I am 2600 miles away from my home kitchen. During the summer months I wanted to make smoothies, but my friends' Oster blender just wasn't up to the task. It struggled mightily with frozen fruit, and no matter how long I let it run there were bits of kale in the end result. Considering their blender is pretty old, I decided I'd better buy a blender before I killed theirs trying to make a smoothie that is actually smooth. The E310 is exactly what I was looking for. Not too fancy, not too big (though it's good to know I could use the 64-ounce container on this base if I have a need for more volume), and powerful as heck. Perfectly blended smoothies every time. I couldn't be happier with it.