Vitamix A2300 Ascent Series Smart Blender Review

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Quality smoothies, shakes, frozen drinks and even soups are possible with the aid of a versatile and user-friendly blender. Because this summer we’re all about smoothie subscriptions (and juicing subscriptions too) we recently got a new one, a Vitamix A2300 Ascent Series Smart Blender ($399.95)! Vitamix is basically the Cadillac of blenders. This one features variable speed control and pulse, and built-in wireless connectivity. It also comes with a 10-year full warranty.

Vitamix fuels passions. It’s why we’re the brand most trusted by professional chefs. But you won’t just find us in restaurant kitchens. You’ll also find us in home kitchens around the world. Because whether you’re interested in the culinary arts, making healthier choices, or enjoying restaurant-quality smoothies at home—when you’re ready to move on and move up, when you’re ready to invest in your passion, you’re ready for Vitamix.

The blender’s responsive controls help create a full range of textures, from chunky to smooth, letting you adjust each blend to your own liking.

It has laser cut blades which are made of hardened stainless steel and has a metal drive system that securely joins container and the motor base for extreme durability.

We’re really excited to test it out! The blender comes in several separated parts that are easy to assemble and use right away.

It comes with an info card to get you started.

They provided a simple smoothie recipe guide to follow on your first trial, or even after!

According to the booklet, you need to follow a certain order when making smoothies. First, you need to choose a liquid: either soy milk, yogurt, fruit juice, or just water. The second step is to choose greens, followed by fruits and veggies. With this simple guide, you can also decide for yourself if you would like to add another ingredient, it will all still be according to how you want your recipe to turn out. Bonus to this – my kids are TOTALLY JAZZED about coming up with their own potions and elixirs (spoiler alert – they absolutely LOVE green smoothies!).

When you spread out the tri-fold pamphlet, you’ll find the steps on how to use and take care of the blender.

It also includes a user manual.

It lists all the parts and uses of your A2300 Ascent Series Smart Blender. The book also features the other unit from this series, the A2500. The Vitamix A2500 has a completely unnecessary program for doing smoothies and 2 more programs for an additional $50. You don’t need it – really. In fact you probably prefer to get it JUST right by using the manual controls.

The unit comes with a tamper plunger that is designed to break up air pockets that may form during blending and allows you to process thick mixtures and fully incorporate all ingredients into the blend. When we used this blender to create smoothies with our Green Blender box we didn’t use it at all.

They also included this cookbook, Vitamix Simply Blending, which contains quick and easy whole-food recipes.

Chefs around the world trust Vitamix to deliver authentic flavors that transcend the ordinary. Explore more than 10 different culinary techniques–from silky smoothies to textured sauces and steaming sauces to frozen desserts–all made with healthy, whole-food ingredients.

There’s a message from Vitamix’s CEO, Jodi Berg.

The first few pages show high-quality food photos and more information about the smart blenders that Vitamix are making.

The cookbook contains lots of recipes, from beverages, sauces, dips and spreads, to salads plus dressings, batters, desserts, and even baby food!

The first 18 recipes are beverages. There are healthy smoothies and juices, as well as cocktails!

The pages are glossy and the photos are super high-quality.

There are even pages dedicated to different kinds of herbs and their uses.

This feature is about making your own homemade mayonnaise using the blender.

Some baked goodies, like this cherry muffin recipe, also need a blender for thorough mixing of ingredients.

The motor base of the blender has a display and a control panel, which has a pulse switch at the left. Pressing it down will cause the machine to blend at the speed setting shown on the next feature, which is the speed dial. The variable speed dial selects blade rotation speed from 1 as the lowest and 10 as the highest. It also comes with another switch at the right, which is a Start/Stop switch, that initiates the blending process. Just make sure that before starting the machine, the variable speed dial is pointing at variable speed 1. To stop the blending process, just press down the start/stop button.

The on/off switch for this unit is located on the right side of the motor base.

The blender is equipped with a power cord, which is long enough to use on the table or at the counter. To take care of it,  don’t let it hang at the edges of the counter or the table and avoid contact with hot surfaces. And before cleaning the base, always unplug first! This is a good time to note that we purchased this blender in the color “Carbon” to match our black stainless steel appliances.

The base has some retainers at the bottom that can be used to store and securely hold the power cord when not in use.

The clear container is 64 oz. with a 2-part lid that can be secured in place. It has ounces, cups, and milliliters clearly marked so there’ll be no problem in measuring liquids, and its lid is also marked so it can be used as a measuring cup too.

There are rotating blades at the bottom of the container.

The blender, cups, and containers communicate through wireless technology. Honestly haven’t used that feature yet!

Here’s the 2-part lid, with the lid plug unattached.

The lid plug can be removed while blending so that you can use the tamper.

Here’s the completely assembled smart blender!

You can unlock your blender’s full potential with 17 programs and more than hundreds of recipes with the Vitamix iOS + Android app. It also allows you to add a range of compatible container sizes and customize your own blending system to fit your needs.

Here’s everything in this set!

For our first trial, we tried making a pear rhubarb smoothie with the recipe and ingredients from our Green Blender subscription.

Upon plugging the motor base and turning it on, the display shows three dashes (—) to tell you that the container is not yet in place or not placed properly, and once it detects that the container is locked in place, it will show 0:00.

Here’s a closer look at what’s inside our container. We followed the steps suggested in the booklet: liquids first, followed by greens, then fruits and vegetables. Ice should always be on top! Who knew?!

This one’s a strawberry smoothie with nuts, still from our Green Blender box.

It’s really necessary to add some liquid to speed up the blending and mixing process. So far, my trials went well. I am sure to use this unit more often, not just for cool beverages but for soups and dips too! And hummus! We were totally floored with the performance of a Vitamix – we could whizz everything right into a juice, and the consistency was just perfect. I did only a very rough chop of the fruits and veggies as indicated by my recipes, and really I wouldn’t bother in the future unless it had stems and/or seeds. This Vitamix is just a beast!

This is a fantastic blender! The Ascent A2300 lets you easily adjust the texture of every dish. It’s equipped with the latest technology to make blending and mixing easier. The built-in wireless connectivity allows the blender to evolve with the latest innovations, and to match more advanced technology in the years to come. I am also happy that they included a very useful cookbook where I can base most of the recipes I’ll be doing (and cooking) with this unit – and it helped me figure out the best technique from blending my box goodies.This smart blender is definitely a great addition to my kitchen, and with its 10-year warranty, it sure is a great value for money!

FYI – we spent quite a bit of time hemming and hawing over which blender, and we’re confident that you don’t need to upgrade over the “basic” A2300 Vitamix. In addition to the A2500 (which has the silly programs), there’s also an A3300, which has a fancier digital timer, and the A3500, which adds the unnecessary program modes to the fancier timer. We think if you love smoothies or just want to upgrade your blender the A2300 is an amazing choice and a great value to make smoothies just like from a smoothie shop.

Will you try the Vitamix Ascent Series Smart Blender?

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  • Janise
    07.03.23

    Article is well informative. Looking forward to getting more helpful articles from you!