Frigidaire Professional Large Capacity 5-Speed Blender, Stainless, FPJB56B7MS

This is actually my second Frigidaire "Professional" appliance to find its way into my kitchen -- the first being their coffee maker (if you need one, buy that one!). And I am equally as impressed with this beast as I was the coffee maker.

The high-points -- I feel -- are as follows:

1: The pitcher can actually pour. If there is such a profession as "pouring engineer" -- or probably the fancier "viscosity and fluidity engineer" -- Frigidaire employs the best of them. This is enough to make the blender worth the extra money right there. I remember, as a kid, making a milkshake and drinking it out of the blender. I was often met with a faceful of milkshake-hate since it would all come pouring down (and onto me) at once. Thankfully, the "high performance tunnels of awesomeness" (I named them that, but you can borrow it Frigidaire) keep thicker things from refusing to come out.

2: MORE POWER! This thing can destroy ice with extreme prejudice. Seriously. I haven't really found much (short of rocks probably) that you could throw in here that would make it really bog down.

3: It actually DOES have a metal base! It seems most stuff these days is going the way of fancier plastic. This thing weighs like 15 lbs. That is 15 lbs of blending action that I can finally have faith in! And if you are the type to still rely on kitchen appliances for home defense (or in event of zombie apocalypse), this could easily second as a quality blunt instrument. It still functions best as a blender, though.

4: Super-vacuum robo-top. Again, not what it's called, but "lid" is unbecoming of how great this thing is. It has three seals that actually seal! It's the first blender top I trust.

So in all, I recommend this thing if you need a blender. It's top-notch.

If you're looking for a good quality blender that works well for household uses, looks nice in your kitchen, then stop here. I did a lot research and actually came across this one by accident. There were no reviews at the time but I decided to take a chance. Wow, am I impressed! There were certain things I was looking for and this blender has them all: Glass container, 600 watt motor, good lid design, good base design, high quality. The plastic base seems to be the part that separates the men from the boys so to speak. This base is plastic but it's fairly thick by comparison and fits very snugly and firmly into place. I was thinking about getting one of the $60-70 Oyster models but there were a lot of complaints about the cheapo plastic base cracking. So, I splurged forty bucks more to get this one. Our old blender would go for over minute and still not crush all the ice for a smoothie. This thing crushes an entire tray of ice cubes in about 5 seconds. Saves some time in the kitchen. The only downside if it even really is one is that there are 2 seals instead of one to take apart from the blade/base to clean. No big deal really.
So, bottom line, if you want something cheaper, at least make sure it has 600 watts of power and a glass jar. If you want something that will probably be the best value over time, I can't recommend this one more highly.
Addendum: Suddenly stopped working at 2 1/2 months. Maybe a bad fuse or something? Anyway, both Frigidaire and Amazon responded quickly to my call for help. Amazon ended up immediately sending me a brand new replacement (although not their usual policy- made an exception) and I just dropped the nonworking one off at UPS with a prepaid shipping label from Amazon). Replacement one works great. Will keep you posted but I'm thinking I just got a dud the first time. We make smoothies all the time and no other problems.

When I got interested in making green smoothies (along about the time my old teeth began to fall apart), I read an enticing book on making them that turned me off to the whole process because the author said to forget about other blenders because they all break down making green smoothies; to get a Vitamix. Well, I knew I'd never be able to afford a Vitamix! I tried to make a few green smoothies using an old Oster I had, but it became clear to me that it wasn't going to be up to snuff, so I chalked it up to the author being right and just gave up on the idea.

This blender, which I was given the opportunity to review, has gotten me excited about green smoothies again. It has a powerful motor, chews ice to smithereens in no time flat, and has a neat interior baffled design to the container that enhances the blending of the contents. It is plenty large, so you can start with lots of leafy greens that wind up blending down much smaller when chopped.

The only thing I would caution people about is that, for those who have arthritis like me, it may be a little rough on the wrists when lifting it, especially if you have much in it. If I use two hands and don't try to just lift it by the handle, though, I'm able to manage it just fine.