The Vitamix Ascent X2 is a full-size blender from Vitamix's 'Ascent X' series, which includes the X2, X3, X4, and X5. This model is the cheapest and most basic in terms of features out of all the X-series blenders. It includes many of the same features as older Ascent models like the A3500, including compatibility with 'Self-Detect' jars sold by Vitamix, a speed dial, and a 2-part lid and tamper. However, this series of blenders adds a removable tamper holder and a new look for the control panel. The X2 and other 'X' blenders are also sold with 48oz jars, which is a change from the usual 64oz jar that most other Vitamix blenders include.
Our Verdict
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is a superb multi-purpose blender. It's very well-built and works well for basically any blend. It quickly makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients for well-blended soups and smoothies. It can hot blend and heat ingredients as they blend. It does an outstanding job with thick recipes, so making nut butter or hummus is quite effortless. It also makes snow-like crushed ice, although its 48oz jar is on the small side for a full-size blender and works best for smaller batches of about six ice cubes.
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Makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Easy to use for nut butter.
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Makes snow-like crushed ice.
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Very well-built.
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Can hot blend.
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Tamper holder is hard to clean.
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Works best with smaller batches of six ice cubes.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is fantastic for single-serve smoothies. Using its 48oz jar, it makes an extremely smooth blend of small batches of fibrous ingredients, so it can make a well-blended smoothie with common ingredients like fruit and leafy greens. The 'Smoothie' preset produces very good results, although you have to run the blender manually for 15 more seconds for the smoothest blend.
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Makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Makes snow-like crushed ice.
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No personal jar included.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is great for multiple servings of smoothies. It quickly makes a very smooth blend with big batches of fibrous ingredients like fruit and kale in its 48oz jar. It's also an excellent ice crusher. However, it makes an even smoother blend with smaller batches, and you'll have to run a couple of 'Smoothie' cycles for the best results. Some blenders can produce similar or smoother blends a bit faster. Also, many full-size blenders, including most Vitamix blenders, have a bigger capacity.
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Makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Makes snow-like crushed ice.
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Somewhat small 48oz capacity.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is excellent for ice crushing. Its 48oz jar is somewhat small for a full-size blender, and it works best with batches of about six ice cubes, while bigger jars can handle 12. There's no ice crush program, but with manual blending, it makes snow-like ice in seconds.
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Makes snow-like crushed ice.
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Very well-built.
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Works best with smaller batches of six ice cubes.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is excellent for soups. It's able to make a smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like broccoli and kale in its 48oz main jar. It can blend hot ingredients or heat ingredients as they blend with the 'Hot Soup' blending program. However, some blenders can process a big batch of soup a bit faster, and depending on the size of your recipe, you might want a full-size blender with a bigger capacity.
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Makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Can hot blend.
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Somewhat small 48oz capacity.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is excellent for professional use. It's very sturdy and versatile. It's easy to use for a variety of blends, like smoothies, soups, crushed ice and thicker dips and spreads. There's a wide variety of speed settings for different recipes and it's not extremely loud. However, its 48oz jar is on the small side for a full-size blender.
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Makes a very smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Easy to use for nut butter.
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Makes snow-like crushed ice.
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Very well-built.
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Can hot blend.
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Works best with smaller batches of six ice cubes.
- 9.1 Multi-Purpose
- 9.0 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 8.2 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 8.6 Ice Crushing
- 8.6 Soups
- 8.7 Professional Use
- Updated Oct 02, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Sep 26, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Sep 25, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Sep 23, 2024: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Sep 10, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Vitamix Ascent X2 comes in a few different colors. The front control panel is always black, but the rest of the motor base comes in a few different colors: 'Midnight Blue', 'Polar White', 'Nano Grey', and 'Shadow Black'. We tested it in 'Midnight Blue'. Here's a photo of our unit's label.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is a high-end full-size blender that shares a solid build quality and versatile performance with other Vitamix blenders. Unlike older 'Ascent' models, it comes with a 48oz jar instead of a 64oz jar. This smaller jar makes it particularly good for thicker recipes like nut butter and hummus compared with other Vitamix blenders like the A3500. However, despite its solid overall build quality, it's let down by the jar design, which includes a rubber handle cover that moves around when you handle it. Its controls include four blending programs and a physical 'pulse switch.' Other X-series blenders offer different control schemes: the higher-end Vitamix Ascent X3 uses buttons instead of switches, and the Vitamix Ascent X4 adds more blending programs. The X2 is somewhat louder and not as easy to clean by hand as the equally versatile Wolf Gourmet Pro-Performance.
If you're looking for a recommendation, check out the best Vitamix blenders, the best blenders, and the best blenders for crushing ice.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 is a bit better than the Vitamix 5200. They perform pretty similarly, but the X2 blends recipes like single-serve smoothies more efficiently in its 48oz jar. It's much quieter, and its controls include automatic blending programs. The 5200 has a bigger 64oz jar and can crush bigger batches of ice cubes.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 and the Vitamix Ascent X3 perform identically, and which you prefer will depend on what type of controls you prefer. The X2 is cheaper and has a mix of physical and digital controls, including physical switches. The X3's digital display shows more information, such as which blending program or speed setting you've selected. It has buttons instead of switches.
The Vitamix Ascent X2 and the Vitamix Explorian E310 have different strengths. The X2 has a better build quality, and its controls include automatic blending programs. It's much quieter. The Explorian manages some blends a bit faster, like ice-crushing and blending fibrous ingredients.
You might prefer either the Vitamix A3500 or the Vitamix Ascent X2. The A3500 comes with a bigger 64oz jar. It blends small and big batches of fibrous ingredients more efficiently. It can also crush more ice at once. Its controls include a programmable timer. However, the X2 is easier to use for thick recipes like hummus or nut butter in its 48oz jar. It includes a tamper holder.
The Wolf Gourmet Pro-Performance is better than the Vitamix Ascent X2. It's better for ice crushing and blending fibrous ingredients like fruit and kale. Its blunt blades help make it easier to clean by hand. It also has a bigger capacity. That said, the Vitamix also performs well for all kinds of blends, and its 48oz jar is easier to use for recipes like nut butter.
The Vitamix Ascent X4 and the Vitamix Ascent X2 are very similar, and both offer a good performance for most uses. The Vitamix Ascent X4 is a higher-end model and has a better build quality and more blending programs than the Vitamix Ascent X2. Its LED screen can display more information, and it has touch-sensitive buttons instead of physical switches. Otherwise, they perform identically and have a similar design and features, including a 48oz jar and tamper holder.
Test Results
It's a big blender that's best kept on the counter instead of in a cupboard or shelf. It's a bit wider (10.6"/27cm) if you're using the tamper holder. However, its all-plastic motor base makes it lighter than Vitamix blenders with a metal shell like the Vitamix Ascent X4 or Vitamix A3500. Of course, its smaller 48oz jar also takes up less room than the 64oz jar that comes standard with the 3500 and most other Vitamix blenders.
It has an excellent build quality, with the same sturdy construction as other Vitamix models. This model's lower score versus other Vitamix blenders is because of the jar handle's rubber grip, which is removable for cleaning but also slides around when you're using the blender, which is a bit annoying and gives it a less premium feel.
Otherwise, it's mostly made of plastic, with a rubber centering pad for the jar and rubber feet under the motor base. The motor base gears are mostly made of plastic, with metal teeth. The gears on the jar are metal.
Its controls consist of a dial and switches that provide good feedback. The glossy front panel includes a digital display. You can easily remove the dial for cleaning. The Vitamix X3 and Vitamix X4 models have a similar look overall, but have different controls with buttons instead of physical switches.
Like other X-series Vitamix blenders, it comes with a 48oz jar, meaning it has a smaller capacity compared with older Ascent models like the A2500 and most 'Legacy' models like the Vitamix 7500.
The jar and lid are made of dishwasher-safe plastic.
The four sharp blades can't be removed from the jar, but the jar and blades are dishwasher-safe.
There's a 2-part lid for the jar. The center piece is removable, so you can use the tamper or add more ingredients. It also doubles as a 1oz measuring cup. Like other 'Ascent' blenders from Vitamix, it's made of clear plastic so you can see down into the blender.
It has a fairly long power cord, although not as long as older Vitamix blenders, like the Vitamix 5200's 6-ft power cord.
- Motor base
- 48oz container with SELF-DETECT
- Tamper
- 2-part lid with removable center piece
- Tamper holder base
- Tamper holder
- Manuals
It's fantastic for processing small batches of fibrous ingredients. If you use its 48oz jar for something like a single-serve smoothie, it makes a nearly perfectly smooth blend with stubborn ingredients like kale. You can use the 'Smoothie' preset followed by about 15 seconds of blending on 'high,' so it only requires about one minute of blending. However, you do have to remove the lid and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the jar near the lid, where the tamper can't reach.
It's excellent for processing fibrous ingredients at full capacity. A single 'Smoothie' cycle isn't enough for the best results, so you have to continue with manual blending or run another cycle. Ingredients can also splash up and get stuck just under the lid, so you have to stop the blender and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the jar so that everything gets processed.
It's fantastic for crushing ice. The smaller jar works best for batches of about six ice cubes, instead of 12 like some bigger jars can handle. That makes it less convenient for big batches compared with models with 64oz jars like the Vitamix A3500.
There's no ice crush program, and you get the best results by ramping up from medium to high speed over about 15 seconds of blending. The result is very uniform, snow-like crushed ice.
Continuous blending works better than pulsing in this case. When you use the pulse mode, the ice quickly gets stuck under the blades, making ice-crushing a more difficult process. Not all the ice gets crushed, so you are left with big, unprocessed chunks. You can see the process with pulse mode in a video and a picture of the resulting crushed ice.
It's outstanding for making nut butter. It processes the ingredients quickly and easily. You need to use the tamper for the best results, but there's no need to stop the blender and remove the lid. The result is very creamy, smooth nut butter.
It's decently quiet. It makes about the same amount of noise as models like the Vitamix A3300, and it's much quieter than some older models, like the Vitamix Explorian E310.
It has a wide range of speed settings, so you can start at a low speed to avoid splattering or over-blending, and use the maximum speed for smooth blends. The motor power is advertised as 1500W, which is likely the peak power since the power indicated on the label is 1440W (120 volts and 12 amps).
The controls combine digital and physical controls. An LED screen shows a countdown timer during blending. The dial lets you select an automatic blending program or the speed for manual blending. On the side of the motor base, there's a power switch, a pulse switch, and an on/off switch.
There are four blending programs. The hot soup program heats ingredients as they blend.
- Self Cleaning: 35 seconds
- Smoothies: 45 seconds
- Frozen Desserts: 50 seconds
- Hot Soup: 7 minutes 30 seconds
It's decently easy to clean. However, it's a bit more difficult compared with similar Vitamix models like the Vitamix Explorian E310 because of the tamper holder. If you use the tamper and then place it back in the tamper holder dirty, you'll have to wash it, and it's very difficult to clean it properly. It was impossible to reach some parts of it with a brush or sponge, and we had to let it soak for a while before we could clean it.
Otherwise, it's easy to clean overall. The blades can't be removed from the jar, and they're sharp, so you'll want to use a brush with a handle to clean them. If you were working with sticky ingredients, you may also need to wipe the lid and jar with a sponge.