BestBuy, Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The blender comes in black and pomegranate.
Blendtec Total Blender Classic Review: Design
At 75 ounces, this is the largest capacity blender we tested, but at just 7.3 pounds, it’s also the lightest. It’s light and stable enough to pick up and move without problems, but the design is a bit utilitarian.
The blender’s 10-speed controls, pulse mode, and six programmed settings mean you’ll never run out of options. The backlit LCD timer is easy to read and interpret and clearly shows how much time is left in your mixes. Pre-programmed cycles are included for: smoothies, batters, hot soup, whole juice, ice cream and crushed ice.
While the blender did a great job on some of these settings, it had trouble crushing ice. That said, few of the blenders we tested can make hot soup, blend whole juice, or make ice cream, so the ice challenge can be forgiven.
Blendtec Total Blender Classic Review: Ease of Use
With a large opening, it’s easy to give this blender a quick rinse and stick a sponge inside without risking getting hurt by the blades. The corners are difficult to clean thoroughly by washing your hands, but after removing most of the contents and adding warm water and soap, the jar is completely clean when running at maximum speed.
The timer’s illuminated LCD screen is also bright and easy to read from a distance, but the screen does not appear to be a washable film, as it began to turn dark white during testing.
On the control panel, the pre-programmed settings are represented by self-explanatory images, so you’ll probably only need to refer to the instruction manual once. Otherwise, operating this blender couldn’t be simpler.
Blendtec Total Blender Classic Review: Performance
The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is probably the best blender for you if the main thing you plan to make with it is smoothies. The helicopter blades easily remove frozen fruit, protein powder, and ice, completely incorporating the ingredients into the vortex and transforming them into a devilishly creamy smoothie.
The 1,560-watt motor is powerful enough to blend chickpeas with olive oil into creamy, satisfying hummus in under a minute, a task that very few blenders can handle. That said, the powerful motor comes at a cost, as does one of the loudest blenders we tested, at 108.2 decibels.
The only place where the Blendtec Total Blender Classic fails is with crushed ice, as it is prone to leaving some frozen shards and chunks of ice in the bottom corners of the jug mixed in with the otherwise soft, powdery ice mixture. similar to snow. This is a common flaw in larger blenders, so we won’t deduct too much from its overall score.
Blendtec Total Blender Classic Review: Verdict
If you are a big fan of smoothies, this is the blender for you. Blendtec Total Blender Classic is big, capable and also does a great job with often difficult to mix hummus. It’s larger, lighter, and less expensive than the $549 Breville Super Q blender and beat it in terms of making smoothies and hummus. However, it might have worked better with ice and oat milk, and the device is much louder. Still, those are trade-offs we can live with.
