Vitamix 5200 vs Ninja

I could not find anything on youtube comparing any Vitamix blender against the Ninja Smoothie maker. The Ninja blender sure, but how does it stack up against their smoothie making system?

I had gone to Costco and bought the Ninja Power Blender Ultimate System on sale for $120 because I thought I could replace my old Ninja Blender (it's like a first gen model with the 3 different cup sizes and the motor on top with a single speed), replace my food processor, and add a smoothie maker. Sounded pretty neat.

But, I kept looking at Vitamixes because they can also heat soup and stuff, and the Ascent series has a food processor attachment along with a smoothie cup. I won't go into too much detail for my researching but basically buying the Ascent Series, in addition to accessories, would put me into stupid debt so it wasn't a viable option, plus I kept reading about how bad the "new" jars were for small batches, and the Ascent series doesn't have a classic jar option to buy. (The low profile jar would fit under most countertop cabinets, but I don't intend on leaving my blender out on the counter 24/7 so I didn't care about that.)

That left me with the classic Vitamix series (non-smart) so although it didn't have a bunch of cool features, it would blend like a champ and last me for 10-20 years so I began looking around ebay for some deals. And I found a screaming deal on a Vitamix 5200 with classic jar for $170. Built in 2020, was sitting in a storage unit probably its whole short life. It was unbelievable. 

So, onto the comparison. The recipe I used was a standard kale smoothie I found online. I wanted to use kale because it's notoriously hard to blend down so that little flecks of green stuff don't get stuck in your teeth. Who wants that?

The Recipe:

1 cup milk

1 frozen banana (I only had fresh)

2 kale leaves, stems removed

1 cup diced frozen mango

1/2 tsp grated ginger

handful of ice

Bonus: this is pretty darn tasty as well

As you can see here, while the smoothie cup on the Ninja is packed to the brim, the Vitamix has plenty of room to grow. Granted, the smoothie cup is meant as a single serve on the go container, but you can't "grow up" to the using the Ninja blender for this if you wanted to make several servings at once, as it can't even come close to the Vitamix (there are plenty of examples of this on youtube).

Now, the Ninja is cool because it has settings for stuff like Smoothie, Extract (for like a V8 dupe), and bowl (meant for like, an Acai smoothie bowl-type consistency). The setting for Smoothie goes for 55 seconds and pulses a couple times before turning it up high to pulverize it all. So if you like to set and forget, Ninja is still a good option.

On the Left: DB of the Ninja. I was quite surprised how quiet this meter said it was - because it seems VERY loud; maybe it's just at a high pitch, I'm guessing. 

On the Right: The Vitamix at "high" speed, which is higher than the "variable at 10" speed. The box around the motor seems to dampen the high pitches, so while they're comparable in DBs, it sounds quieter.

So to give the Ninja a fair shake, I also ran the Vitamix for only 55 seconds, starting at variable 1, ramping it up to 10, and then turning it on high. I did not need to pulse at all.

This is the Ninja result. You can easily see flecks of kale still in the mix, and if you move your finger through it, you can feel the grittiness.

The Vitamix result is lighter and smoother. I felt no grittiness when moving my finger through it.

The final test was a side by side blind drink test. The results will surprise you! All jokes aside, here's the rub. I couldn't tell the difference. I tried so hard, drinking one right after the other, and I couldn't tell until Patrick asked me to chew. When I chewed on the Ninja smoothie, I could catch the grit in my teeth, while the Vitamix had none.

So here's my final verdict on the Ninja Smoothie maker. It does a pretty darn good job all things considered. And Ninja has a lot of options in regards to buying their products. If you don't need a blender or a food processor, you can get the Ninja Twisti, which just has smoothie cups, for about $120 on Amazon. But if you also need a blender, I don't think I could recommend the Ninja; I've had mine for several years and although it's a cool product, its blending ability with those triple blades just don't cut it (haha). If you can find a really good deal on a used Vitamix, I'd go for it, especially with the versatility it brings you if you're interested in making nut butter, hummus, sauces, and yes, even hot soup.