Vitamix E310 Review: How Does It Compare With Pricier Vitamix Models?

The Vitamix E310 Explorian is Vitamix’s lowest-priced blender with a medium-sized container and is part of the Explorian Series of Vitamix blenders.

So will it still do what you expect your blender to do in the kitchen, and how does it compare with other Vitamix blenders?

Credit: Vitamix

We’ll answer that question here and satisfy your curiosity about Vitamix and the E310 at the same time in this review.

We have a table of contents below that allows you to navigate to whichever sections of this review most interest you, or you can just keep reading.

If you’re in a hurry you can see the Vitamix E310 on Amazon here with current pricing, shipping options and any discounts.

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What About Vitamix?

Vitamix has been making high-performance blenders for a long time. It makes its blenders in Olmsted Township (Cleveland), Ohio where it is based.

Vitamix’s founder, William Barnard, popularized using blenders to blend nutritious foods and is where the name comes from, “Vita” meaning life in Latin. He also starred in their early television commercials.

Vitamix has grown steadily over its many years in existence and now sells commercial blenders to Starbucks and McDonald’s.

The current head of the company, Dr. Jodi Berg, is William’s great-granddaughter and is the fourth generation to lead Vitamix.

So What Is A Vitamix E310 Explorian Blender?

The Vitamix E310 Explorian Blender is Vitamix’s entry-level blender. It’s also very simple to use, just like the other Vitamix Explorian blender, the E320.

Credit: Vitamix

The Vitamix E310 has a powerful motor attached to the same Vitamix blender blade design that you will also find in the more expensive Vitamix high powered blenders. The blender blade design is what makes Vitamix blenders work so well.

The stainless steel blades are designed to create a vortex in the middle of the blender, called the “Vitamix Vortex”, that will pull your blender ingredients away from the sides of the blender container, and into the vortex where the blades can get to work dicing them into creamy liquids.

The blender container that comes with the E310 is a medium-sized 48-ounce container with 3-inch diameter blender blades.

The large-sized container is 64-ounces with 4-inch blades and is the standard sized container for the Explorian E320 and other models like the Vitamix 5200 and the Vitamix Professional 750.

You can also read our detailed reviews of some of these other Vitamix blenders, the Vitamix Explorian 320 here, the Vitamix 5200 here, the Vitamix A3500 here and the Vitamix Professional 750 here. Additionally, you can see several blenders reviewed together, including this model and other Vitamix and other blenders here.

How Do I Use My Vitamix E310?

It’s pretty simple to operate your Vitamix E310. There are only two buttons and a dial on the control panel the Variable Speed Dial, and one of the buttons is the “On/Off” button.

Make sure the dial is turned all the way to the left, in the “1” position before you turn the blender on (for some inspiration about what you can make with your E310, see our ideas here).

Once you turn your Explorian on, use the Variable Speed Dial (see the image below) to control variable speeds. You have full speed control for variable speeds from “1” all the way up to “10” by rotating the dial to the right.

Credit: Vitamix

The button on the left side of the control panel is the “Pulse” button (see above), and this feature is known as the pulse feature. The pulse feature will operate the blender for as long as you hold the Pulse button down.

The Pulse button will work at whichever blender speed you’ve selected on the dial, from 1 to 10, giving you speed control even with the pulse feature.

Use the pulse feature when you just need a quick chop or blend or use when you don’t know how long it might take to process some ingredients like frozen desserts to see how the pulse feature blends in increments.

How Do I Clean My Vitamix E310?

The Vitamix E31o is dishwasher safe, but you can also run the motor to clean it with some warm water and a drop of dish soap. This “self-cleaning” feature is more manual than automatic but still simple.

Fill the container half full with warm water and a few drops of dish soap and close the lid securely. Starting the Variable Speed Dial at “1”, increase slowly up to 10, the highest speed, and run the machine anywhere from 30 seconds to 60 seconds.

Then drain the soapy water, rinse your container, and that is the “self-cleaning” function of the Vitamix 310, no more than 60 seconds.

What They Don’t Tell You About The Power Rating Of The Vitamix E310?

The E310 blender motor is rated at 1,380 watts (120V and 11.5 amps). Vitamix uses “peak” horsepower when describing each model’s horsepower.

Peak horsepower is the power that the blender has right when you turn it on before the motor has any resistance to it. Peak horsepower isn’t really much help to you other than if you use it to compare other blenders that are only rated in peak horsepower.

Other Vitamix blenders like the Vitamix E320 or Vitamix 5200 have  2.2 “peak” horsepower, for example. The peak horsepower of the E310 is 2.0. So the rated power of the E310 vs the E320 or 5200 is 2.0 vs 2.2, but again, this measure isn’t very much help.

The much more meaningful power rating is operating horsepower or mechanical horsepower. Horsepower is calculated by the rated watts.

One unit of horsepower is equal to 746 mechanical watts, so 1,380 watts is 1.85 horsepower. so the Vitamix E310 has an operating (or useful) horsepower of 1.85.

This 1.85 horsepower motor is a powerful motor in the E310, there’s only a small difference in power between the E310 and the E320 or even the E310 and the Vitamix 750.

What Color Options Does The Vitamix E310 Have?

The E310 comes in three colors: Black, Slate (or Gray), and Red.

These colors apply to the area in the blender base around the control panel, above the bottom, and not including the control panel or the lid.

You can see each color option here and use the link below each image to check current pricing and availability on Amazon.

Black

What About Automatic Overload Protection?

What Are The Vitamix E310 Specifications?

What Comes In The Vitamix E310 Box?

The Vitamix E310: Our Recommendation

So is the Vitamix E310 going to do what you want it to do every day in your kitchen?

Our short answer is yes! That is, yes for most of you blending as we suggest in the section above about what you can actually do with the E310. A lot of happy blending customers swear by their E310s. Some have even gone back to their Explorian blenders after trying more expensive models like the Professional 750 or the Vitamix 5200.

The Vitamix E310 is also the entry-level Vitamix blender, the least expensive blender. It still creates the important “Vitamix Vortex” that so many users love and believe to be what makes Vitamix blender food taste so good.

But, it has a slightly less powerful motor, a smaller container than other Vitamix blenders, and a 5-year warranty instead of 7.

So, if all you really care about is the Vitamix Vortex making great smoothies, nut butter, or hot soup, then the E310 may be the best blender for you. You can also buy a 3-year extended warranty from Vitamix after you buy it and when you register with Vitamix to give you 8 years of total protection (a strong recommendation).

Just make sure that you buy the extended warranty right away if you want one since it will cost more if you buy it after more than 30 days from purchasing your Explorian 310.

Go ahead and see latest pricing for the Vitamix E310 Explorian on Amazon now.

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