Epica Personal Blender with Travel Bottle - 350W Portable Smoothie Maker for Shakes, Juices & Protein Drinks - Perfect for Home, Office & Gym Use

Buy it. DO IT. DO IT NOW. This thing is a bighorn ram in sheep's clothing.I saw this pop up as a related item to who knows what I was buying and decided on an impulse to get it. It was SO cheap I felt like I couldn't NOT buy it. Plus I was tired of getting out the giant Vitamix assembly from the cupboard above the fridge every time I wanted to make myself a smoothie. I also didn't feel like cleaning that giant thing and having it take up all that counter space all the time.That said, I also was also very tired of buying blenders, as I've had 4 of them die on me in a matter of a few years, and usually within the first year of consistent use. Like vacuum cleaners, they just aren't built to last, and the ones that are, well they're as expensive as 10 of their cheaper competitors, so you can pick your poison. There's no middle ground, and the only reason I even had a blender before the Epica is because my roommate forgot his ungodly expensive Vitamix when he moved out, and he clearly hasn't tried to make a smoothie in the last 3 years. So uh... if you see Mike go ahead and just don't bring that up. But I digress...I love the idea of the small "bullet" type blender for single servings that can be easily used, cleaned, and stored. The ones tried previously did all that to some extent (Ninja, Magic Bullet, some Macy's brand with an Italian name I forget), but also promptly died, and two of those I would not have even tried to crush ice with. Compared to those, this thing works like you dropped a corvette engine into a chevy cruze. Unexpected beast mode. I nervously loaded ice in here for the first time, along with frozen fruit, protein, peanut butter, and who knows what else. aaaand BRRRT! Perfect smoothie. The thing barely flinched as it sliced through it all. Not only does it work way better than expected, but the stainless base blends in well in the kitchen and is small enough to leave out on the counter. Score.Sometimes it takes a few pulses to get everything in the cup to cycle around and get crushed, and you may have to detach and shake it a bit, reattach, and then keep blending. However, it's so easy and quick to use, even with that the whole blending process takes like 30 seconds. PLUS you drink out of the cup you blended it in so you don't dirty another one, and can even take it on the go with the spill proof lid. BRILLIANT. Who hates dishes? EVERYONE SANE. Another point for the Epica.There are downsides to the cup and they 1. are that you can't fit much in there obviously, but that comes with the territory, and that 2. it's somewhat difficult to clean. Unless you have dainty little Trump hands, its basically impossible to get your hands in there to clean with a sponge, and you would need some special brush or something to clean it really well otherwise. I usually just spray it out, swish some soapy water through, rinse. It's not perfect but it's clean enough for me. So the downsides here are that you can't make margaritas for 4 people at once, which nobody is buying it for, and that its not super easy to clean meticulously well. I can live with that and won't even take a star off for it.One thing is for sure, you wont find a more powerful blender for anything close to what this thing is selling for. I can't speak to longevity, but I've been using it without issue for 8 months consistently, and it's so cheap that it even makes those appliance protection plans a no brainer. I bought a 3yr warranty for a whopping $3.88, so for under $29 I have a little ice-destroying beast blender, guaranteed to last 3 years. Good luck finding another deal like that.