Bad blenders are awful. No matter how long they blend, there are still chunky bits or clunks of ice whirling around, making it impossible to get a truly smooth puree.
Or you end up with a counter full of appliances, with personal blenders and full-size blenders and immersion blenders, for all your different needs.
Vitamix blenders are famous for their power and their price, but does the S30 really perform? Let’s find out.
Vitamix S30 Review
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The Vitamix S-series blenders are designed for smaller families and kitchens.
They are more compact on the countertop, have space-saving accessories, and have personal blender capabilities.
Like all Vitamix blenders, they are built to premium standards and backed by an exceptional warranty.
The Vitamix S30 has two container sizes with interchangeable blade bases. The 40-ounce pitcher is ideal for soups, sauces, and meals.
The 20-ounce container is perfect for single servings and becomes an instant travel cup so you can take your blended beverages with you.
It’s both compact and versatile, with smart design for both purposes.
Product Highlights
The Vitamix S30 takes up just about 8 x 6 square inches on a countertop and is less than 16 inches tall with either container, so it fits into compact spaces and beneath low cabinets.
But it has a powerful, 790-watt motor with consistent torque at low temperatures that blends, crushes, and creates smooth purees in a flash. It has simple, variable speed control with pulse for the perfect blend.
The larger 40-ounce container has a pour spout with a lid that snaps securely into place.
The removable lid plug allows you to drizzle in ingredients for smooth emulsions, or use the tamper to help blend tough ingredients.
The portable 20-ounce container is a BPA-free instant travel cup, with double-walled insulation to preserve temperatures.
It has a loop so it can be securely attached to bags and backpacks, making it great for commuters.
As you would expect from a Vitamix, the interchangeable blade base is low in the housing, to make sure that foods don’t get trapped beneath the blades, and the blade design creates a vortex for smooth, even blending.
What We Like
The Vitamix S30 is incredibly powerful for its size
Unlike some other small personal blenders, you can easily add kale to a smoothie, blend ice into smooth slush, and make ice cream and milkshakes.
Operation is super simple with the dial and pulse function
There aren’t any fussy settings to understand, and the streamlined control panel is easy to clean without a lot of buttons.
Dishwasher safe
The containers and blade base are dishwasher safe, which is great because they are a bit difficult to clean by hand.
Warranty
5 year, 30-day guarantee.
What We Don’t Like
The Vitamix S30 isn’t big enough, even with the larger container, to really feed a family. It’s best for households with 1-2 people,
Pros
- Compact blender fits on counters and beneath cabinets
- Larger container for meals, and a small portable container for shakes and smoothies
- Powerful motor and smooth blending
- Top-rack dishwasher safe
- Comes in black or candy apple red
- Excellent warranty from Vitamix
Cons
- Too small for bigger families
- Difficult to clean by hand
What to Consider When Buying a Vitamix Blender
Power
The more watts in a blender motor, the more power it brings to every job.
Most personal blenders have motors that are 600 watts or less, which is great for mixing light drinks but can’t do much more.
Mid-range blenders have motors that are around 1000 watts, and they can crush ice, grind nuts, and puree cooked vegetables.
The most powerful blenders have motors that are 1500 watts or more, and they can make nut butter, turn ice into snow, and grind grains into flour.
Performance
Although the power of a motor is a great indication of power, it’s not the only factor.
The best blenders have a blade and container design that creates an internal vortex, where foods are exposed to the blades again and again.
Poorly designed blenders allow foods to get beneath the blades, stick to the lower wall of the container, or have a “dead spot” of un-blended ingredients in the middle.
In a good blender, the power of the motor works along with the blade design for the best results.
Settings
Many blenders have a range of presets so that you can get the results you want with a single button.
Vitamix blenders, because of their vortex action, typically don’t have a one-button function; starting the blender at too high a speed may cause ingredients to splash upward, so these blenders work best by starting slow and then ramping up the speed.
Durability
The more expensive an appliance is, the more important it is that you get your money’s worth, not only through the performance of the machine but by consistency and reliability over time.
A durable blender needs to be made of high-quality materials and components, inside and out and backed by a good warranty and support.
The Vitamix S30 has a motor with a metal drive system, instead of the less durable plastic drives.
The blades are cut from hardened stainless steel, and the blades have a double bearing assembly for excellent durability even with heavy use.
Cleaning
Cleaning a blender can be tricky because the blades are very sharp.
It’s best, and safest, to wash the blades and containers in the top rack of the dishwasher and clean the blender base by wiping it down.
Accessories
The tamper that comes with the S30 is perfectly designed so that the lid will never allow it to make contact with the blades.
This is a great feature because sometimes tamping ingredients in a blender can cause a little anxiety.
Some other blenders, including Vitamix blenders, give you a wide range of container choices so that you can use the same blender base with containers ranging from 20 to 64 ounces or more.
The S30 doesn’t have all those accessories, because it’s specifically designed to be compact.
Price
Vitamix blenders are known for being pricy.
There’s no doubt that they are worth the money, for the high-quality design and materials, power and consistent performance, and excellent durability and warranty.
However, it’s also true that there are some very good blenders available at a much lower price.
Related Article: Vitamix vs Ninja Blender, which of the two is the best?
Other Vitamix Product Recommendation
Vitamix 750
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While we love the compact size and the dual-purpose of the S30, the price just doesn’t make sense. For the purchase price of the S30, you could get the incredible Vitamix 750, which is a bit bigger, at 9.4 x 7.7 x 17.4.
However, it has so much to offer, including:
- A motor with more than twice the power, with up to 2.2 horsepower
- A huge 64-ounce container to make meals for the whole family
- Blade friction heating for soups
- Five pre-programmed blend settings
- Self-cleaning function
The Vitamix 750 is so much more powerful and versatile than the S30, but they cost the same amount.
Vitamix E310
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Or, for a more affordable alternative with great Vitamix quality, consider the Vitamix E310.
It has a more powerful 1HP motor, larger container, blade friction heating, and is self-cleaning, all at a much more affordable price than the S30.
Considering that both of these other Vitamix blenders are more powerful and versatile than the S30, it seems like it would be worth it to get a better blender and invest in your own travel cup.
Related Questions
Can Vitamix S30 make soup?
Vitamix blenders are famous for their “blade friction heating,” in which the blades spin fast enough to heat foods inside the blender.
In this way, you can make soup right in the blender without using the stove.
The Vitamix S30 will make soup like all Vitamix blenders, but, because of its weaker motor and shorter blades, it takes longer than in their other, more powerful models.
Can Vitamix overheat?
While their motors are built with thermal protection, Vitamix blenders can overheat.
To prevent overheating and prolong the life of your Vitamix, start your blends off slow for the first few seconds, until the funnel vortex forms, and then turn it up as high as possible.
Vitamix blender motors are designed to have cooling airflow when operating at the highest speeds, so it’s actually better to run the motor harder.
Is Vitamix blender BPA-free?
Vitamix containers do not contain BPA and are made instead of Eastman Tritan copolyester.