Rating: - Smoothie expert weighs in!
Over the past forty years, I've had several good household blenders (Osterizer, Waring, KitchenAid). These days I need a countertop blender for smoothies and occasional large batches of salad dressings; I use an immersion blender for soups. I've made a lot of smoothies over the years, particularly since my youngest child needed more than the usual amount of orthodonture and a couple of jaw surgeries. She is an athlete and I was always having to figure out how to get 4000 calories a day into her through a straw. This is an excellent blender and well worth the price (which is still several hundred dollars shy of a true restaurant blender). It is very easy to clean and comparatively quiet. It has three speeds and can reduce raw kale, with the addition of some liquid, to a smooth puree. I've had it for several months and can recommend it without reservation.

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Rating: - blender
I have other Kitchen Aide appliances, so when I was ready to leave the $40 blender I went for this machine. Of course, it makes noise, but more important It make purrees. So far I'm satisfied.

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Rating: - Now THIS is what I call a blender!
Admittedly, I've only used this blender twice, but so far it's a dream.

My smoothies usually consist of frozen banana, soymilk, peanut butter, and spring greens. My old blender, a Hamilton Beach Wave Station, would leave the peanut butter in clumps and the greens would be in bits big enough to have to chew. I'm also used to having to open the blender every few minutes to stir the ingredients around so they'll blend. Not so with the KitchenAid Pro Line Blender. In less than 20 seconds, with zero stirring, my smoothie came out silky smooth. The peanut butter was thoroughly mixed, and the greens were smooth and thoroughly blended in. I also added toasted wheat germ to this smoothie. No problems. Smooth as could be.

Sure, the blender's loud, but nowhere near as loud as my old one. Where the old one sounded like it was trying to blend rocks, the KitchenAid just sounds like a high powered blender.

I'm not sure about the slow start feature though. I turned on the blender and immediately the ingredients were thrown all over the sides and even hit the top cover for the blender.

I'll update on this blender as time goes by, but I suspect my daily smoothie making has just been made a whole lot easier.

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Rating: - Don't drink the koolaide
I own a pro line... it died after a year of use. Yep... it has enough power to cut the grass... and sounds like a jackhkammer on the countertop... but what good is all that power if it is spinning the blades in an air pocket. I make smoothies with Ice, bananna, fruits. I always have to either shake the unit or use a wooden spoon to move the stuff around. I paid $300. Did I mention mine burned out after 14 months of service? I have another blender that was about $79 and did a better job on smoothies. It will probably die in a year... but I'd rather pay $79 per year than 200.

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Rating: - Superb Blender!
I will preface this review by saying that this is our second try at getting a new blender. The first blender we purchased from Amazon was the Waring PBB2 Professional Bar Blender. Do yourself a favor and avoid that blender; this one is far superior. Now, onto the review.

FUNCTIONAL DESIGN:

Every part of the functional design of this blender is excellent. The base is heavy duty, easy to use, easy to clean, and appears to be excellent quality.

The carafe and blade design is also excellent. The one-piece carafe design is well thought out. It provides for a powerful vortex when blending and is exceptionally easy to clean. Because the base of the carafe has a shield that sits down onto the base/motor of the unit. If you do happen to spill (which hasn't happened yet), the mess won't get into the motor. Pure genius!


POWER:

The power of this blender exceeded my expectations. The Waring Pro we had wouldn't crush/blend commercial ice (for example, in a single-serving margarita). This blender turns it into snow in short order. I haven't run into anything that this blender can't blend. Smoothies turn out exceptionally smooth. I can use whole flax seeds in my smoothies and they still turn out smooth, without any gritty texture.


DURABILITY:

I've only had this blender for a couple of weeks, but I can see this blender lasting as long as our other KitchenAid appliances (they're all still working perfectly after many years of use).


EASE OF CLEANING:

This blender is VERY easy to clean. The sealed one-piece carafe is simple to clean. I just blend some dish soap and hot water, give it a few wipes, and then rinse clean with hot water. If anything gets on the base, it wipes right off.


VALUE:

Value is relative, and this blender is relatively expensive, but I still believe it's a good value. It works so well that I don't mind paying $220 for it. I haven't found another blender with a design and performance this good for less. To me, that makes it a good value.


SUMMARY:

Overall, I can't rate this blender any less than five stars. It works perfectly and has intelligent design features that many other blender don't. If it lasts like our other KitchenAid appliances (which I expect it will), then I'll be happy with this blender for many years to come.