I bought this mostly for making dressing since my 5200 is hard to clean because the blades aren't detachable and it's hard to dig down around the blades to remove thick dressing. I thought a detachable base would really help, so I splurged on the S30. I shouldn't have. The blade base is so heavy, it's hard to remove from the canister. In order to keep liquid from seeping down onto the sides of the base, it must be screwed on very tightly which results in a very hard-to-remove base. If my hands are at all wet, or greasy, forget it. That base isn't coming off. Sometimes a grunt and a dry towel are helpful. I find I reach for this appliance very rarely. I'm back to using my Ninja which isn't as powerful as the S30, but is much more user friendly.

This was a birthday gift for my husband. He had complained that our previous blender wasn’t effective for his protein shakes/smoothies. He LOVES his Vitamix! I love the fact that it’s compact & doesn’t take up a bunch of space in a space-limited kitchen!

This is my first Vitamix and it does an amazing job! My smoothies are perfectly blended and the blender is so quiet! Easy to clean too. Love it!