The High-Speed Blenders I'm Considering

First, a little grammar lesson (yes, I have a teaching degree and specialized in language learning and am "particular" with details :D), with the understanding that the UK rules are a little stricter than the US rules, but being I'm in Canada, we tend to lean toward British rules for such things, even though many here are clearly influenced by US usage

It should not be "high speed blender", but rather "high-speed blender." A car can go at a high speed, but if we want to use those words as an adjective to describe the car, it is a high-speed car. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense because it would lean more toward a meaning of it's a high (meaning it's up high) "speed car." Same thing with the blender. Is your blender kept up high on a shelf? Well, then it might qualify as a high speed blender. Here is more about the hyphen for compound adjectives: http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/hyphens_in_compound_adjectives.htm And if you like this sort of thing, check out Lynne Truss's books for some great, and funny, lessons about punctuation. :D

All right, nitpicky side of myself aside, here are the blenders I'm considering at the moment. I would appreciate all input!

The Vitamix:

The first high-speed blender I ever heard of when I started learning about raw foods. And I immediately discounted it due to the cost! I haven't forgotten it, though, and did find out about refurbished and even Amazon has more reasonable price on the 1782. But there's another issue that has come up in my recent research: there are different Vitamixes. Those of you with Vitamixes, which one do you have?

The Blendtec:

The Blendtec can be just as expensive as the Vitamix, but I don't know how they compare in terms of value for functionality because it, too, has different models. I've seen an increasing number of raw foodists say they are using this one and are very happy with it. Are you using a Blendtec? Have you used both a Blendtec and a Vitamix and have a preference?

The Waring:

There are a few from Waring that seem like they would fit the bill, the Waring Pro and the Waring Commerical Xtreme being two that come to mind. It does not seem to be as popular as the Vitamix or the Blendtec, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have good potential! Does anybody reading have this one? Any thoughts, comments?

Things I'm looking at: How well it performs. Cost. How much space it takes up. Ease of cleaning. Pros and cons. Warranty. Anything you can share would be greatly appreciated!

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Just a little note: Whenever looking at the star ratings on Amazon and you are concerned about a product that has a number of low stars, go actually read the poor reviews. So often, you just have to wonder what people are thinking. One person rated one blender I was looking at with a single star, saying the jar was too big. (?!) Why somebody would buy a blender with a big jar and then complain about it being big is beyond me, but that's one of the ratings there. I've also seen people give a rave review on a product but it only has a single star. I don't know if they thought that 1 was the best or what, but it is a definite error that gives a faulty impression! Another thing people will give low stars for is if it took to long to ship or something; completely unrelated to an actual product rating. Read the reviews. See if the product itself is actually likely to disappoint you or not!