Best Blender for Crushing Ice?

I used to be the facilities manager for a chain of restaurants best known for their smoothies. We had 700 restaurants, and used Vitamix blenders in all of them. Hands-down, the best blender for making drinks, but WAY over your budget. I will tell you this, even with the best blender on the market, the restaurants still use flaked ice to begin with. There isn't a blender out there that will blend large cubes of ice consistently. If you're able to buy crushed or flaked ice (or set your freezer to make it that way), you will get the best results.

I have the Oster Fusion which is half blender / half food processor. There are also buttons on there specifically for smoothies & crushing ice. I got it at Target several years ago for around $50 I believe. Never had a single problem with it & I love me some frozen mudslides!!

I finally found one I love! The Ninja Master Prep is awesome! You pulse it so the ice keeps going to the bottom and it all gets crushed. It has two blades so it really does a quick job. I saw the infomercial (you can find it on YouTube probably) and then googled a bunch of reviews. Mine came with a small container as well that I can use as a food processor. Loving it! My daughter even had to buy one. I got mine for under $40.

We've had decent luck with the ice crusher blade on our Oster blender. Honestly, though, we invariably wind up using freezer bags full of ice cubes which we crush with a rolling pin or meat mallet more often than not. It makes less noise, is terribly effective and is great for working out any predrinking stress. But I might add it is an activity best done outside since it can get a little messy. Ice shards have a funny way of poking holes in your ziplock bags (even the thick freezer ones). Good luck.

I have a really old Oster. It works great for smoothies or crushing ice. I would check out Amazon if you don't want to spend a ton of cash.

I'm not sure who makes it (I think it's Oster), but the "beehive" blender makes THE BEST frozen drinks. It only has two settings with a paddle-type switch but I've never had another blender make frozen drinks the way this one does. It's as close to a "drink maker" machine as you'll come for your budget.

I was going to say a Vitamix but that's about $600... probably more than any sane person should spend to crush ice.