Vitamix 5300 Blender Review

The Vitamix 5300 is one of the better selling models Vitamix has on the market. It is widely known as the Costco Vitamix and with their market reach has ended up in many satisfied customers homes.  It is a member of the Vitamix C-Series (Classic) line which was launched in 2007 and the C-Series has been a staple of Vitamix’s lineup ever since.

To see if this model is on sale right now, checkout our Vitamix Sale page.

Vitamix 5300 in Black

Vitamix 5300

Vitamix 5300 in Red

Vitamix 5300 Red

Vitamix 5300 Front View

Vitamix 5300 frontal

Vitamix 5300 Controls View

Vitamix 5300 Motor Base

The Pros

  • Design: This blender is 1/2 Classic and 1/2 Next Generation. The motor base uses a housing from the Vitamix Classic C-Series, while the container is the Next Generation Low-Profile 64oz . It’s a blending of 2 generations of blenders components that make for a unique design and overall package.
  • Controls: As a member of the Classic Generation, the controls are very familiar to many longtime Vitamix owners and is a proven reliable design.
  • Container: The new, 64-ounce low-profile container is big enough to handle blending batches for the whole family, yet small enough to fit under most kitchen cabinets.

The Cons

  • Price: The $539 price tag makes this Vitamix on the premium side of blender prices. But you can typically find them for $399 from retailers such as Costco. But the real deal is a Vitamix Certified Reconditioned model, especially when they are on sale at Vitamix.com.
  • Recipe Book: The included recipe book is the Getting Started Plus. It’s not the greatest book out there, but it does contain 65 recipes. Good news is, more recipes are easily found online.
  • Noise: Compared to a Vitamix Next Generation line of blenders that has a motor base designed, acoustically muffled and ventilated for a higher 2.2HP motor, the 5300 uses the older C-Series motor base. As a result, it is approximately 10dB’s louder than a Vitamix Next Generation blender. I haven’t measured it, but it is also louder than any other C-Series blender as well, including the popular 5200.

Our Rating:One star One star One star One star

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Motor Base

The 5300 uses the Classic C-Series motor base made famous by the extremely popular 5200. It’s a great motor base, older but very proven technology which has held up well for many, many years with lots of extremely satisfied customers.

Controls

Vitamix 5300 Motor Base It doesn’t have Programs, but it does have the common Variable Speed Dial as well as the super handy, “use it everytime” Pulse Button. The controls may not have all the bells and whistles, but it can easily make the daily smoothie, occasional soup, and any other recipe. What it lacks in controls, it makes up for with raw power.

Motor

The Vitamix 5300 features a 2.2-peak horsepower motor similar in power to the Vitamix Next Generation line. It is the highest horsepower motor spec that Vitamix sells in their Home line and is more than powerful enough to perform any blending job in the kitchen.

Container(s)

Vitamix Low Profile Container    Low Profile Container Blade There is one container that comes included with this blender. Having a 2.2Hp motor it uses the same Low-Profile 64oz Container used on that Vitamix Next Generation line of blenders. This container is exclusive to the Vitamix Next Generation line and the 5300 blender. No other C-Series blender uses this latest generation of containers.

New vs Certified Reconditioned

The 5300 is available as a brand new blender as well as a Vitamix Certified Reconditioned Model

Colors

This blender only comes in two colors, black and red. They are both great looking colors and extremely popular. You can see both of them in high definition pictures in the rotating gallery above.

Warranty

New Model: Is backed by the famous Vitamix Full Warranty covering 7 years.

Certified Reconditioned Model: Is backed by the reputable Vitamix 5-Year Warranty.

Availability

The Vitamix  5300 is only available from retailers and is most popular as the Costco Vitamix. Vitamix.com sells many of their blenders as brand new units direct from the manufacturer, but the 5300 is one model they do not sell as a new unit. But you can buy the 5300 as a Vitamix Certified Reconditioned model directly from the manufacturer at a great price and direct registration of the blender when buying from their website.

MSRP: $529

Retailer Price: $399 (commonly found at stores such as Costco)

Vitamix Certified Reconditioned: $360 (If you’re in the market during Oct 2016, Vitamix.com has a special for $299)

Inside the box, you’ll first find 4 items; the motor base, container, recipe book and a tamper.

Like other Next Generation Vitamix blenders, the 5300 comes with the newer, wider 64-ounce container. The more modern, low-profile container will likely fit under most standard-height kitchen cabinets, so you can store it together as one piece.

The included 64-ounce container comes paired with the patented Vitamix tamper, a tool used to push ingredients down into the blades while blending, so you won’t need to turn off the motor and scrape or push ingredients off the walls of the container and down into the blades.

This is particularly useful when blending up thicker recipes, like homemade peanut butter, hummus, or frozen desserts.

Demo!

You can see this blender in action at your local big box store like a Costco or Sam’s Club. I’d suggest planning beforehand by going to that store’s website as they sometimes list which vendors will be doing demonstrations on which days.

Or, you can check out this one family’s first smoothie using a Vitamix 5300. It’s so simple to get great results from your very first blend!

Our Conclusion

Overall, from our 5300 review, we’ve determined it is a solid workhorse of a blender. Think of it as a suped-up C-Series blender with a bigger motor in it. It’s more than powerful enough to handle any task in the home kitchen.

The negatives are the noise and the less than steller recipe book.What’s also questionable is the use of a newer 2.2HP motor inside of that motor base that it wasn’t originally designed to support. I’m sure the Vitamix engineering team did thorough testing to ensure it worked perfectly, but the engineer inside of me still prefers using components that were designed for one another at conception. Also the fact that the C-Series is such a proven design with the 2.0HP motor with legendary dependability, it just raises long term longevity questions in my mind if this “modified” version of a C-Series blender is as durable. If this were a kitchen appliance that was $99, I wouldn’t hesitate to get this suped-up blender. But when its over $400, I want this kitchen appliance to last an insanely long time. So I’m giving it a good rating of a 4 out of 5, but find it difficult to go any higher than that.

Leaving on an enthusiastic note, the big positive is that the 5300 uses the proven C-Series motor base that is used on 23 other models of Vitamix blenders, and comes with the next-generation container. Those are 2 appealing individual features.

Thinking of value in this Vitamix review, the 5300 is a solid buy when on sale as a Certified Reconditioned model at $299. Otherwise, when not on sale, for similar money I’d recommend a Certified Reconditioned Standard Programs blender or if the more powerful motor or next generation container is appealing, opt for a Certified Reconditioned Next Generation blender.

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5 thoughts on “Vitamix 5300 Blender Review”

  1. Is the 5300 better than the e320- in terms of motor power and number of pulse settings? I also do not like very loud motors but could always put ear plugs in- thanks!

    1. Rick @ BlenderReviews.us

      Hi Renee,
      Both the 5300 and E320 have a 2.2HP motor, so that’s basically the same.
      Both the 5300 and E320 have the same blender controls, so that’s the same too.
      The most obvious difference between these two blenders is that they have different motor bases. With the E320 being slightly quieter, but depending on the ingredients put in the container (ie ice cubes, frozen fruit, etc), the overall sound level could end up being the same.

      Either blender is good. If price were the same, I would lean slightly more towards the E320 since it was introduced just last year and is a newer design.

      If price was a concern, for the money, I’d spend $299 direct with vitamix.com and buy their Certified Reconditioned Standard Programs blender. It comes with programs and is a terrific value at that price. They also offer free shipping to you, and free return shipping (within 30 days) if you don’t like the blender. So it’s a real zero risk opportunity.

      Best of luck and happy shopping!

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