The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is a full-size blender with a big 72oz jar. It's a more basic blender in Ninja's lineup, without any extra personal jars or attachments. Its controls are also straightforward, with just a couple of manual blending speeds. Unlike similar blenders like the Ninja Professional 1000, it has a 'Smoothie' blending program. The pitcher lid has a spout so you can easily serve drinks from the pitcher, and all of its components are dishwasher-safe.
Our Verdict
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is okay for multi-purpose use. It comes with one 72oz jar that can fit big batches. It can't blend hot ingredients but works well for tough blends like nut butter and crushing ice. It's also okay for blending fibrous ingredients, but it doesn't come with a personal jar for smaller amounts and doesn't make a completely smooth blend with ingredients like kale.
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Large capacity pitcher.
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Crushes ice quickly.
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Easy to use for nut butter.
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Makes a grainy blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Can't hot blend.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is decent for making single-serve smoothies. It only comes with a 64oz jar, and when working with smaller batches, ingredients can splash up the sides of the jar, and you have to scrape the sides after every blending cycle. It's not the easiest process, but in the end, it makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like fruit or kale.
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Crushes ice quickly.
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'Smoothie' blending program.
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Makes a grainy blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is very good for multiple smoothie servings. It comes with a big 72oz (64oz liquid capacity) jar, so you can serve a crowd with one batch. It's a fantastic ice crusher. However, even after several minutes of blending, it doesn't make a completely smooth blend with stubborn fibrous ingredients like kale.
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Large capacity pitcher.
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Crushes ice quickly.
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'Smoothie' blending program.
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Makes a grainy blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is fantastic for crushing ice. It easily crushes ice cubes into snow-like crushed ice. You have to manually press the pulse button, but aside from that, it's an extremely easy process.
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Large capacity pitcher.
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Crushes ice quickly.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ isn't good for soups. You can't use it for hot blending. If you let your ingredients cool first, its 72oz pitcher can fit a full recipe in one batch, but it won't make a completely smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale or broccoli.
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Large capacity pitcher.
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Makes a grainy blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Can't hot blend.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is decent for professional use. It has a big capacity and a versatile performance, since it can make nut butter and crush ice. However, it's not ideal for smoothies since it doesn't make a completely smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale. It can't hot blend, either. It's not as well-built as some blenders with metal gears, and you might want a more premium design for heavy-duty, everyday use.
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Large capacity pitcher.
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Crushes ice quickly.
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Easy to use for nut butter.
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Makes a grainy blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Can't hot blend.
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Difficult to clean by hand.
- 6.5 Multi-Purpose
- 7.0 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 7.9 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 9.5 Ice Crushing
- 4.8 Soups
- 7.4 Professional Use
- Updated Sep 24, 2024: We've updated the results to more accurately reflect the blender's performance. The score for Fibrous Ingredients (Small Batches) processing changed from 5.5 to 5.0 because of the blending time and the need to stir or use a spatula multiple times.
- Updated Aug 07, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Aug 01, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Jul 30, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jul 18, 2024: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Jul 03, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is available at Costco (U.S.) and comes in 'Black.' You can see the label for the unit we tested here. If you can't get it at Costco but want something similar, the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 and Ninja Professional Blender NJ601AMZ have a very similar design and performance, with different controls.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ is a simple full-size blender. It has a similar design to previous models from Ninja like the Ninja Professional Blender 1000, with slightly different controls, including a 'Smoothie' blending program. It doesn't perform that well for blending fibrous fruits and veggies, especially in small amounts, but its ice-crushing ability makes it a good choice for big batches of frozen drinks like slushies and blended margaritas. If you want a budget-friendly blender for smoothies, the Oster Master Series Blender with Texture Select Settings and the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar are both better at blending fibrous ingredients.
If you're looking for a recommendation, check out the best blenders for smoothies, the best blenders for frozen drinks, and the best blenders.
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 and Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ are very similar. They both excel at crushing ice and struggle with smoothly blending fibrous ingredients. The SMOOTHIEiQ is a bit better overall since it has an automatic 'Smoothie' blending program that shuts off the blender automatically at the end.
The Brentwood 12-Speed Pulse Blender with Glass Jar and the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ have different strengths. The Brentwood makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients, so it's a better option for smoothies with fruit or leafy greens. It's also easier to clean. However, you can't use it for crushing ice or making nut butter. The Ninja easily makes nut butter and crushes ice. It also has a bigger capacity in its main jar.
The Ninja Professional Blender NJ601AMZ and the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ are very similar blenders. The SMOOTHIEiQ is a little better since it's quieter when running and has a 'Smoothie' blending program that automatically stops the blender when it's done.
The Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ and the Magic Bullet Combo Blender have different strengths. The Magic Bullet is a better option for smoothies since it comes with a personal jar and makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients. The Ninja has a bigger capacity in its main jar and can crush ice without liquid in the jar, so it's better for icy drinks like slushies.
Test Results
It's a fairly bulky full-size blender, although its base is a little smaller than similar blenders like the Ninja Professional Blender 1000. You'll want to store it on your counter instead of in a cupboard.
It has a good build quality. It's mostly made of plastic, aside from the blades and rubber elements like the feet and lid's seal. The power button is backlit, and the individual buttons will light up depending on the mode selected. It's easy to assemble, and you have to properly install both the jar and lid for the blender to run. However, the gears on the base and jar are both made of plastic, which isn't as durable as the design of blenders with some metal elements. The feet on the bottom of the motor base do a great job of suctioning onto your counter, but that can make it hard to move the blender around.
The main jar has a 72oz overall capacity and a 64oz maximum liquid capacity.
The pitcher is made of plastic and is top-rack dishwasher-safe.
Like other Ninja blenders, its blade assembly consists of six different blades stacked around a column. The blades are very sharp, so you have to be careful when cleaning or handling the assembly. The blades are top-rack dishwasher-safe.
The lid has to be oriented correctly to lock onto the jar. There's a button to release it when you want to remove the jar. It's not a 2-part lid, so you can't easily add ingredients mid-blend, but it has a pouring spout on one corner, so you can easily serve drinks right from the jar.
The power cord is long enough to reach an outlet near your counter, but it's not particularly long compared to blenders like the Vitamix 5200.
- Motor base
- 72oz 'Total Crushing Pitcher'
- Pitcher lid with pouring spout
- Stacked blade assembly
- Owner's manual and Quick Start guide
It's alright for processing small batches of fibrous ingredients. It makes a somewhat grainy blend with small batches of ingredients like kale or fruits, and it's not the easiest process. Smaller volumes of ingredients plash up the sides of the 72oz jar, forcing you to stop between blending cycles and scrape it with a spatula. A single 'Smoothie' cycle isn't enough to get the best possible result, and you must run a few 'Smoothie' programs and a minute of manual blending on 'High.'
It's adequate for processing fibrous ingredients at full capacity. Filling the jar to its 64oz capacity eliminates splashing and the need to scrape the sides of the jar, so working with bigger volumes of ingredients is easier. However, you still have to run a few 'Smoothie' cycles followed by a few minutes of manual blending on 'High' for best results. The puree doesn't get any smoother beyond four minutes of blending. The final result is decently smooth, with many small kale bits left over.
It's fantastic for crushing ice. You have to repeatedly press the button for pulse mode, so it's not quite as convenient as blenders with an automatic pulse mode or crushed ice blending program. However, it's still very easy to use and makes snow-like crushed ice quickly.
It's excellent for making nut butter. You need to remove the lid and use a spoon or spatula to push the ingredients on top down towards the blades, but otherwise, you don't need to stir the ingredients manually. It requires five manual blending cycles to get the best result, and you have to open the spout cover to allow steam to escape as the ingredients heat up. However, in the end, it makes nut butter very smooth and spreadable.
It's a quiet, full-size blender. It makes less noise when running than a lot of blenders we've tested, like the Oster Pro 1200.
It only has a couple of speed settings. There's not much difference between 'Low' and 'High' speed, so you don't have much ability to adjust the speed to suit different recipes. The faster speed setting is slow compared to most other full-size blenders, which can hurt its ability to blend fibrous ingredients smoothly.
Its controls are limited. You can choose between 'Low' or 'High' speed for manual blending. Either mode runs the blender for one minute before stopping automatically. The 'Pulse' button runs the blender for as long as you hold it down. The 'Smoothie' mode uses Ninja's 'Auto-iQ' feature, automatically alternating between blending and pulsing.
It's not easy to clean by hand. The blades are very sharp, and you must be careful not to cut yourself when handling the spiral blade assembly. Food can also get stuck in the hole at the bottom of the blade assembly where it fits into the jar, which requires a brush to clean properly.