I was curious to try out the Ninja blender and to see how it compared to my VitaMix. The VitaMix is tremendously powerful and makes the smoothest creamiest purees, sauces and smoothies. While I love it, I don't love the price, which is around $500.
DESIGN
I like the design of the Ninja. It looks sleek and similar to the VitaMix. The pitcher locks easily onto the base and has a very firm fitting lid with a spout to make adding ingredients or pouring easy. There are only a few buttons and they are all enclosed so it's easy to clean. The pitcher is lightweight and BPA free. The biggest difference in the construction is the blade configuration, there are 6 blades that run up the stem in the Ninja. They are very sharp!
PERFORMANCE
So how did the Ninja do? I did two tests. In one I made a smoothie with milk, ice and a frozen banana. At least, I tried to make a smoothie. What I got was a smooth drink with little chips of ice. No matter how long I blended on high, I could not get the little chips to become smooth. This is something a regular blender also has a problem doing but my VitaMix does very well.
I also tried blending some very fibrous cooked sugar snap peas. The VitaMix blended them into a thin green puree with no chunks or lumps. The Ninja did break up the peas but the result was not liquid, but more like a medium thick puree. I could see each little bit of material broken into what looked like tiny squares, rather than microscopic bits.
RECOMMENDATION
I didn't feel my tests were really enough so I asked my parents to compare the Ninja to the conventional blender they have at home. They were able to turn ice cubes into snow in seconds and found it to be a significant improvement over their regular blender, an Osterizer. All in all, the Ninja does a WAY better job than most conventional blenders. So if you are looking for something significantly more powerful, the Ninja is a good choice. But if you are looking for something as powerful as the VitaMix, this is not it.
COMPARISON
Here is a rough breakdown of the power and price of each:
Osterizer=500 watts $20-$80 depending upon the model
Ninja=1000 watts about $99
VitaMix=1380 watts about $500, depending upon the model
Which blender do you have? Which model do you think is worth the price?