I am delighted with my Von Shef smoothie maker. I hummed and haa-ed a bit before buying as my previous two smoothie blenders were a lot less money but I had problems eventually with both, especially mess, leakage etc. This blender is brilliant, it is very well made and makes easy work of nuts, seeds, apples and knobs of ginger. What I love most of all that there is absolutely no leakage and despite daily washing it stills looks sparkly and new. It is a pleasure to use and so nice not to have to turn the base upside down to remove leaked smoothie or poke about around the spindle and edges to remove dried in liquid.