Ninja - Smart Screen 72-Oz. Blender - Black

Because I am a Grandpa, my six young Grand Children frequently visit to play in Grandpa and Grandma's huge yard. Snacks and treats are always in demand. When I found out that this Ninja Smart Screen Blender, Model CT650, makes Ice Cream, Smoothies, and Snow Cones, I was impressed. Only a few, high-priced blenders, are able to do that in addition to routine, kitchen, food blender tasks. So, I anxiously looked forward to receive and use this complimentary Ninja blender in exchange for an honest review. And, after three weeks of almost daily use, I am super-pleased. However, it is my Grandchildren, who are this Ninja Smart Screen Blenders' greatest fans because of all the frozen, fruity treats, they now look forward too. WooHoo! Out of the box Grandma had this Ninja Smart Screen Blender running in less then thirty minutes to include thoroughly hand washing the blender and lid with warm, soapy water and air drying. While the pitcher and lid air dried we both read the included Instruction Manual. At first we were a little skeptical at how simple the operating instructions seemed to be, detailing the assembly, use, and cleaning/maintenance. But, after a couple of dozen blending tasks, this baby is designed to be uncomplicated and user-friendly. Grandma now has a knack for making the fruitiest and bestest ice cream combinations the Grand kids love. Their favorite is Grandma's 'Razzle-Dazzle-Berry' ice cream. She makes this ahead of the kids visit using frozen red raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blue berries, powdered sugar, heavy cream and half and half. She freezes the heavy cream and half & half in ice cube trays the night before, enough cubes for two batches. After blending in the Ninja along with the frozen berries she serves the blended mix as a 'soft-serve,' style ice cream. There usually is enough mixture left to pour into a paper-lined bread pan, or, into an ice cream mold with sticks, and, back in the freezer to harden. After three hours it is ready for the kids, who can't wait. YUM! What do Grandma and I love about this Ninja Smart Screen Blender? ** Simple To Use – When you open up the box of the Ninja Smart Screen Blender, you will immediately notice a 'Quick Assembly' guide on one of the top box folds. It is pretty detailed, concise, and most of all the information you need to know to assemble and operate this kitchen marvel. It is so simple even a Grandpa like me can be skillful at making great desserts, soups, and blends of ingredients for delicious and healthy eating. ** LED Touchscreen – The Intuitive, black, LED Touchscreen displays the illuminated Power Symbol and Auto-IQ Programs: Smoothie, Puree, Frozen Drink, and my favorite, Ice Cream. I found that using these automatic 'presets' combines specific pulsing, blending and pausing patterns for each one I select. A preset amount of time is counted downwards on the LED Timer display for each individual selection. Additionally, I can use this blender manually by touching the Low, High, or, Pulse Symbols to activate. I can stop my manual selection by touching the same symbol again. Manual selection is so easy to use. Simply check the pitcher for your desired consistency, and, stop by touching that same symbol again. In manual mode the clock counts upward in seconds for that particular blending duration. ** Power – This is what this Ninja Blender is all about. At one thousand watts of power this baby turns hard, frozen ice into pulverized ice flakes, rock hard bread into fine breadcrumbs, and any combination of frozen smoothies, drinks, or purees to the exact texture and consistency you desire. It excels at converting ice into shaved ice for Icies. Since we live in North Florida my Grand kids love Snow Cones on warm days. Grandma makes them by pureeing a jar of fruit jelly or preserves with a touch of lemon juice and a small amount of water in the Ninja Blender. Then, pours the flavored syrup over the shaved ice from the Ninja Blender. SUPER-YUMMY! ** Desserts – The Ninja engineers designed this blender mainly for frozen treats. I have made Tangerine and frozen fruit Smoothies, Fruit-Flavored Ice Creams from the freezer, and Soft-Serve right out of the blender. This Ninja blender allows you to be imaginative with your own blend of chosen ingredients. Icies are a big Grand kid favorite, not to mention ice cream, and the flavor combinations we can make are endless. This Ninja Smart Screen Blender is worth its purchase price just for the many tasty and healthful desserts you will be able to create for you and your family. ** Rugged & Tasteful Design – This Ninja blender is built to last with quality components. The powered base unit has four suction cup legs, which require a flat surface to properly adhere too. They provide stability while the blender crushes ice and blends your ingredients to the desired texture and consistency in the large capacity pitcher. My blender looks good in my kitchen with its contemporary design and smooth, black, LED Touchscreen. It is too tall to fit under my cabinets fully assembled. However, I store it under my cabinets in two pieces, motor base separated from pitcher with lid. It works well stored in the 'open' on my counter and under the cabinets since we use it so much. ** Lightweight Pitcher – It is made from Tritan Plastic, which is BPA-Free and BPS-Free. It is Shatter Proof and safe with young children present. It does NOT shatter into dangerous pieces like the majority of heavier, glass-made, blender pitchers when dropped. It is also just as clear as glass and resists stains, dishwasher discoloring, even after hundreds of dishwashing cycles. It is easier for me and Grandma to handle because it is much lighter then glass. The pitcher is graduated into measurements of Liters and Milliliters on one side and Ounces and Cups on another, which accommodates any and all my recipes. It has a capacity of seventy-two ounces. However, Ninja recommends only filling it to the Max-Fill line, sixty-four ounces. The pitcher also features a locked pouring spout, which can be opened to add liquid for further blending if desired (with power OFF for safety). ** Safety Features - It won't work unless the container and lid are on properly, and locked into the base. There are locking symbols on the base, lid, and handle to insure correct alignment and placement. ** Blending – At the heart of this powerful blender is the Stacked Blade Assembly. It has six ultra-sharpened blades, which are fixed into position on a shaft. The Stacked Blade Assembly fits loosely onto the drive gear on the bottom of the pitcher. While blending it creates a vortex when I load the pitcher with heavy ingredients, or ice, at the top, and much lighter ingredients towards, or, at the bottom. This Ninja Blender is loud and noisy, especially while blending ice. But because it is so powerful the various blending processes take a short amount of time. ** Clean Up – I simply assemble the Stacked Blade Assembly back into the pitcher and lock the lid. I pour warm water and a small amount of dish detergent in the spout and touch the Pulse Mode for about twenty seconds. Then, I rinse it out and let it air dry. Cleans up thoroughly and easily. However, you can place the pitcher, lid, and blade assembly in your dishwasher too, since those parts are dishwasher-safe. The black LED Touchscreen is easy to clean with just a moistened soft cloth. Some points about this particular Ninja Blender to consider before you purchase: * No Individual Servings – This Ninja is designed for larger blending mixes. I have six Grand kids, so that is not an issue for me. However, you may not need all this extra capacity. * Requires Extra Care – When handling the blade shaft for removal after blending and for cleaning, extra care and caution must be used concerning your hands anywhere near these super-sharp blades. Definitely not to be handled by children or folks, who have arthritic issues, or limited dexterity. Over the past three weeks for desserts we have made a couple gallons of fruity ice cream, dozen batches of Icies, and fruit smoothies (see attached Tangerine Smoothie pic). I love fresh, homemade creamy soups. So, I made creamy Butternut Squash, Asparagus, and Broccoli soups (see attached pic). We have also concocted several frozen adult beverages, and pulverized hard bread into bread crumbs (see attached pic). I highly recommend this Ninja Smart Screen Blender as a purchase for yourself, gift to a family member, newly weds, or to a special friend. This blender is the gift that keeps on giving and a 'Must Have' in my kitchen, and, all the frozen desserts Grandma creates are a hit with my Grand kids. YooHoo!

When I was a little kid, my parents taught me how to make homemade milkshakes with our blender. The device wasn’t much to brag about — just a simple run-of-the-mill blender that they picked up from a department store. It has simple functions on it and it got the job done — for the most part. There were some things it just didn’t handle very well and that was because it was underpowered for what we were asking of it. Could we make milkshakes with it? Sure, but were they more milk than ice cream? Yes — the blender just couldn’t handle mixing up large scoops of the frozen treat. If you have the Ninja Smart Screen Blender (CT650), you don’t have to worry about that being a problem. Not only does it feature 1000 watts of power, it’s designed specifically for blending smoothies and frozen drinks. As a matter of confession, I hadn’t even heard of Ninja as a brand until a few years ago. It just wasn’t something paid much attention to until a co-worker had complicated-looking smoothies everyday. I asked what she used to make them and she said her Ninja blender. She explained that it’s a bit pricier than other brands, but it’s totally worth it. My first experience with a Ninja on a personal level was with the Ninja Chef blender, which is a 1500-watt machine. The Smart Screen model is perfect for people who just want to blend simply with the power of a Ninja motor. It has 4 pre-set Auto-iQ programs for blending. So, the user doesn’t have any specific control over the blending time, but they can still do a low, high, or pulse setting for getting their drink just right. I really like this blender for simplicity-sake. You can plug it in and be ready to blend within a few second after getting the blender unpackaged. The 1000-watt motor can tear through ice and fruit with no problems. The control panel is sealed and therefore it’s waterproof. That makes clean up a very easy process. That was always one thing that bothered me about other older blender models — the mess that would get into the button crevasses. The cap forms a nice seal, but can be a little tricky to align. Once you do, you shouldn’t have any issues with it coming loose or causing a mess. I’ve made milkshakes, smoothies, and even some purees for holiday meals and the Ninja Smart Screen has handled it all like a champ. For the price, you won’t find a better option for an easy-to-use blender with the power of a Ninja.

This Ninja Smart Screen blender with it's big pitcher and powerful motor make it easy to make drinks or smoothies for more people at one time. The Smart screen is easy to read and use and gives the blender a nice modern look. I used the Smoothie and Frozen drink settings and while both worked good I found myself pressing the button again to get the consistancy that I wanted especially with ice. The blades are a couple of inches apart roughly so I think that's why it takes more time to blend down/crush things like ice. The pitcher is big! I got 6 medium sized cup smoothies out of it easy.. While not quite "Ninja" quiet the blender is not as loud as I was expecting and actually about half the noise of our older single serve blender. If your looking for a Big Pitcher blender and don't need smaller cups the Ninja Smart screen blender with it's Modern look, Good power and ease of use make it a great option

Ninja - Smart Screen 72-Oz. Blender with Auto-IQ: This recent Ninja is a great opportunity to get a slightly simplified version of Ninja’s great blenders. If you can live with only 4 programmed settings, this blender delivers a collection of features that I find easier and more useful. I really like the improved cap design. It’s a bit fussier to align because it has clips, but the upside is it stays tightly attached. It has a separate spout which stays closed. I much prefer this cover design which gives me more control over the pour and is more comfortable to maneuver. The control panel of the Ninja is completely sealed and, therefore, waterproof. The controls are brightly lit, making reading the preset programs easy. The manual controls are easy to find and understand. Those preset programs offer fascinating choreography that is matched to the desired outcomes. It’s all fun. Sure, you don’t get the chromed base, but it’s sleek and professional looking. The motor is Ninja powerful and the blades look extremely well suited to crushing, chopping and pureeing anything. We’re impressed.

This is def an upgrade from my Oster. This thing screams! I make a lot of smoothies and this is waaaay better than a regular blender. Like the additional buttons for ice cream and other options. Would like to have a little bit more manual control but I am NOT complaining. Bought this on sale. Worth every penny.

I had an earlier version of a Ninja (which lasted over 4 years with daily use), so was confident that this blender was a quality product. It blends frozen cauliflower and fresh kale quite smoothly. On the ice cream setting, it whips frozen bananas into a frozen yogurt consistency. The hand lock is a great safely feature.

This blender works great for frozen smoothie's and drinks. powerful motor make this loud, however it will blend anything you put into it with ease. The automatic blend timer allows me to clean up while it blends my smoothie for me.

Makes perfect smoothie in less time. My pre-teen daughter makes our morning fruit-spinach smoothie with this blender. She likes doing it. Easy to use and blends in less time. Highly recommended.