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.

Using a Ninja and thinking it's a good blender. I'm so sorry you missed out on the Vitamix experience.
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