Been doing Vitamix for some 45 years now (since the original 3600 all-metal with the reversing blades) and Mom was a dealer, so as a kid I learned all the demos (making ice cream, bread dough from wheat grains, peanut butter, hot soups). We all disliked cleaning the all-metal versions as the built-in spigot, while useful, was a pain to clear of solid food pieces. But we knew once clear, you add some warm water, and a few drops of liquid dish soap and run it clean. Same goes for these cups and adapter. While from time-to-time you have to break out a toothbrush (e.g., if you decide to make just an 8oz cup of peanut butter) for smoothies, works fine to ensure you slosh through some warm water before you leave for work, and when you get home, run the pieces through the dish soap water routine. Likes: the smoothie cups and the small 8oz blender cups work with the same cup adapter, which for once makes a few accessories from the newest version (Ascent series) compatible with all of our older 4-prong rubber on steel base models (as long as your drive is the 12-tooth splined version and not one of the vintage hex drive models - though if you're an old-timer, someone even fashioned an adapter for thos to fit the splined accessories once upon a time). Same super-sharp blades (warning for parents teaching kids) and that explains the kind of over-sized safety design of the adapter. And no, don't do hot drinks, like making champurrado for 1 in these - heated liquids will blow out the silicon gasket seal and you'll end up with mess - regular pitcher containers for those. Dislikes: having threads on a container, means switching from the adapter to either the cups' storage lids, or the smoothie pourer lids requires some clean-up wiping of the cups' threads or you'll leak. Don't over-tighten them unless you've got a 5-inch jar opener handy. The adapter has holes drilled in the bottom for a non-stated safety reason (otherwise we'd all be tempted to use the adapter as a make-shift 1/2 size blender bowl and stick a plate across the top to cover it - don't do it.) The "remember it after doing it once" reason is that if you do ignore the advice and do something to build up pressure in the sealed cup and adapter and the gasket gives, the mess goes straight down the sides of your Vitamix to have to clean up even more later. Those who have had them in the past (or even visited a Jamba juice and noticed why theirs have a plastic noise box over every one of them) remember the original models used an electric chainsaw motor. These really were designed around restaurants and not quiet home kitchens. So they clean up well, and aside from the cups, which cannot be completely disassembled and sanitized because of the double-wall seal (thus no NSF certification for restaurant use), these are made for a lifetime of use. No microwaving because of the double-wall design for one, and 2 on the 8oz cups there are magnets used by the Ascend series to detect when the container is mounted (another safety-related thing.) They work as designed, give more flexibility to your lifetime Vitamix appliance (mine's a Total Nutrition Center model) and are useful for smaller quantity blending (though, I guess you either wash a big container, lid, and the tamper, or are washing the cup adapter, and later the cup and lid - not exactly a time-savings.) And the Blade Scraper is a long-handled silcon 90-degree squeegee whose shape was designed to fit the curved contours of the smoothie cups, along with cleaning under the blades.) A nice to have accessory if you like getting the last drops back out of the smoothie containers - they have 2 strengthening columns on the interiors of the cups, so they're not simple cylindrical shapes inside - the scraper works perfectly for getting around those 2 things.
