We love this machine. We wanted to get a second cup for a previous H-B blender, but they were $8+. This turned out to be so cheap I bought it instead. (We paid about $22. It seems to have gone up since then, but look around for another listing on Amazon.) One of us is on a liquid diet, so it gets used several times a day. We are now drinking lots of fruit smoothies. Likes: Well-integrated blending/drinking cups. Three sizes as shown in the pictures, plus a regular 32 oz. blender cup. Overall small footprint on the counter; we keep it on the counter and never have to get out our full-sized blender since 32 oz is plenty. Many clever design touches, including the way the blade goes on the open end for mixing, then comes off for drinking. It comes with 2 large "sippy cup" lids, plus one lid that can be opened or closed for travel. Very easy to remove from the blender briefly to add more ingredients or give it a shake. The containers seem to be a very sturdy plastic. No BPA. As long as you clean them immediately after use, a jet of warm water is enough although we use a bottle brush. Lots of power, unlike its predecessor. (400 watts I think) I would not run it for 2 minutes straight, but 45 seconds is no problem. Plenty of power to chop frozen fruit or anything else. (See below about full-sized ice cubes.) Good design of the switch. You can easily blip it for a few seconds, or turn it on and let it run. The parts assemble and disassemble very quickly, with no way to put them together wrong (except see below about the "coupling"). Flaws: The biggest problem is the high aspect-ratio of the two big drinking cups. (Meaning: tall and thin.) This makes them harder to clean - the bottom of the cup won't get clean in a dishwasher. I understand why they did it - the small diameter is needed to keep the "footprint" of the blender small. We bought a $4 bottle brush which is perfect for cleaning them and solves the problem. The small cup does not have this problem - they should provide two small and one large, instead of vice-versa. The high aspect ratio also sometimes leads to poor circulation between the top and bottom when blending. Be sure to leave a one inch bubble inside, so you can remove it and give it a quick shake. When we first got it, we sometimes failed to push the cup down far enough on the base. The result was rapid erosion of the coupler between the blades and the base. (Details of the design are tedious - it makes sense once you see it.) So far this has not caused any problem. Minor safety flaw: The switch is very easy to trigger accidentally. There is no "completely off" setting other than unplugging. For the most part the design is very safe as the blades are completely inaccessible while it's mixing. HOWEVER you CAN put the blades onto the base without any cup. (There's no reason you would want to, but I did it once when we first got it.) In that situation, it is dangerous since a momentary touch of the hair-trigger switch will start the blades and shred anything they touch, like fingers. In short, I would have preferred a safety interlock that prevents the motor from running unless everything is in the right place. Tips: Use crushed ice. If you must use full-sized cubes, take care that they don't jam the blades. Order of ingredients matters. Frozen ingredients go in the top, so when you blend they are on the bottom. Keep the overall mixture liquid enough. For example, add milk in addition to yoghurt. I suspect with 90% Greek yoghurt, it would never mix the top and the bottom. Overall: we love it and use it constantly, as mentioned. I'd like to give it 5 stars, but the tall aspect ratio requires several adjustments to deal with.
