I just tested the Ninja CrushBOSS and it offers high-end performance without the Vitamix price tag

Tom's Guide Verdict After thorough testing, I have no complaints about the Ninja CrushBOSS. It delivers excellent performance at an affordable price. The blender handles tough ingredients like sticky dates and frozen fruit with ease. Its versatile controls offer variable speeds and convenient presets, while the motor base suction keeps it perfectly stable. Cleanup is straightforward, and the generous 72-ounce capacity works equally well for large and small batches. Reasons to buy +Exceptional blending performance +Versatile controls +Stable when blending +Easy cleanup +Large capacity Reasons to avoid -None. It’s perfect Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate. Jump To: Specs Price & availability Design Blending performance Storage & maintenance Verdict As I head into the holiday season, I’ll be hosting, cooking and needing everything to be as fast and as easy as possible. I want — nay, need — the Ninja CrushBOSS by my side. It’s the best blender I’ve ever used, and you’ll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.I’m impressed by the level of control you get with this blender, which has become my go-to for everything from meal prep to daily breakfast smoothies. It has exceptional blending performance that takes on the toughest ingredients. It’s very stable when blending at full speed, has a large capacity and is easy to clean.What more do you want? You can find out more by reading my full Ninja CrushBOSS review.Latest Videos FromTom's GuideNinja CrushBOSS review: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally Price $169 / £154 Dimensions 17.87 x 10.16 x 8.98 inches Weight 4.5 pounds Capacity 72 ounces Power 1850W Blending speeds 10 speeds Blending presets 3 Colors Midnight Blue & Gunmetal, Onyx, Emerald Green & Champagne, Stone & Gold, Mocha & Gold Ninja CrushBOSS review: Price & availabilityThe Ninja CrushBOSS is available to purchase from Amazon U.S. for $169 and from Amazon U.K. for £154. The blender comes in a variety of colors, including Midnight Blue & Gunmetal, Onyx, Emerald Green & Champagne, Stone & Gold, Mocha & Gold.You can also buy the blender as part of a three-in-one bundle with a tumbler and food processor, as well as the large pitcher. This version of the blender will cost you $279 from Amazon U.S. and £239 from Amazon U.K. The additional blend cups are a good option for anyone who will be dealing with small quantities or using the blender for meal prep.The Ninja Detect Power Pro is also around the same price at $179 and is incredibly powerful too. This blender comes with smaller blend cups and has similar controls, with a dial at the front and the same preset modes, but the CrushBOSS is just a little more powerful and costs less. Why would you spend more?I recently tested the Nutribullet Power Core, which is priced at $99, and for $70 more, I can’t believe the step up in performance you can get with the CrushBOSS. If you can’t tell, I’m in awe of this blender.Tom's Guide: Direct to Your InboxGet instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.For something with more control, such as the 10 variable speeds that come with the CrushBOSS, I would usually recommend something like the Vitamix Ascent X2. However, that will cost you $549, and you can’t justify paying that when the CrushBOSS is ripping through ice and creating the smoothest hummus I’ve ever seen with complete ease.Ninja CrushBOSS review: Design The Ninja CrushBOSS looks futuristic, but so are its capabilities. The blender is pretty tall, measuring 17.87 x 10.16 x 8.98 inches. I found it easy to move around since it only weighs four and a half pounds. The blade in the pitcher is tall, kind of like a tree with six blades. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The pitcher has handy measurements on the side so you can see how much liquid you’re adding to your smoothies and mixtures. The lid has a release button, and a handle pops up, making it easy to remove. The corner of the lid also lifts up to reveal a pour spout.The motor base has suction cups on the bottom to keep the machine glued to the countertop, and trust me, this thing is not moving an inch. I even struggled to remove it when I was done, but that’s much better than having a blender that jumps around on your countertop.Controls (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The controls of the Ninja CrushBOSS are very easy to get to grips with. The blender has two small buttons for power and pulse at the top of the motor base and a large dial with an LED screen, which you twist to select the mode you want from the smart menu.You can select prepIQ, which has presets for all sorts of meal prep, including mince, small chop and large chop. I liked having these settings because they gave me a lot of control, and more than I’d get from the pulse button. Smooth Sense uses smart sensing to determine how long the pitcher's contents need to be blended to become smooth, which I found most useful for frozen ingredients. You can also choose from 10 variable speeds if you want to be in control of the blending.Ninja CrushBOSS review: Blending performanceTo test out the blending performance of the Ninja CrushBOSS, I carried out my usual blender tests of smoothies, sorbet and hummus. This time I also added a quick chop side salad to test out the preset modes.I was blown away by the blender. It’s so fast, and those blades are so sharp I’m convinced it could obliterate anything you throw at it. It made light work of completely frozen fruit and more tricky ingredients such as dates.SmoothieFirstly, I made a batch of tropical smoothie which consisted of frozen mango, peaches, pineapple and passionfruit, and I added two bananas and four dates with a splash of oat milk. I used the Smooth Sense setting, and this only took 90 seconds to fully blend and displayed a handy countdown on the screen. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)As you can imagine, it tasted amazing, but I’m worried about how it felt. All of the fruit was completely broken down. Not a seed or pip in sight, and the dates were blended so small that they could easily move through a straw. It’s difficult to blend dates because of their sticky texture that gets stuck in the blades, but that wasn’t an issue for the CrushBOSS.SorbetNext, I made sorbet using the Smooth Sense setting to see how well the blender copes with completely frozen ingredients and no liquid. It absolutely obliterated the mango. It was very impressive, and I’ve never seen a blender work so quickly before. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Even though I knew it wouldn’t hurt me since the lid was off, after what it did to the frozen mango, I was wary each time I reached my hand into the blender. In under two minutes, I had a smooth sorbet with no lumps or clumps.Chop saladTo test out the chopping presets, I made a quick chopped salad to go on the side of meals. This included cucumber, red onion and tomato. I used the Small Chop setting, and the blender made light work of the ingredients. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)It took less than 10 seconds to blend. It was pulsing, and in just 1, 2, 3, it was all done. An incredibly fast meal prep that I’ve been able to use to top my meals and add to wraps with minimal cleanup.HummusFinally, I made a quick hummus. This included two tins of chickpeas, olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper. I decided to use the Custom Speed settings here, as making hummus requires more control, and went with speed 4. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)This is the smoothest hummus I have ever made. I’m talking grocery-store-smooth. It was seriously impressive to watch, and since the blades climb the pitcher, no chickpeas were missed.Ninja CrushBOSS review: Storage & maintenanceI found the Ninja CrushBOSS surprisingly easy to clean despite its large size. Everything except for the motor base is top rack dishwasher safe. This means that once you're done, you can throw it in the dishwasher and forget about it, making the cleanup process feel non-existent. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)I opted to clean the pitcher by hand since it’s so big, and this was very easy to do. My only advice is that if you decide to clean the blades by hand too, you should be careful with your hands, as the blades are very, very sharp.Ninja CrushBOSS review: VerdictAfter some thorough testing and serious thinking, I don’t have a bad word to say about the Ninja CrushBOSS. In fact, I can’t think of anything negative about it at all.It has an exceptional blending performance, making light work of tough ingredients like sticky dates and frozen fruit. The controls are also versatile, with variable speeds that give you the final say over your blends and presets that make prepping for cooking faster than ever. The suction on the bottom of the motor base makes it incredibly stable while blending, and the cleanup process is easy. It also helps to have a large 72-ounce capacity so I can make large quantities, but performance isn’t hindered even if you make small batches.The CrushBOSS does everything a blender should do, does it exceptionally well, and won’t break the bank. Ashley is a staff writer on the the Reviews team at Tom’s Guide. She has a master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University and a BA in Journalism, Media and Sociology. She has written for titles including Women’s Health UK, writing health and wellness stories, and Virgin Radio UK, specializing in entertainment news and celebrity interviews. She has reported on a variety of topics including music, literature, motorsport, entertainment and health. She has previously reviewed live music events, books, and wellness products but discovering the top audio equipment on the market is what she does best. When she is not testing out the latest tech, you can find her either curled up with a cup of tea and a good novel or out hiking. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.