These are the threads I personally like, especially when I can at least give data. You may not buy it, but I can give you some hard facts!
Like many small appliances, I went through a bunch from age about 20-50, buying the "cheaper" stuff cuz it seemed like the thing to do. Now this is not a high end blender buy any means (they start at about $350), but it is not the $29 ones I usually ended up with. I bough the blender below (I would have bet my last dollar it was a Waring) at the Las Vegas Restaurant Depot in 2011 for $90, one because I was tired of going through $29 blender and they said this was a low end "bar" type blender. It has worked well. About the only thing I use it for is Gatorade Slurpee's...About 10 a month. So it has not gotten a lot of work, but it was rated fairly well, and it has not skipped a beat in almost 8 years.
No frills, it does not have 12 speeds like most every other one I have bought, but it does chew through ice. I bet it would destroy milk and ice cream.
Hamilton Beach HBB908 Bar Blender