Anyone have a quick rundown of the differences between the jars, more specifically is there a "need" for the different jars? That deal on ebay says it has the Fourside jar, local CostCo has Wildside Jar and TwisterJar, for $399.99.
Based off the Blendtec website, there's a $20 price difference between the Fourside jar and the Wildside jar. The Twisterjar is an additional $120. That brings it down to only a $50 price difference between the ebay refurb and the Costco new.
There are 3 basic jars:
1. Regular
2. Jumbo
3. Stirrer
I have the regular jar (the "FourSide") since I've had my Blendtec forever. The square design makes it easy to pour & easy to clean, plus the lid has a vent so the air pressure doesn't pop the lid off. They later came out with the Wildside+ jar, which is larger & adds a smaller fifth side, which apparently improves blending for frozen stuff. I think that's the standard jar on the new models now. They also make a Vitamix-compatible version of this jar called the Rebel.
The stirrer jar is called the Twister, which comes in regular & mini. One advantage the Vitamix has is a plunger arm, so if stuff gets stuck, you can stir it around without having to take the lid off. It doesn't happen very often in the Blendtec unless you're doing frozen stuff without enough liquid (creates an air bubble under the frozen stuff on the bottom), or really thick stuff like homemade peanut butter, so they came up with the Twister jar if you like to make stuff like that. The problem is that you can get a decent food processor, which works better for stuff like homemade nut butter, for like $40, and a spice grinder for $20, which together is cheaper than even the small Twister jar. I use a Krups coffee grinder as a spice grinder: (and for stuff like flaxseed)
http://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-Electric-Coffee-Grinder-Stainless/dp/B00004SPEU/
This food processor has really good reviews: (I have a heavy-duty KitchenAid, which was unfortunately far more expensive, but I don't think this is quite like a blender where more money gets you a vastly superior product based on my experience using other food processor models & brands)
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-FP2500B-Wide-Mouth-Processor/dp/B002LAREE2/
If you've never had homemade nut butter before, give cashew butter a try - it's da bomb:
http://thehealthyfoodie.com/cashew-nut-butte/
For a healthy-ish treat, mix 2:1 cashew butter & honey (so it's kind of doughy) and throw in some dark chocolate chips - tastes like cookie dough, especially if the cashew butter is still warm or you microwave it for a few seconds! Homemade nut butters are super easy...just mix unsalted, unroasted nuts (or roasted, if you like the flavor) in the food processor for 10 minutes, give it a break for a few minutes to let the machine cool down, then mix for another 10 minutes. Eventually the oils break down & it turns from a dough to a paste to a butter. Super delicious, hard to go back to the bottled stuff after you've made your own :thumbsup: