If you want to make tasty smoothies and other treats then you need to find the best blender for you home. There are a lot of choices out there. So how do you narrow down the selection and find the highest quality and best rated blenders? To help you in your search, we've put together these helpful tips.

Choosing Your Blender

First of all you need to look at how you use blenders. If you plan on making a lot of thick smoothies with ice and blending tougher ingredients like nuts, then you are going to want a standard countertop kitchen blender. You'll find the containers of these blenders made out of three types of materials, polycarbonate, glass, or plastic. You'll find engines on these types of blenders ranging from 250 watts to up to 3 horsepower. These also come with a variety of speed settings, up to 15 on some blenders. One of the best standard countertop blenders on the market is the Vita-Mix 4500, which has a five year warranty and 1380 watts of power.

If you are always on the go and only need small portions for your smoothies, then a personal blender is a very good option. One example of this type of blender is the Hamilton Beach Single Serve Blender. It has small cups where you blend your ingredients. You can then carry the cups with you. These cups are so convenient that you can put them in the cupholder of your car. Cleaning things up is really easy since you just need to clean the one small cup you just used.

Immersion blenders or hand blenders are great options if you're moving around the kitchen a lot, and need to blend ingredients in large pots. The Braun Hand Blender has 15 speeds and 400 watts of power and is one of the best of hand blenders on the market. Because they are long and thin, hand blenders can easily be submerged in pots of boiling soups and moved effortlessly around your kitchen.

Blender Features

After you select the best type of blender based on how you are going to use it, then you can start to look at individual brand features. Capacity or the amount of ingredients you can fit into the blender container is very important. If you plan on blending large amounts, then a 64 ounce jar is a good choice. Another important factor is the container's material composition. Polycarbonate is one of the best materials, but it also expensive.

Check to see of your blender container is safe to put in the dishwasher. This is a big plus as it save you a ton of time cleaning up. The power of the engine is also very important. You don't want any ice chunks left in your smoothie so you want to make sure your blender has enough power to turn ice to snow. 450 watts or more should be enough to get the job done easily. You can go lower with a personal blender as the ingredient container is smaller.

Price also needs to be factored in. The best blenders tend to be the most expensive, typically around $400 for a Vitamix or Blendtec model. However you can still find good quality models for a reasonable price. The Black and Decker Crush Master blender is only about $30 and offers very good quality and design.

Consumer Opinion

The final factor you need to look at is on-line reviews. You'll find great reviews on sites like Amazon.com and GoBlendIt.com. Taking the time to read a few reviews can really help you find the best blender. Even though a blender may have great features, it may burn out after a short time. Consumer reviews will reveal this. Owner reviews are a great way to find out about engine failures and other defects before you go out and buy a new blender.

Make sure you read good and bad reviews of the product to get the full picture. Also be sure to look at reviews from owners who have had the product for several months and have been using it on a consistent basis. An engine failure or other defect will usually occur in the first couple of months or so.