Vitamix - Costco has them on sale on occasion and then they're a pretty good price (I think mine was $279 at Xmas time - anything under $350 is a good deal).
The thing is, they last forever and will do almost anything. My ex-boyfriend used to make green smoothies and he burned through 2 or 3 blenders (including a Ninja) before finally getting a Vitamix. Even his crazy manic self couldn't destroy that one.
I now have one too as my current boyfriend has lung cancer and I use it to make smoothies for him. Sometimes you just have to invest a little money to get good tools and this is a good tool.
And btw - you almost never find them used because people do NOT part with them. If you somehow found yourself not using it you could easily sell it.
lol
350$ is not a good deal for a blender. 10-15$ is.
I can point to many examples of people still using cheap Osterizer blenders from the 70's, myself included. Vita-mix blenders have been sold since the '50s, yet I don't ever hear of anyone still using one that's fifty years old. That casts some doubt on the 'lasts forever' argument that you're tossing around.
You don't need a 300+ dollar blender to make smoothies.
While it's nice to be able to re-sell something you bought new if it turns out you don't want it, it's generally better to:
- buy stuff that you actually need and won't resell
- buy stuff that's ten times less money that will do a comparable job