I've been meaning to write this review for a while... I absolutely hate this blender. We got it as a gift three years ago - that's three years of disgruntled usage. You can blend something on low or medium for 30 straight seconds and there will still be chunks of banana (not even frozen banana). Yes- I've tried varying the speeds with the same result. I also hate that you can't unscrew the bottom to clean it. Also when you pry off the lid it's easy to splatter smoothie drops everywhere since the blender sprays everything around in the process and the lid has such a tight seal. Maybe it's just too big so does not do its job efficiently. I don't know. This is just the most annoying blender I've ever owned.