If you're in the market for a smoothie maker for morning smoothies, consider this as an alternative to other things like the Magic Bullet, or Vitamix. I'm the type of person who just wants the best of the best. I was looking at top of the line Vitamix, Kitchenaid and other full blenders, but eventually settled on this for a few reasons.PowerfulAt 350W this can blend through walnuts, frozen fruit and basically anything I throw at it. The only thing I haven't tried are ice cubes, but I don't doubt that it would be able to handle it.Easy to clean.All I do is detach the head and run under the faucet. Maybe use a bit of soap, but it's so much easier than a full blender.Compact.This fits in a drawer, and takes up very little space. I can pull it out and use it within 20 seconds.Affordable.Compared to other smoothie makers this is at most half the price!Quieter (much quieter!)I considered getting an actual blender, but I'm sensitive to noise. This thing is really quiet compared to a full blender or magic bullet.No mess!I can't believe how elegantly it blends things without any splatter. It's something you just have to witness to understand. I don't need a lid, or need to be careful to not get smoothie bits everywhere. The blending head is really really well engineered!Not to say this is an alternative to the more powerful full blenders for everything, but for MOST things, this hand blender will have you covered. Great job, Braun!