Catherine Price wrote an awesome article for Slate about the Vitamix 5200:
When you first buy a Vitamix 5200, the so-called Ferrari of blenders, two thoughts are likely to pass through your mind. The first is “Did I really just spend more than $400 on a blender?” And the second is “This machine is going to change my life.”
Anna and I have this very same blender in our kitchen. We bought it two years ago — at the recommendation of about 13.4 different friends of ours who also own Vitamixes — so we could save money by making our own baby food (my wife was pregnant with our oldest at the time). Little did we know how awesome it would be. Did you know the Vitamix can make homemade whipped cream in about 7 seconds? It literally takes longer to get all the ingredients into the blender than it does to turn them into a dessert topping.