I visited a Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo and ordered a frozen margarita.  I was so enthralled by the wonderful consistency and taste I knew I needed to invest into a worth while blender.  The blender I owned prior to my Vita Prep was a cheap one I picked up from a Walmart.  It was not powerful enough to chop up ice so I needed to crush the ice and then blend it.  Even still, the consistency of the drinks it made was rather irregular and chunky with the ice.  This made the drinks hard to sip and next to impossible to pull through a straw.  At the Mexican restaurant I peeked over the bar and saw that the machine they were using was a Vita Mix Vita Prep.  After doing some research I found that there are many claims to its wonderful blending technology and its incredible durability.  The only down side I found was that the 64oz Jar height would not fit under my counter top.  I live in an apartment and the blender was just to high to fit and to wide to stay on the counter top effectively.  Fortunately JL Hufford also sold a 48oz version.  This had the same blending base and power as a Vita Prep but offered the smaller height requirement that I needed with out having to sacrifice a lot of carafe volume. I am very happy with my vita prep and thrilled with the drinks it makes!