Vitamix 5200 Review

COMPLETE REVIEW

The Vitamix 5200 is manufactured by Vitamix, an American company based in Ohio. Vitamix specializes in blenders and it is very old on the market. Since 1921, to be more exact.

The company designs both home and commercial blenders.

Vitamix 5200 is a complex blender that has the packaging of a household blender, but the strength and features of a commercial one. It is often deemed one of the best smoothie blenders you can buy, although it can do much more than that. It was released in 2007, but it still remains one of their best-selling products.

Vitamix 5200 comes in 4 different versions: standard, super, deluxe and compact container.

All four versions come with the following items: the blender base, a blender container (64 oz), a guide to help you get started (including the DVD version), a cook book with ‘whole food’ recipes and a tamper, for sticky foods.  

Vitamix comes with a 7 year warranty, which is also a reassuring piece of information.

We are going to focus on the standard model, which is the most affordable one and one of the most popular.

The standard Vitamix 5200 has the following specs:

Container: standard 64 ounce container which is big enough for family use

Dimensions: 20.5 X 8.75 X 7.25 inches

Weight: 10 lb. 9 ounce

Cord: 6 ft.

Blades: 3 in diameter, laser-cut, stainless steel hammer mill

Motor: 2 peak horsepower (equivalent to approx. 1500 watts)

As you can figure out, the Vitamix 5200 is considerably tall, compared to other blenders, so storage might be a bit challenging for some people. The blender comes in 5 available colors: black, white, red, brushed stainless and platinum. The blender is manufactured in the US, except for the 2 peak horsepower motor, which is assembled in Sweden. The blades of the blender can spin up to 37,000 RPM and is protected from burning out thanks to the thermal protection and the built-in radial cooling fan. In case the motor overheats, the blender will automatically shut off so that the motor won’t burn up. The fan is also useful because it lets you prepare more than one portion without having to make any pauses. Overall, we did find this blender to be a bit noisier than its major competitors, but we don’t think that’s a real issue.

Another thing we liked was the spill-proof lid that makes sure you can add ingredients while blending and that they stay inside the blender and don’t end up on your kitchen walls.

The Vitamix 5200 has 10 manually controlled speed options and is not just great for smoothies but also sauces and soups, crushing ice, nut butter, whole grain flours and more. Even though there is no Pulse option, you can obtain the same results with this powerful machine. There are two more manual buttons on the Vitamix 5200: High/Variable speed control and the On/Off switch. The high/variable modes are for the different types of food you want to blend. Depending on what you want to blend and how fine, you can use either of them. The high option usually works best for heavier jobs such as ice crushing, ice cream, nut milk, etc.

Smoothies can be prepared within 20 seconds or less with the Vitamix 5200. Frozen desserts take around 30 seconds, and soups in 5-6 minutes.  

Its most appreciated feature however seems to be the way it prepares smoothies.

If you want to change the blades, you have to remove them with a special wrench. The blender comes with wet type blades that are better for grinding, frozen desserts, soups. You can also opt for dry blades, if you buy the model with the 32 container. These latter ones are suited for kneading dough, grinding coffee, etc.

One thing we feel we should mention is the fact that the Vitamix 5200 is not dishwasher safe. You have to clean it manually, although it’s not that intricate of a job. Oftentimes you can clean the blender just with hot water.

Overall, we find the Vitamix 5200 to be a premium choice. While it isn’t the cheapest blender you can find, it is nevertheless a powerful and very versatile piece of equipment with the characteristics of a commercial blender.