Vitamix and Nutribullet are among the biggest names in the bullet blender movement. There have been plenty of infomercials demonstrating Nutribullet’s ability to create green smoothies, hot soups, and many more kitchen favorites.
As incredible as the infomercials sound – has the Nutribullet caught up with the sturdiness and reliability of the Vitamix? Can it match Vitamix’s performance and consistent results – given its entry-level price?
Find out in our Nutribullet RX vs. Vitamix Showdown!
Side by Side Specs
 |
| Vitamix |
| S30 |
| Up to 40 oz |
| Variable Speed + Pulse |
| 790 watt |
| 1x Cup + Pitcher |
| 1x Blade |
| Recipe Book |
| Dishwasher Safe |
| 5 Year Warranty |
| Check Price at Amazon |
|---|
ON SALE!  |
| Nutribullet |
| RX |
| Up to 45 oz |
| 1 Speed + No Pulse |
| 1700 watts |
| 2x Cups + Pitcher |
| 1x Blade |
| Recipe Book |
| Dishwasher Safe |
| 1 Year Warranty |
| Check Price at Amazon |
|---|
In the Box
The Vitamix S30 comes with:
- 1x 20oz Double Walled Cup
- 1x 40oz Blending Pitcher
- 1x set of Blades
- 1HP, 790watt Power Base
The Nutribullet RX comes with:
- 1x 30oz Single-Walled Cup
- 1x 45oz Single-Walled Cup
- 1x 1-liter Blending Pitcher
- 1x set of Blades
- Blade Remover
- 2.3 HP, 1700watt Power Base
On the surface, the Nutribullet RX looks to come with more in the box than the Vitamix S30, is more powerful, and costs less than half. Looks can be deceiving, and it’s best not to judge a book by its cover. Let’s take a close-up look at those cups.
Both blenders come with cups that attach directly to the base for blending. The Vitamix offer double insulated cups, while the Nutribullet’s cups are both single-walled. The double-walled design (a cup inside of a cup) allows for your soups to stay hot and your smoothies to stay cold for long periods of time.
The double-walled cups are perfect for people like me who like to quickly blend – then consume in the car or at work. The outer wall protects your hand from the temperature of the liquid in the container, while the inner wall keeps the temperature constant for long periods of time.
Design and Performance
Nutribullet has improved its design over previous models by providing a metal drive socket and gears on the detachable blade housing. The remainder of the blade housing is constructed of plastic. Vitamix offers the metal gears and drives socket as the Nutribullet. Vitamix goes one step further by encasing the entire blade housing in metal for added durability.
There are two major design flaws with the Nutribullet RX – the Gasket Ring and the Cooling Vents. In short, the rubber gasket ring forms a seal between the cup and the blade housing to stops liquid from leaking out while in use. This needs to be cleaned after every use or risk of food contamination.
The Nutribullet RX’s Gasket Ring sits on the inside of the blade housing, making it cumbersome to remove and insert. You need to pry it out with a dull knife for cleaning. Reinserting it requires some stretching and prying off the rubber gasket – while your fingers are exposed to the blades.
The Vitamix Gasket sits on the outside of the blade housing. It’s clearly defined by its orange color and easily removed from the blade housing. You don’t need to pry it off or on; simply pull to remove and gently push to insert.
The motor’s Cooling Vent on the Nutribullet RX sits halfway up the side of the base on the outside. Should your blender accidentally leak – spilling liquid down the side of the base to the cooling vents – this could cause damage to the machine. The Nutribullet’s base has no drainage hole to direct spills should they occur.
The cooling vents on the Vitamix’s exterior are covered. The spilled liquid would fall harmlessly to either side of the base without being sucked in the cooling vent. The Vitamix also comes with a drainage hole should your device leak while blending – causing the liquid to fall down the back of the machine.
Another small thing worth noting is the power cord. The Nutribullet comes with a thin 2-prong power cord, while the Vitamix S30 comes with a thicker, heavy-duty 3-pronged power cord.
Operating the Blenders
The Nutribullet comes with 2 automated settings – on or off. To operate the machine, you fill your cup and insert it onto the base of the machine. This will be active the blades and create your smoothie or soup.
The machine will run for 1 minute then automatically turn off. If you have selected the soup option, the blender will stop after 7 minutes. To use the soup feature on the Nutribullet, you press the disguised button on the bottom of the base.
To manually stop the machine, you lift the cup from the base while the blender is in motion. You need to be careful when doing so. If pulled off at a slight angle, you will hear a grinding noise that will cause serious wear and tear.
The Vitamix S30 comes with a variable speed control knob that ranges in speed from 1 to 10. The blender also comes with a pulse feature – handy for breaking down tough ingredients and for quick chopping. To operate, you insert your cup into the blender base and turn the variable speed control knob. To stop the blender, you turn the variable speed control around to 0.
Attaching the blade housing to the Vitamix cup requires you to screw it on with a gentle twist at the end to ensure its security. With the Nutribullet RX, you need to use the provided tightening tool to secure the blade housing to the bottom of the cup-like you would with a tyre iron – securing the nuts to your car’s wheel so it won’t fall off while driving.
After use, the Vitamix blade housing is easy to remove. You’ll need to use the provided tool to remove the blade housing from the Nutribullet RX. If you tighten the top by hand only, it will leak and make a huge mess.
The End Result
Keep in mind that more power does not always equate to better performance. The more power a blender has, the more electricity they consume in the process. The key is to find a blender with the right balance of power consumption (watts + horsepower) and performance.
Black Berry Seeds are amongst the toughest things to break down. In a comparison between the Nutribullet RX and the Vitamix S30 – here are the results (as seen in the video above).
Given 1 minute each to blend frozen blackberries with water to create a puree, both blenders perform extremely well – breaking down the berries and their seeds equally. The Vitamix yielded a thicker puree while the Nutribullet RX was runny.
Should you decide to blend with purely frozen ingredients, the Vitamix comes with a tamper to push the ingredients down should they become such. The Nutribullet RX, on the other hand, comes with no tamper, and they advise you to give the cup a shake to get the process moving again – this doesn’t always fare so well given there is no off switch.
The same is also true when creating nut butter such as sunflower seeds (without added oil or liquids). You can use the tamper to push the seeds down, breaking them down to a powder, then, as the seeds release their natural oil – create the nut butter.
The Nutribullet breaks down the seeds to a fine powder then pushes the power away from the blades – not allowing the natural oil to release from the seeds to produce the nut butter.
Both machines do a great job at producing hot soups – breaking down the heated ingredients to produce a creamy texture without any lumps. An added advantage with the Vitamix is the pulse feature.
Should you desire to create a chunky soup, you can add the extra ingredients such as corn and black beans to a hot Pumpkin base and use the pulse feature to integrate the extras without purifying them. You can only purify with the Nutribullet.
The Nutribullet traps steam in order to create hot soups as it has no vents for the steam to escape. As the pressure builds up, it releases it in all directions without warning. The Vitamix contains vents to allow the steam to escape without the build-up of pressure.
To Conclude
So there you have it – two amazing machines battle it out to take the mantle. Once again – as the bell sound – the title goes to the Vitamix S30 due to its superior design and build quality. Results-wise, both blenders performed admirably – with the Vitamix tipping the balance with its pulse feature giving you more flexibility and variable speed controls for greater control.
Understandably – not everyone will want to create gourmet soups, ice cream, or nut butter. If you’re after a basic soup or green smoothie creator and don’t mind the manual hand tightener – the Nutribullet RX will certainly do the job.
If this sounds like you, the Nutribullet RX is certainly worth a shot, given it’s half the price of the Vitamix, and you can return it if it does not meet your needs.
I hope you have enjoyed the Vitamix S30 vs Nutribullet RX challenge!
FEATURED PRODUCTS
| Vitamix S30
| Check Price |
ON SALE! | Nutribullet RX
| Check Price |
