Blendtec Total Blender Classic review

The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is a powerful blender that does a bang-up job with smoothies, powerfully capturing and pulverizing fruit so the smoothie winds up perfectly, well, smooth. It also does a great job making hummus. Despite its large size, it's 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 truly massive 90-ounce WildSide+ Jar. A separate model, the Blendtec Total Blender 575 Classic, which comes with both a 75-ounce and a 90-ounce jar, costs $499.

It's widely available online from Blendtec's website and retailers like 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, yet at only 7.3 pounds, it's also the lightest. It's lightweight and stable enough to pick up and move around without a struggle, but the design is a bit utilitarian.

The blender's 10-speed controls, pulse mode, and six programmed settings mean you'll never be left wanting for options. The backlit LCD timer is easy to read and interpret, clearly displaying how much time remains on blends. Pre-programmed cycles are included for: Smoothies, Batters, Hot Soup, Whole Juice, Ice Cream, and Ice Crush.

While the blender did an excellent job on some of these settings, it struggled with crushing ice. That said, few of the blenders we tested can handle whipping up hot soup, blending whole juice, or making ice cream, so the challenge with ice can be forgiven.

Blendtec Total Blender Classic review: Ease of use

With an ample-sized opening, it's easy to give this blender an initial rinse and reach inside with a sponge without risking hurting yourself against the blades. The corners are awkward to clean thoroughly via handwashing, but after removing most of the contents and adding warm water and soap, the jar gets completely clean when it's run at full speed.

The illuminated LCD timer display is also bright and easy to read from a distance, but the display doesn't seem to be a washable film, as it began to haze white throughout testing.

On the control panel, the pre-programmed settings are represented by self-explanatory images, so you will likely only need to refer to the instruction manual once. Operating this blender couldn't be more straightforward otherwise.

Blendtec Total Blender Classic review: Performance

The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is probably the best blender for you if smoothies are the main thing you’re planning to make with it. Helicopter blades easily evicerate frozen fruits, protein powder, and ice, thoroughly incorporating the ingredients down into the vortex and transforming them into a devilishly creamy smoothie.

The 1,560-Watt motor is powerful enough to whip chickpeas with olive oil into satisfyingly creamy hummus in under a minute — a task that very few blenders can handle. That said, the powerful motor comes at a cost, as was one of the loudest blenders we tested, clocking in at 108.2 decibels.

The only place the Blendtec Total Blender Classic falters is with crushing ice, as it's prone to leave some frozen shards and ice chunks in the pitcher’s bottom corners mixed in with the otherwise soft, powdery, snow-like ice mixture. This is a common flaw for larger-sized blenders so we’re not going to dock its overall score too much.

Blendtec Total Blender Classic review: Verdict

If you're a big smoothie fan, this is your blender. The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is large, capable, and also does a great job with often hard-to-blend hummus. It's larger, lighter, and less expensive than the $549 Breville Super Q Blender and surpassed it in terms of making smoothies and hummus. However, it could have done better with ice and oat milk, and the device is much louder. Still, those are tradeoffs we can live with.