We bought a Vitamix blender a few years ago (which is very similar to ghe Breville). There is no comparison between our old Oster and the Vitamix. Of course the old blender was less than $100 and the new one was more than $400. We bought 3 blender jars with 3 blades (a wet/regular blade, an ice blade for smoothies and ice drinks and dry blade to grind dry grain, etc).
The Vitamix is what my husband really wanted; but he also has his heart set on a Breville Sous Chef processor, which costs nearly as much as the Vitamix would if you could find it on sale. So we compromised on the blender - and hope the off-price store comes up with the processor, too; though we figure it’s unlikely :-)
(I had never really shopped in one of those off-price stores before, and was surprised at the bargains you can get on some pretty high-end stuff. It’s hit-or-miss, but running in there will be on our itinerary from now on.)
-JT
“We bought a Vitamix blender a few years ago...”
Awesome machine! Handles about anything. If I have herb roots and stems that need to be pulverized, the Vitamix is my go-to processor. That said, I started using a Ninja about a year ago when my ancient Oster started falling apart. It’s hard to beat as well.