Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ok, I fell for the infomercial, but haven't looked back since. While waiting for my purchase to arrive (I pd $200 for the duo blender, $30 for the extra cups & $20 for the 64 oz mixing bowl w/dough hook and chopping blade), I purchased the Pulse for $50. The Pulse worked beautifully for my daily smoothies. Once the Duo arrived, I was blown away by the 1500 watts of power. My smoothies now take half the amount of time and the convenience of setting the program and walking away is great. Now, I only have to make my smoothies, once every 4 days because when I make them, I use two of the 32 oz cups (I purchased the extra cups) and each one gets me through 2 days. I have a Vitamix (purchased about 9 years ago), but that always stayed in the cupboard cause it was a pain to use. I didn't like having to stand there using the plunger to push ingredients down and dreaded the clean-up afterwards. Now w/my Ninja Duo, I press the button and walk away and clean-up is a breeze for when I make smoothies because I just remove the blade and screw on the lid attachment and go. The pulse program really makes the difference, because first the blades run, then pauses, which allows food to fall back down, then runs, pauses and repeats. This makes it so you don't have to manually push food down into the blades like my Vitamix. The only slight complaint I have is that my hands are small, and holding on to this wide cup while drinking the smoothie is not the easiest. The rubber sleeve does help, so I use them on all the cups. The one advantage I liked about purchasing the Duo directly from Ninja was the lifetime warranty. They will pay for shipping both ways for as long as I own the blender. To me, having no experience w/Ninja products and not knowing how long they last, made me feel more comfortable w/my $200 purchase. This Ninja Duo will stay on my counter top at all times because I enjoy using it and w/the extra items I purchased, I can use for a variety of recipes. I kinda wish I purchased the Prep Kit for slicing and shredding, but just wasn't ready to fork over an addtl $40. Ninja makes so many versions of their blenders, you really have to be careful in which one gives you the most of what you are looking for and not all their accessories are interchangeable. In other words, I can't use the cup from my Pulse on my Duo, which I wish I could because it's narrower and therefore easier to hold. I ended up giving my daughter the Pulse. The Duo is amazing, I wouldn't hesitate purchasing it if you plan to use it for making smoothies and other things that you need a blender for. 2/27/15 I've been making/drinking green smoothies now for 3 months. I use kale or collard greens (I lightly steam & store in freezer...supposedly too much raw can give you too much oxilate, I really don't know, so sometimes I eat raw, sometimes steamed, sometimes the powdered kale), an apple, green vegetable powder (various companies make these superfood powders), blueberries, protein powder, lemon juice, carrot juice (purchased from a store), and occasionally a banana & or goat mineral whey. Anyway, I thought I had hair loss from my hashimotos, but after drinking these for 3 mos. my hair has grown back. So my previous hair loss may have been due to lack of vitamins and minerals the way nature intended and not from a pill. Had I known what these types of foods could do for me, I would've started drinking these green smoothies a long time ago. I never ate kale or collard greens before, but when you mix them in your smoothie you hardly know its there. I read it's good to change things up, so I change up my smoothies every week w/a variety of ingredients. I never would've started to eat this healthy if it wasn't for the convenience of the Ninja Duo. It makes eating healthy more doable. Unfortunately, I haven't lost any weight :( I still like cookies, ice cream, etc.!