If price is a lower consideration than reliability and service, I'd recommend the
KRUPS KB720 BLENDER.
I have owned a lot of Krups kitchen products, mostly coffeemakers. I have happily owned a combination coffee/espresso maker for several years now, after having been totally disappointed with the DeLonghi version, which spent more of a year in the repair shop than it did my kitchen and never did get fixed properly, and I just bought both the Krups pod-type coffeemaker for my office coffee drinking pleasure, and their 10 cup capacity rice cooker/steamer/slow cooker, during the final going out of business sale at my local Le Gourmet Chef. I got the coffeemaker, the display model, for $49.00, marked down from $119.00 and the rice cooker for $79.99, marked down from $99.99.
Now, the reason I recommend Krups is, when I got it to my office, downloaded the owners manual from the internet, and started setting it up, I realized that I was missing both sets of pod holders, and the in-tank water filter. I called Le Gourmet Chef headquarters and they said they couldn't help me because it was a display model, but suggested I call KrupsUSA, which I did. A very kind lady at KrupsUSA named Shelly said if I'd fax her a copy of the receipt, she would send me the missing parts I required. You can't buy customer service like that! Plus. I love their slogan:
KRUPS. BEYOND REASON