After purchasing the product and reading many reviews, it seems that perhaps the blades are just made differently. I followed the instructions to a tee, including ingredient order, using liquids, using small ice cubes, following their recipes, pulsing, etc etc. But it will NOT crush all the ice for smoothies - it leaves big chunks that it just kicks around in the cup. I have to blame this on the blade more than anything else. It seems very inconsistent.Tried chopping some onions - used pulse and tap and everything else - ending up with half pureed onions and half unchopped onions after 5 minutes of tapping, pulsing, etc etc.Biggest problem I have - doesn't perform as in the commercial. Definite trickery going on there. Smoothies aren't smooth, vegetables don't chop right even when following all of their pulses/taps, etc.Great idea, poor execution.