They also show at Costco.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

We had (have, i guess... didn't throw it out yet) a Kitchenaid blender with the big glass jar and separate plastic base that holds the rotating part.
The problem with this one, repeatedly, was that the rotating element is set in a bronze bushing. When the lubrication in the bushing goes away (or when you blend soups, where the blender needs to run for a few minutes continuously) the bushing gets hot enough to soften the plastic and then it's game over. We've also had the rubber drive mandrel eventually shear off its teeth. Eventually Kitchenaid stopped stocking replacement parts so we retired it.

Now we have a Blendtec classic (IIRC) with two jars, the wildside+ jar and a smaller cylindrical jar. It's a beast. The LCD display counts the number of times you've used it so I know it's made about 1000 soups, smoothies, crushed-ice, and you-name-it since we got it. The wildside+ jar has just developed a stress crack at the base (basically where the blending arm whacks whatever you're smashing into the side of the jar) so we have to get a new jar. The only other issue we had with it, was that the nut holding the cooling fan blade in the bottom of the base came loose and I had to take the bottom cover off in order to tighten it up.

The good thing is that the Blendtec has needle bearings in the blender jar so overheating should not be a problem. It also has a spline drive worthy of a small lawnmower so you know that part won't fail either.

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Less is more.