The power of this personal blender is simply amazing. Cuts through ice easily. Blends superbly. I do not mind that it has a cord because I am not traveling with it -- I have a rechargeable one for that. But this thing, It does exactly what it says it does. I have not tried the models with extra power and I can't see that I will ever need more power. It simply blends whatever you throw at it. The ridges on the side of the small and large container do require a bottle brush for cleaning it, which is not a big deal. I have not tried them in a dishwasher yet -- that may be my next experiment.