I Regret Purchasing This Blender April 14, 2008
Reviewer: A Customer from Nashville, TN

I purchased my Champ blender 4 years ago. Within about 7 months or so of normal use (once a day 3-5 times a week) the hard plastic cup container began leaking out from the bottom as the black ring underneath around the blade appeared to be cracking away. I was a little unsettled about this happening after owning the machine for such a short amount of time and using it in a pretty low-volume way. I sent the cup to K-Tec and the container was replaced no problem. I used the blender on and off for about a year and then more or less stopped as I fell out of the habit and began using a Green Star Juicer more (great juicer by the way!).
I hadn’t really used my blender for almost 2 years but 3 months ago started making smoothies in the morning and evening. In very short time, the blender began spraying out a ring of what appeared to be oil every time it was in operation. This was a nuisance but I figured I would just deal with it and make a collar out of paper toweling and clip it around where the container sat on the base of the machine as this is where the oil was spraying out from. The paper collar worked pretty well and prevented the oil from spraying the kitchen wall and counter top although I thought it was a little crazy to be regularly making paper collars to put around my (over $400) blender! I had to wash the base every couple of days as black splotches and sprays of oil mess would collect on top. Then the machine just stopped working.
I was willing to deal with the oil spray but now the machine is not working!! One morning I plugged it in and nothing happened. I then plugged it into different outlets in the house as thought perhaps the kitchen outlet was faulty but it turned out to be the machine instead. It had completely ceased operating. I’m pretty easy-going about the problems I’ve had with this blender but can’t help be overall disappointed with its performance (although the customer service people at K-Tec have been really nice, helpful and they have so far honored their warranty!). Also, due to the design of the blender blade (it lies on 1 plane -- look at the picture on the internet and you can see what I mean) I find stuff often sits on top of the blade and I constantly need to stop the blender and push stuff down towards the bottom in order to get everything to blend together properly.
My neighbors (who are my very close friends) and I researched blenders at exactly the same time. We looked at both the Vitamix and at Champ. I decided to go with Champ as the motor seemed more powerful and they got the Vitamix. They have used their Vitamix every day for 4 years and (somewhat proudly) tell me that they have had no problems at all and the machine is still going strong. They lent me a $50 Sunbeam blender from Wal-Mart (which they purchased for another residence they have)to use while my Champ blender is being repaired. The Sunbeam works great. No problems at all. The Sunbeam has 4 blades -- 2 point up and 2 point down. Therefore, everything whirls together great -- no more having to stop the machine and scrape the sides down or push stuff down to the bottom. Now I feel even more regret at having purchased the Champ! If you are just interested in making smoothies, soups, and blended salads, consider getting a decent inexpensive blender. I could have saved $350 by buying a Sunbeam.