I currently own a 20+ year old blender...it works great but I was hoping the smoothie blender would create smooth and thick smoothies.  When I first used it, it emitted a for lack of a better work, a burnt smell.  Knowing that most brand new appliances emit similar odors, I assumed that would go away.  It didn’t..in fact it for more intense.  
My first batch of smoothies included frozen fruit.  That was a bust. The smoothie was chunky and I needed to stop and stir the bottom frequently.  The second batch was somewhat better in that I thawed the fruit however, it was runny and needed to be chilled to thicken up.
Really disappointed in that I was really hoping to be able to have a unit that I could make quality, creamy  smoothies for the family in a fast efficient manner. I did encounter some leakage in the base of the unit.  Unfortunately, I most likely would return this product.