The quality of your blending experience can determine how frequently you are motivated to blend things. I'm currently living at a place where the only blender is a Ninja, and I never want to blend anything, because I just don't want to deal with that hassle. When I had my Vitamix - the lowest-end $250 refurbished model - I did make smoothies at least twice a week.
That's not to speak of the fact that some things, like making nut butters, are simply infeasible on a lower quality blender.