CuisinartCSB-76MR SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender, Metallic Red

I owned a stick hand blender about 20 years ago and I never used it. The ex-wife got it in the divorce. So fast forward and I wanted to make a winter squash soup. When I received it, glanced at the instructions, rinsed everything and started to make my soup. This thing has plenty of horse power to make quick work of pureeing the lumps of my oven roasted kaboucha squash into a smooth puree. I decided to try it on my homemade mustard and it took me less than 15 seconds to get a finer paste than spending an hour with a mortar and pestle. I just made a garlic olive oil aioli and it was a breeze. If you don't ever make creamy soups, sauces or plan to make fancy food preparations that will impress your foodie friends, you probably don't need it. But, for me, it has brought my cooking up a notch or two and I keep looking for new ways to use it.I've made cream of mushroom soup, potato/mushroom soup, cream of tomato soup, a few winter squash soups using Acorn and Kaboucha squashes. I make my own mustards and I'm gonna be making my own spicy ketchups and other condiment sauces that are sure to delight my foodie friends. If you want to make a squash soup quickly, instead of roasting the squash, microwave it! It won't develop as much flavor as roasting, but it will still be absolutely delicious and nutritious!This is so easy to clean as well. Much easier to clean than my regular stationary blender. Best under $25 small kitchen appliance ever. Well, it's right up there with my Toast-R-Oven.As to those reviews that say they stripped the gears that attach the motor to the shaft... Yes it's hard plastic, but I can't imagine how it would be possible to strip the gears! I say BS!UPDATE 11/2/2012: I now make a breakfast smoothie every morning for the last 6 months using a frozen banana and dried berries, rolled oats, protein powder, milk and it has performed perfectly. I have certainly gotten my money's worth and then some! Sometimes I'll use flax seeds and/or Goji berries where are very hard but this blender just grinds everything up! Love this blender!

Basically, it's a decent blender but the price is high for what it is. Not sure how to rate this, so 4 stars for longevity, ease is use, cleaning, and durability but only 2 for current price ($149.00--wth???) so really I'm at a 3.5 and rounded up).Soooo... I bought this stick blender in 2012 and it's still blending basically just fine. I used to use it almost daily but now It's usually just 1-2x weekly (strictly used for protein shakes mixed with only liquid and powder all these years). However, it's starting to make a squeaky noise when used and I wanted to price a replacement for when it was time.And jeez Louise! The price is now literally 5x what I paid all those years ago. I know prices rise, it's been 8 years, etc., but still! You can buy a cheap-o one for less than $20-$30 that by all accounts will last you 2-3 years. That would be less money spent even if you had to keep replacing them.I guess I'm just surprised by the price. I own this exact one so I know it's not all made out of everlasting steel parts, there's a lot of plastic used in this stick blender. I'm assuming at this point you're just paying for the Cuisinart name? At any rate, mine still works and I will keep using it until it dies and look for a fiscally responsible replacement at that time.

I purchased this mainly to make soap and lotion, or so I thought.The old hand blender: The one I have been using was plastic and stuff seemed to get stuck up inside it. This wasn't so much a problem with the soap (as the lye kills everything); but it was quite problematic with the lotion as it is preservative-free. The more I used the other hand blender the faster the lotion became moldy. It was also not very powerful (which I did not realize until I got the Cuisinart CSB-76PK).The Cuisinart CSB-76PK: This one ROCKS!!! I have made several batches of soap and lotion with it and was amazed at how much more powerful it is than the old immersion hand blender; what a difference!! Its mixing power is incredible! Nothing seems to be getting stuck up inside it; the immersed portion is stainless steel and seems to be sealed really well. My sister was so excited after she used mine she went and purchased one too - and loves it!I was curious as to whether or not it was powerful enough to make Butternut Squash Soup. My sister has a Blendtec $$$ and my mom has a Vitamix $$$ (which are great machines but not in my budget) so whenever I want to make something really creamy and smooth I have to borrow one of them. Well, no longer! I cooked a butternut squash (really well so that it was super soft) and tried out this hand blender. It produced a soup just as smooth and creamy as the Blendtec! I was astounded! It took it a little longer, maybe 3-4 minutes (I can't quite remember) instead of 90 seconds, but big deal. However, I did discover that this hand blender needs to be deep enough in whatever you are trying to blend that it can mix it - I don't think that is typically an issue with the Blendtec/Vitamix as their containers have a much smaller diameter to begin with; with the soup I just switched to a pot with a smaller diameter, added a little milk and it worked like a charm!For Thanksgiving I baked one of the pumpkins from our garden (not nearly long enough so it was still somewhat hard) and then used this handy little machine to puree the pumpkin for our pumpkin pies. They too turned out spectacular! Smooth and creamy even with the pumpkin not being cooked quite long enough.All-in-all this seems to be a fantastic machine, and at a fraction of the cost of the Blendtec and Vitamix (that my mom and sister use) it performs much of the same functions.Two thumbs up and yes, I would buy another one!UPDATE March 2013 - I still love this! It is fantastic and works perfectly for my soaps and lotions. It would probably work really well for other things too, however I have a Blendtec (which I Love!) that I use instead.

I just got this little gadget a short time ago as I wanted to puree soups without having to transfer the liquid in batches. It made a very nice thick potato soup indeed! If you like gluey mashed potatoes it can mash them in no time flat but I think I prefer it used for soup. I tried it for whipped cream in a regular bowl and ended up switching to my hand beater as I was more comfortable with that method thinking I would get more fluff. It may just take longer using the smart stick but I can say it did a decent job even if it was a little flat. Using the container it came with might have improved the results drastically and I will also add my bowl was not chilled. What do I really use this little bugger for? Smoothies! Yes, I mean the ones using frozen fruit including whole strawberries. If you have read other reviews you may be thinking, "Whoa there, are you nuts?" I can only say that while I hesitated to give it a try, a genle repetitive tapping motion is all that is needed and in under a minute I had an individual sized smoothie that put a big smile on my daughters face. The money I save from using frozen fruit puts a smile on my face and I know this gadget will get a lot of use in the summer. I love the color as that is also my daughters favorite and I love that it can be cleaned with soapy hot water in the accessory cup and a little whiz at the push of the button. I have noted it is not smart to try and inspect the blades with fingers, particularly if it is still plugged in! Sounds like a "we all do dumb things" commercial to me. When I ordered it I was wondering how long the pink would stay pink but the metal wand portion is quite long and the pink handle part did not get into my soup at all so I no longer worry about the color of the handle but simply enjoy that it makes my daughter show more interest in learning how to make things herself. That blade is adequately covered so with some adult supervision and some common sense, I expect she may enjoy giving me some extra help in the kitchen. Using a gentle tapping motion, I would even consider using this product with one of my nonstick pots to see how it goes. As this is a new alliance in our home I can't predict how long it lasts but I can say it is very easy to use, even for people like me who have trouble with their hands. I certainly would buy one for a friend as a gift and I love that I can now get my daily fruit allowance in a way I really enjoy. Buy this and give Jamie's food revolution smoothie recipe a try. I promise your kids will never know it has oats in it. I use oat bran or leftover cooked oatmeal in mine and it is becoming a daily treat. The accessory cup is just the right size for whipping up a fantastic smoothie in a snap.Update: it has ben almost two years but I just go this out the other day and we enjoyed smoothies again. The cup provided makes enough for one 16 oz glass and we made 5 of those in a row without a problem. The pink color still looks great too.

Good Light Duty Immersion Blender Know Thy LimitsOverview: Good, cheap, consumer grade, single speed pulsing, immersion blender. Know and respect its limits. It cannot crush ice or thrash apart nuts and grains. It's for "soft" vegetables as one ACE employee put it to me, and has a lurking design flaw (or feature). For about 30 dollars its might be worth a whirl and has many design features that upend the more expensive models from the likes of Breville, Miallegro, Krups, and De Longhi. It has nowhere near the blending capacity of a professional blender such as the  Waring Quick Stik 10" Immersion Blender  or the  Dynamic -Mini Pro - MX070 Commercial Hand Mixer - Immersion Blender .As an immersion blender the Cuisinart CSB 76DSLT 200 Watt is a good consumer grade immersion blender*. But it does have a few - now somewhat notorious - design flaws. Here are my impressions after using two different colors of the same model over the past 6 months, neither has broken yet. First, The Good:The blender shaft, foot, and blade are made of stainless steel and its form is easy to clean. The perforated foot affords good flow of food into the thrashing chamber. The upper housing plastic feel sturdy and strong. Only two controls exist: a large and easy to hit pulse trigger at the top and the foot release near the bottom of the motor housing's rear. The exceptionally ergonomically designed handle at the top is ambidextrous but only feels good to the hand if held in the intended way. Finally, the power cord is long and seems durable, although not un-meltable, and must be carefully watched when pureeing near a hot pan and stove. It should be warned the the faux metal finishes look cheap and well fake compared to the single color options available.The Bad: Atop the metal shaft lurks a plastic shoulder, a nightmare for those considering the frequent onslaught of a washing machine. Inside the shoulder lurks the evil mastermind of this carnivorous blending contraption: the notorious PLASTIC coupling mechanism. This is continually cited as the failing point of this blender and necessitates the reduce of one star in addition to a stern warning: as an consumer grade immersion blender this Smart Stick will degrade much faster than normal if used to blend ice or other hard materials. Although the product literature states ice blending is a feature, it is mostly a risky feature for Cuisinart's sale department as this habit will force you to buy another, and then another. Many users have seen the plastic coupling gear rip apart.The Okay: The price of this blender, ranging from $25 to $35 dollars on Amazon.com (see CamelCamelCamel.com), is on the low end of real immersion blenders (there are some devices which could barely blend liquid water that cost less). At this price one could imagine trying to barely blend barley, having the motor die, or the gear coupling ripe apart.The Hot: This unit gets hot - especially when the pulse button forget its true identity. Continuous operation of this blender is neither recommended by me or Cuisinart itself. I have called the "on" button a pulse button exactly for this reason. In fact this could be viewed as a design feature since it will encourage more proper use of the blender. Pulsing allows the viscous liquid to settle encouraging new un-blended bits to enter the thrashing chamber.The Usage: This Immersive blender can achieve many different styles of blending from true puréeing to impulsion to frothing. Some Cuisinat literature has suggested that warm milk can be frothed for cappuccinos, this is simply not possible.My Advice: If its your first time immersing your self into the world of immersion blenders then give it a go. If your looking for a special purpose blender with durability and extended continuous operation, you need to submerge yourself further.Four Stars - the plastic coupling mechanism, really this is just being cheap.(*) An important distinction to be made, one I learned the hard way. It is that immersion blenders are not blenders without the blender jar. They operate in opposite ways. One points downward and has very little circulation space to whip around the bits being blended. The other is limited in its ability to puree large chunks without liquid yet has great power and emulsifying capabilities.And of course, immersion blenders do not leak whereas some blenders do. Additionally, blenders usually have much more powerful motors than their consumer grade immersive counterparts. After this brief dunk into the world of blenders, I hope your mind is ajar and creatively thinking about all the possibilities for blending devices. Waring Quick Stik 10" Immersion BlenderDynamic -Mini Pro - MX070 Commercial Hand Mixer - Immersion Blender