I use a raw food blender to make great smoothies almost every day!
You want to choose a very durable blender if you are going raw. Mine is a professional model from Starbucks and has both low and high speeds, as well as a reverse feature where the teeth on the back of the blades are used for crushing ice!
Blenders are also great for making raw desserts. I was on YouTube the other day and saw a woman make chocolate mousse out of primarily raw cacao and avocado using her blender.
Here is raw vegan chef Ani Phyo making ice cream with her blender.
Other than what I have, one of the most consistent brand that gets great reviews for blenders is Oster. If I were ever to start shopping for a new blender I would start looking at Oster which has blenders starting in the $60 range. If you have it in the budget ($300-$400), other popular brands recommended by raw vegans include VitaMix and Blendtec. These have additional features, higher horsepower motors, and larger containers.