memes

I thought that before I was gifted a Vitamix by a rich relative fifteen years ago. The difference is in the motor. If you try to make nut butter or nut milk in a regular blender it will seem more like a "stirring machine" than a blender. Blending things like kale doesn't really work in a regular one either, you end up with a bunch of strings tangled around the blade and in your drink. A high powered blender is closer to a juicer that doesn't extract the pulp, it blends it so fine that it doesn't need to be removed.

You can throw a bunch of whole veggies and a scoop of Better Than Bullion in a Vitamix, let it blend for 3 minutes and you've got hot soup- that's how they sell the motor running hot as a feature. It does make it impossible to use it to make mayonnaise, since it will melt very quickly instead of emulsifying. But it blends frozen things fast enough that you can still do a cold smoothie. It's just a different tool. Like someone mentioned above, you could probably use it to dispose of a body, one pitcher full at a time.

There is often a big difference when you're willing to spend more and do the research to ensure it's not just a cheap product dressed up in an expensive price for a wide variety of things. I'm not familiar with that particular brand but it is very possible that that second hand blender is still significantly better than a brand new $20 blender.

Another commenter mentioned the motor, but also the way it is put together can drastically affect how easy it is to clean or repair if some small part wears down or breaks, which is also less likely to happen because the materials are both more robust and there's more of it used.