The Vitamix Ascent X3 is a high-end multi-purpose blender with a 48oz jar. It's more expensive than the very similar Vitamix Ascent X2 but has different controls, including a better digital display. Like other Vitamix blenders, it has a 2-part lid, tamper, and speed dial with a wide range of speed settings. The X-Series also adds a removable tamper holder.
Our Verdict
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is superb for multi-purpose use. It's very well-built and works well for all kinds of blends. It's particularly great for recipes like nut butter and hummus. It makes a mostly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients quite quickly, hot blends, and makes snow-like crushed ice. However, its 48oz capacity is a bit small for a full-size blender. Some blenders can crush more ice at once and blend big batches of fibrous ingredients faster.
Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients.
Easy to use for making nut butter.
Makes snow-like crushed ice.
Hot blends.
Tamper holder is hard to clean.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is fantastic for single-serve smoothies. It only comes with a 48oz jar, but it's still very easy to use for smaller batches and makes a very smooth blend with fibrous smoothie ingredients like fruit and leafy greens. It blends a single-serve smoothie fast, although you may need to follow the 'Smoothie' preset with a few seconds of manual blending for best results.
Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients.
Makes snow-like crushed ice.
No personal jar included.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is great for multiple servings of smoothies. If you use its full 48oz capacity, it makes a mostly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale. It makes snow-like crushed ice. However, some blenders can process big batches faster and more easily. You may have to scrape the jar with a spatula for the best results. Its 48oz capacity is somewhat small for a full-size blender.
Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients.
Makes snow-like crushed ice.
Somewhat small 48oz capacity.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is excellent for ice crushing. It quickly makes uniform, snow-like crushed ice with batches of about six ice cubes. Blenders with bigger jars, like the Vitamix A2500, can handle more ice at once. This blender also lacks a dedicated ice crush program, so it's not quite as easy to use for ice as some blenders.
Makes snow-like crushed ice.
Works best for batches of about six ice cubes.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is excellent for soups. You can use its 48oz pitcher for hot blending. It makes a mostly smooth blend with big batches of fibrous ingredients like broccoli and kale quite quickly and easily. It can also heat up ingredients with its 'Hot Soup' program. That said, some blenders can process fibrous ingredients faster, and its 48oz jar is a bit small for a full-size blender.
Hot blends.
Somewhat small 48oz capacity.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is excellent for professional use. It's very well-built and has a versatile performance. You can use it to hot blend, crush ice, make smooth blends with fibrous ingredients for smoothies and soups, and easily process recipes like nut butter and hummus. However, its 48oz jar is on the small side for a full-size bender, and some parts are difficult to clean by hand.
Easy to use for making nut butter.
Makes snow-like crushed ice.
Hot blends.
Somewhat small 48oz capacity.
Tamper holder is hard to clean.
Changelog
- Updated Nov 04, 2024:
We've added a comparison photo of all the Vitamix Ascent X series blenders to build quality.
- Updated Oct 07, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Sep 27, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Sep 26, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Vitamix Ascent X3 comes in 'Shadow Black' and 'Polar White.' You can see our unit's label here.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Blender Comparisons
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is a mid-range X-Series blender. It's more expensive and has a better digital display than the Vitamix Ascent X2, but it has fewer blending programs and a less premium build quality than the Vitamix Ascent X4. Like other X-series blenders, it comes with a 48oz jar instead of the 64oz jar that comes standard with most other Vitamix blenders, and it has a removable tamper holder.
It offers a versatile overall performance. The smaller jar makes processing thicker recipes like nut butter and hummus very easy. However, older models like the Vitamix A3500 still have an edge for processing fibrous ingredients.
If you're looking for a recommendation, check out the best Vitamix blenders, the best blenders, and the best blenders for smoothies.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 and the Vitamix Ascent X3 perform identically, and which you prefer will depend on what type of controls you prefer. The X2 is cheaper and has a mix of physical and digital controls, including physical switches. The X3's digital display shows more information, such as which blending program or speed setting you've selected. It has buttons instead of switches.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 and Vitamix Ascent X5 are very similar. The more expensive X5 has a better build quality because of its motor base's metal shell. It has 11 blending programs while the X3 has four. Its controls also include a tamper indicator that tells you when to use the tamper during certain blending programs.
The Vitamix A3500 is a bit better than the Vitamix Ascent X3. The A3500 has a more premium build quality and a bigger capacity. It has a better performance for blending fibrous ingredients and crushing ice and has more blending programs. However, the Ascent X3 is easier to use for thicker recipes like nut butter; it's lighter, smaller, and has a tamper holder.
The Vitamix A2300 and the Vitamix Ascent X3 have different strengths. The A2300 has a more premium build quality and a bigger 64oz capacity. It performs better at processing big batches of fibrous ingredients and crushing ice. The X3 has a smaller 48oz jar, but it's easier to use for recipes like nut butter. It's much quieter, and its controls include blending programs.
Test Results
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is a large full-size blender best kept on your counter instead of in a cupboard. Its plastic motor base makes it lighter than models with metal wrapping, like the Vitamix Ascent X4. It's a bit wider if you use the tamper holder (27 cm/10.6").
It has a similar, well-built design to other Vitamix blenders. The motor base doesn't have metal siding like the Vitamix Ascent X4 or the Vitamix 7500, but it's made of sturdy plastic and has rubber feet that help keep it from moving around on your counter. The gears on the jar are made of metal.
Its build quality is very similar to the Vitamix Ascent X2, including one downside: the jar's rubber handle cover can slip around when you're handing it. This higher-end model's control panel has touch-sensitive buttons instead of physical switches, and its digital display shows more information, like icons that indicate what blending program you selected. Unlike older Vitamix models, X-series blenders have no place to store the cord when it's not in use. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the X2, X3, X4, and X5.
Its jar has a 48oz capacity, so while it's still suitable for multiple servings, it can't hold as much as Vitamix models that come with 64oz jars, including older Ascent models like the Vitamix A2500.
The jar and lid are made of plastic and dishwasher-safe.
The blades cannot be removed from the main jar, but you can put the jar in the dishwasher. The four blades are sharp, so you must be careful when cleaning by hand.
The 2-part lid is made of clear plastic, so you can see down into the blender while it's running. The centre piece is removable, so you can pour in more ingredients or use the tamper mid-blend. The center piece also doubles as a 1oz measuring cup.
It has a long power cord, although older 'Legacy' models like the Vitamix 5200 have much longer 6-foot cords. Unfortunately, there's no place to wrap up or stowaway the cord when it's not in use
- Motor base
- 48oz container with SELF-DETECT
- Tamper
- 2-part lid with removable center piece
- Tamper holder base
- Tamper holder
- Manuals
It's fantastic for processing small batches of fibrous ingredients. While one 'Smoothie' cycle isn't quite enough for the best results, it makes a virtually perfectly smooth blend with small batches of fibrous ingredients in under a minute. However, after running a 'Sooothie' cycle, you have to scrape the sides of the jar with a spatula and run the blender for about 15 more seconds for the best results.
It's excellent for processing fibrous ingredients at full capacity. If you use it for a big batch of something like kale smoothies, it makes a mostly smooth blend, with just a few tiny unprocessed specks leftover. However, some blenders can produce similar results faster. You also have to scrape the jar partway through blending to get the best results.
The Vitamix Ascent X3 is a superb ice crusher. The 48oz jar works best with smaller batches of about six ice cubes, so it can't handle big batches of ice as well as other full-size blenders like the Vitamix A3500. There's no dedicated ice crush mode, but it easily crushes ice with a few seconds of manual blending.
Manual blending (ramping up from medium to high) is the best method of ice crushing in this blender. If you use the 'Pulse' button instead, ice gets stuck under the blades, leading to a more difficult process and less uniformly crushed ice.
It's outstanding for making nut butter. It makes very smooth, spreadable nut butter quickly and without much effort on your part. All you need to do is use the tamper to help push the ingredients towards the blades.
It's decently quiet. While you can find quieter high-end blenders, like the Wolf Gourmet Pro-Performance, it's not extremely loud.
It has a wide range of speed settings for different recipes. The motor power is advertised as 1500 watts, which is likely the peak power, since the power indicated on the label is 1440 watts (120 volts and 12 amps).
The controls include many options for manual blending and four automatic blending programs. It has the same blending programs as the cheaper Vitamix Ascent X2, but its digital display shows more information, including an icon for each blending program. It'll also show which blending speed you've selected when manual blending. There are 19 possible speed settings. There's also a dedicated pulse button and an on/off switch on the side of the motor base.
There are four blending programs, including a 'Hot Soup' program that heats up your ingredients.
- Self Cleaning: 35 seconds
- Smoothies: 45 seconds
- Frozen Desserts: 50 seconds
- Hot Soup: 7 minutes 30 seconds
It's decently easy to clean. The tamper holder, in particular, is very hard to clean if it gets dirty. It can be difficult or impossible to reach every part of it with a sponge or brush, so you may have to let it soak before you can clean it properly. The blades are also difficult to properly clean, since they can't be removed from the jar, and they're sharp. That said, you don't have to disassemble the blender, and other than the tamper holder and blades, most of it is easy to clean.
