i waited until my cheapie smoothie blender died before I got the Cafe Series. I'd only had the smoothie blender 4 months and it karked it under warranty... ironically it was the casing the broke first and not the motor! I was actually quite impressed that it lived that long, I'd used it for nut milks, green smoothies and all kinds of things. I gave it a real thrashing.
The good news was that I took it back, got a refund, and and used the cash to go towards the Cafe Series - which I got cheaper because it was a display model! I was most impressed
