This is a truly impressive machine for a mid cost unit. I can now throw in flat seed, cacao nibs and kale stems right into the mix without need to preprocess and it all comes out smooooooth!!! As an added surprise, simply throw your concoction into the cup and press one button and the unit does the rest; pulsing, mixing, stoping and mixing more to complete the smoothie without any need for manual supervision (i.e.: you can clean up the knife and cutting board while the smoothie is in progress. Lastly, the unit takes up a moderate amount of counter space, so no need to stow away after each use, simply leave it in a corner to use for breakfast lunch and yes, even diner. In short .... I LIKE IT!OK ... if there was one thing I would like to improve ... it is the sound. Not quite sure how (a muffler for blenders?), but if we could take down the noise level a notch or two it would make it completely unbelievable, but ... it's not a show stopper for me.FWIW, after 6 months: I use this practically every day at least once to make either a breakfast/lunch or a green salad substitute. This unit has worked without incident and I see no degradation of any attribute.FWIW part 2: It’s now going on 3 years and I still use the unit at least once a day. I noticed the sound was getting louder and the unit started to emit a burnt smell. It turned out to be the blades were worn and losing their lubrication. Once I replaced them (also available on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0846LSYDJ) the unit reverted back to normal. I suspect this is the reason that I see other reviews complaining about burnt out motors (the operators failed to replace worn out blades).