This hand mixer is an upgraded version of the
Cuisinart HM-70 Power Advantage 7-Speed Hand Mixer, Stainless and White which is recommended by Cook's Illustrated. That version, however, does not have dough hooks, which I specifically wanted in a mixer, since there are increasingly more and more recipes out there that assume the baker has a stand mixer these day and it's not easy to configure all of them to hand kneading. I currently don't have the budget for a stand mixer so I thought this would be a good compromise.
PROs:
- Quiet. On lower speeds (1 to 5), it makes merely a vibrating noise. Even when I work with particularly stiff doughs, it still doesn't make a whole lot of sound. This is a giant relief for someone who is upgrading from a Black and Decker model which shrieks horribly on the lowest speed.
- Powerful. I've made bread doughs with this machine, some of them quite dense. It always plows through them.
- Wide range of speed. The number 1 speed is significantly lower than number 5 which is significantly lower than number 9. This is good for when you just want to combine ingredients without overmixing or having flour splattering every where. Also, stand mixer recipes that call for, say, "put the mixer on medium-low speed" can be easily adapted to this mixer as opposed to my old one, where all the five speeds are kind of the same.
- Storage case. I appreciate the extra feature that helps me organize all the components.
CONs:
- Dough hooks not very effective. Like I said, I bought this mixer specifically for the dough hooks, and they turned out disappointing. To make them work ideally, you would have to have two sets of hands, one to hold the bowl in place, and one to guide the mixer, imitating the actions of a stand mixer. I've managed to knead a number of dough with the hooks, but it does take understanding and knowledge of how the ingredients are combined to make it work. In lieu of fifteen minutes of hand kneading, you would have to run this hand mixer through the dough for fifteen minutes, so no improvement here. It might be helpful for a new baker intimidated by hand kneading, but it is no less difficult or laborious.
- Cord is a little difficult to fold into the storage case. This is a very minor agitation.
Overall, this hand mixer is okay. The Cuisinart HM-70, $20.00 cheaper, may have been a better purchase. If you are looking to buy this mixer for the dough hook feature, I would advise against it.