Cuisinart, I thought, built quality products. Then they started manufacturing this mess that they call a blender. What a stretch to call it a blender! It needs help to puree the ingredients for a smoothie (you must frequently STIR the ingredients yourself.) The blade assembly eventually cracked. There is now a black residue around the black whirly thing on the base. My husband thinks that it over heated. All that damage from making SMOOTHIES?! Yep. Cuisinart take note-I AM NOT BUYING CUISINART PRODUCTS AGAIN. I would venture to guess others feel the same. I'm happy that some folks had a good experience with this "blender" but I am not one of them.