The Blendtec Designer 725 is a full-size blender with several preset modes and a touch-sensitive bar that you can use to control the blending speed. It can crush ice into a snow-like consistency very quickly, so it's great for making big batches of your favorite frozen drinks. Unfortunately, it's not extremely versatile, since it makes mediocre almond butter and can't be used for hot blending. The main jar struggles to fully blend fibrous ingredients like kale, but it also comes with a smaller personal jar, which you can use for a more uniform, better-blended smoothie. It's also very easy to clean.
Our Verdict
The Blendtec Designer 725 is decent for multi-purpose use. It can quickly crush ice into a snow-like consistency, and while it struggles to fully process leafy greens like kale in its main jar, you can make a decent smoothie in its included personal jar. Unfortunately, it makes passable, dry almond butter and can't be used for hot blending. On the upside, it has an outstanding, sturdy build quality, and is really easy to clean.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
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Can't hot blend.
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Main jar struggles to blend leafy greens.
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Lid feels flimsy.
The Blendtec Designer 725 is very good for smoothies and protein shakes. Using the personal jar, it makes a cold, uniform but grainy smoothie. It has a fantastic build quality and does an amazing job of crushing ice. Unfortunately, if you use the main jar, it struggles to process leafy greens like kale, resulting in a foamy, sludgy smoothie after several minutes of blending. On the upside, it's really easy to clean.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
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May need to shake jar to incorporate ingredients.
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Main jar struggles to blend leafy greens.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
The Blendtec Designer 725 is exceptional at making crushed ice. It can make uniform, snow-like crushed ice with no unprocessed cubes in less than a minute, and has a fantastic, sturdy build quality.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
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Lid feels flimsy.
The Blendtec Designer 725 can't be used to blend hot ingredients, so it's not suitable for making soups.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
The Blendtec Designer 725 is excellent for professional use. It has a fantastic, sturdy build quality, with a solid rubber and stainless-steel base. While it can't be used for hot blending, it's fantastic for ice crushing, as it can make snow-like ice in less than 30 seconds. It can also produce passable almond butter. Also, its main jar has a large capacity and it's very easy to clean with its self-cleaning mode.
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Very well-built and easy to clean.
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Several preset modes and speed settings.
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Quickly makes snow-like ice.
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Can't hot blend.
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Main jar struggles to blend leafy greens.
- 7.1 Multi-Purpose
- 9.1 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 9.6 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 9.8 Ice Crushing
- 5.5 Soups
- 6.6 Professional Use
- Updated Aug 30, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Dec 16, 2020: Review published.
- Updated Dec 10, 2020: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Blendtec Designer 725 is available in a few different colors and is sold on its own or in a bundle with an additional jar. We tested the Black variant that comes with a 34oz personal jar. You can see the label here. This variant is also available in another color, Gun Metal, which we expect our results to be valid for as well. It's also sometimes sold with a Twister Jar intended for making thicker blends like nut butter. However, we haven't tested that variant jar, and we don't how it performs versus the 34oz GO Travel Bottle personal jar.
| Main jar | Additional jar | Color |
|---|---|---|
| 90oz WildSide+ Jar |
None |
Black |
| 90oz WildSide+Jar | None | Gun Metal |
| 90oz WildSide+Jar |
None |
Stainless Steel/Whiteโ |
| 90oz WildSide+Jar |
34oz GO Travel Bottle personal jar |
Blackโ |
| 90oz WildSide+Jar |
34oz GO Travel Bottle personal jar |
Gun metal |
| 90oz WildSide+Jar |
37oz Twister Jar |
Gun metal |
| 96oz WildSide+Jar | 24oz Twister Jar |
Black |
If someone comes across another variant of this blender that's different from ours, let us know in the discussions and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Blendtec Designer 725 is a full-size blender with outstanding build quality. It's fantastic at crushing ice and has preset modes as well as a touch-sensitive bar so you can fine-tune its blending speed. It's also very easy to clean even if you're blending sticky ingredients. However, it's not as versatile as some other blenders, because it can't hot blend and makes mediocre almond butter. Also check out our recommendations for the best blenders for crushing ice, the best full-size blenders, and the best blenders for frozen drinks.
The Vitamix 5200 is better for most purposes than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Vitamix makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like kale and broccoli. It does a better job of processing hard ingredients, like nuts, you can use it to hot blend. On the other hand, the Blendtec is easier to clean. Its main pitcher has a bigger 90-ounce capacity, and it also comes with a personal jar and to-go lid for making single-serve drinks like smoothies.
The Vitamix Explorian E310 and the Blendtec Designer 725 have different strengths, and you may prefer either depending on your needs. The Vitamix can hot blend and does a much better job of processing thick mixtures like nut butter. It's also slightly better for processing fibrous ingredients. On the other hand, the Blendtec's main pitcher has a much bigger 90-ounce capacity, and you may prefer it because it also comes with a personal jar and to-go lid for single-serve smoothies.
The Vitamix A3500 is a better blender than the Blendtec Designer 725 for most uses. The Vitamix is better-built and makes a smoother blend of fibrous ingredients. It does a much better job of making nut butter. It's also quieter when it's running. On the other hand, the Blendtec comes with a 24-ounce personal jar for single-serves in addition to its 90-ounce main jar.
The Vitamix 7500 is a better blender than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Vitamix is better built, quieter, and has a more versatile performance since you can use it for hot blending. It makes much smoother nut butter. However, the Blendtec comes with a personal jar for single-serve drinks like smoothies, and using that jar does a better job of processing small batches of fibrous ingredients like kale.
The KitchenAid K400 and the Blendtec Designer 725 have different strengths, and you may prefer either one depending on your preferences. The Blendtec has a much better build quality, its main jar has a bigger capacity, and it comes with a personal jar for recipes like single-serve smoothies. It’s easier to clean by hand. However, the KitchenAid K400 can be used for hot blending. It also produces smoother nut butter.
The Blendtec Designer 725 is a better blender than the Blendtec Classic 575 for most uses. The Designer 725 has a much better build quality, makes a more uniform smoothie, and is better at crushing ice. Nevertheless, the Classic 575 can produce more spreadable almond butter and can be used for hot blending.
The Vitamix A2500 is a better blender than the Blendtec Designer 725 for most purposes. It comes with a tamper, can be used for hot blending, and makes much better almond butter and smoothies. On the other hand, the Blendtec takes less time to make snow-like crushed ice. It also comes with a 24-ounce personal jar with a to-go lid, which makes it better-suited for blending single-serve drinks.
The Βlendtec Designer 725 and the Βlendtec Chef 600 have different strengths, and you may prefer either. The Chef 600 is much better for making smoothies and almond butter. It has 'Low' and 'Ηigh' pulse modes and an on/off toggle, which is a nice safety feature. On the other hand, the Designer 725 is better-built and easier to clean by hand. It comes with a personal jar for making single-serve drinks, and both of its jars and lids are dishwasher-safe.
The Vitamix 5300 is a little better than the Blendtec Designer 725. It makes much smoother nut butter in less time and is somewhat better for processing fibrous ingredients and crushing ice. On the other hand, you may prefer the Blendtec's design and features. Its main jar has a bigger capacity and it comes with a smaller personal jar for single-serve smoothies. It's easier to clean by hand and its jars, lids, and blades are dishwasher-safe.
The Vitamix A2300 is better for most purposes than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Vitamix can hot blend and does a much better job of making smoothies and almond butter. However, the Blendtec makes crushed ice with a better texture. It also comes with a personal jar and a to-go lid in addition to its main pitcher.
The Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ BL642 is a better blender than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Ninja makes significantly better smoothies, much better almond butter, and comes with more additional jars. On the other hand, the Blendtec has a much better build quality. Also, while neither can blend hot ingredients, the Blendtec has a Hot Soup preset meant to warm up cold ingredients.
The Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770 is a better blender than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Ninja can produce smooth, spreadable almond butter and a uniform, silky smoothie. Also, it comes with two personal jars and a food processing attachment. The Blendtec has a better build quality and several settings and modes, including a self-cleaning cycle.
The Vitamix A3300 is better for most purposes than the Blendtec Designer 725. The Vitamix makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like kale and broccoli. It's much easier to use to make nut butter. It's better built and much quieter when it's running. However, the Blendtec blender has some features that you might find helpful. It comes with a personal jar and to-go lid for making single-serve smoothies. Its controls include six automatic blending programs, and it's easier to clean, thanks to its blunt blade design.
You may prefer either the Βlendtec Designer 725 or the Vitamix Explorian E520. The Βlendtec comes with a bigger 90-ounce main pitcher and a 24-ounce personal jar that you can use to blend single-serves. It's quieter and easier to clean by hand. However, the Vitamix blender makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like kale and hard ingredients like nuts.
Test Results
The Blendtec Designer 725 is a bit shorter than the Blendtec Classic 575, but it's still fairly bulky and best stored on your counter or in a spacious cupboard.
This blender has an outstanding build quality. The base is made of rubber and stainless steel, with plastic feet to help it grip onto surfaces. Its gear and transmission are made of metal as well. The power cord is thick and feels heavy-duty, and there are vents on the bottom of the base to help with air circulation.
The Blendtec Designer 725 uses two thick, blunt blades with tips that point upwards. The blade assembly can't be removed from the jar, but you can put the jar and blades in the dishwasher.
The Blendtec Designer 725 has a two-part lid with a clear plastic cap in the middle that you can remove to add ingredients while blending. However, the cap feels loose and not very tightly secured to the main lid. The lid itself is held in place by friction, and since it's made of flexible plastic and feels flimsy, it doesn't seem very secure.
The Blendtec Designer 725 has a thick power cord that should be long enough to reach most nearby outlets. On the downside, there's no compartment to stow it away when you're not using it.
- WildSide+ lid
- 90oz WildSide+ jar
- 34oz Blendtec GO bottle
- Blendtec GO blade assembly
- Blendtec GO lid
- Blendtec GO How-To pamphlet
- Owner's manual
- Motor base
The Blendtec Designer 725 makes a decent smoothie using its smaller personal jar. It processes ingredients like kale and frozen banana into a cold, uniform, but still grainy drink. Unfortunately, it takes a while, and you may need to remove the jar from the base and shake it a few times to ensure everything is caught by the blades.
The Blendtec Designer 725 makes a poor smoothie in its main jar. The ingredients may not be blended at first using the smoothie preset, so you may need to use pulse mode at the beginning. The thick blades struggle to fully process leafy greens like kale even after several minutes, resulting in a foamy, sludgy smoothie.
The Blendtec Designer 725 is incredible at making crushed ice. Using pulse mode, it can crush ice into a very even, snow-like consistency in less than a minute.
The Blendtec Designer 725 makes okay almond butter. It's spreadable but dry, with some small, uniformly-sized unprocessed pieces. You may need to stop it every once in a while to scrape the sides of the jar to ensure that all of the nuts are caught by the blades, which can be a bit of a hassle. If you want a blender that performs better for this use, the Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ BL642 makes fantastic almond butter.
The Blendtec Designer 725 has buttons for eight pre-programmed modes as well as a touch-sensitive bar that you can slide your finger on to adjust the speed of the blender. Unfortunately, it's possible to accidentally turn the blender on with the touch-sensitive bar while the lid is off.
The Blendtec Designer 725 has several preset modes that are controlled with buttons: 'Smoothie', 'Dips', 'Whole Juice', 'Mixed Drinks', 'Hot Soup', 'Batters', 'Ice Cream', and 'Clean Blender'. It has a screen that displays which mode or setting you're using, as well as a stopwatch for manual blending and a countdown timer for the pre-programmed modes.
The manual says that you should run the blender for no more than five minutes straight. It also says you can't use it to blend ingredients that are already hot, but there's a "hot soup" preset that will warm up cold ingredients as they blend. The result won't be steaming hot, however.
The Blendtec Designer 725 blender is remarkably easy to clean. You can take care of most messes by adding a bit of soap and warm water to the jar and running the 'Clean Blender' preset. It even works if you're blending sticky ingredients, but in that case, you may need to clean the lid manually with a sponge because it has small crevices that food can get stuck in.
