Nutri Ninja Blender with Auto-iQ

I have to be honest. I'm not normally one to spend the time to do reviews, but (1) I think there's benefits to it and (2) I think it's incredibly helpful to others, as I 100% based my own purchase on reviews I found here and online/youtube etc. I'm a 31 year old male who normally doesn't care much about the differences or the additional details of one product vs. the other one as long as it gets the job done. My gf has a Vitamix and she swears by it (I've tried it, its good, but not for me as I hate cleaning). I was the proud owner of 2 Magic Bullet blenders over the past 6 years given the cheap price and convenient size. I used to love it. Used it literally every single day to make my morning and post-workout shakes, but that was about it. I would recommend it to everyone I knew, would get it for friends, etc....and I was right about it. It was everything I needed....UNTIL I TRIED OUT THIS NINJA. In all seriousness let's break it down: What it looks like: The size is a bit bigger than the Magic Bullet, or the NutriBullet (let's compare it to the NutriBullet as it seems that's the most popular one now). Where you can stick the bullet into your bag and take it anywhere you want to, the Ninja is a bit too big for that, but if you're like me and only need to use it a home then that won't be an issue. The Nutri Ninja base also has a classy look/feel to it so you don't have to put it away after you're done using it. Performance: Something I love about this is the fact that the base has a built in 45 second timer in order to protect the motor. The motor on these "smaller" blenders is powerful enough to blend everything you want (ice cubes, fruit, etc. - 900w is more than enough for anyone that was considering the MagicBullet/NutriBullet), but it's still small enough where you can't run it nonstop or it will burn out. The built in timer ensures the motor lasts longer. A++ on this feature. The motor comes with 900w power. Coming from the 600w NutriBullet (my mother has one so I can talk about it!!) the 900w Nutri Ninja basically slam-dunks -all-up-in-your-face, signs the poster and mails it home to your family- outperforms the Bullet and there is absolutely no argument there. For 6 years I've used the Bullet to mix my protein shakes and it took 1 single shake on the Ninja to notice the difference. I've read people say the motor is louder because of the additional power, but the difference is minor and you're only really running it for less than a minute TOTAL, so who cares? A++ on the additional power. Notice how the blade is built for the Ninja. It extends about 2 inches up into the drink it is blending, which creates additional surface area for it to blend with higher efficiency. This too is a great feature, the only concern here is watch out when you're cleaning because the blades are SHARP. One minor issue I have here is that the Ninja only comes with 1 blade where the Bullets come with multiple blades for different reasons. I only really need 1 blade, but if something happens to it now I have to go out and buy a replacement one for an additional cost. Finally - as a guy, I'm sure many other guys (or ladies!) can relate to this. Literally the ONLY reason I've always gone with the conservative size blenders is because I HATE doing dishes. The value for me lies in creating my shake/smoothie, removing the top and immediately drinking it and only having to clean the ONE cup + the blades. Larger, normal sized blenders you have to clean the large container, and that's where my ADD kicks in and I stop using it. With the smaller sized cups its a simple process: grab cup, add fruits or ingredients you need, add liquid, hit BLEND, stare in awe like a kid at Disney World for the first time, remove top, drink and rinse. All in all it takes less than 5 minutes. And ladies, don't get me wrong, if you want to create fantastic smoothies that Roman emperors would have conquered nations for, you 100% can and a larger cup (I use the 16oz but it comes in 24 and 32oz cups) will do the trick. I write this from my own perspective but I hope this help all of you! DEFINITELY GET THIS. You won't regret it. Good luck!