I started looking for a hand blender after I moved into my apartment. I don't have a mixer, blender, or food processor. I seen a hand blender from a different manufacturer (well known Chef), but it didn't get solid reviews. Being familiar with DeLonghi products and not having too horrible of an experience with them, I decided to go ahead and order this. I'm thinking it's a new model given the lack of reviews out there.
Packaging: A very big box. 20"x16"x6" to be exact contains all the parts and pieces. After unpacking, I was left with a few plastic bags and a lot of cardboard that could be recycled. The box Amazon ships it in is even bigger, but I'm guessing that they have standard size boxes. Be sure to read the instructions and remove the plastic guards around all the blades before using them.
Hand Blender: Pretty sturdy with a nice rubber grip area. It's easy to select motor speeds and there are 2 push buttons for normal and turbo speed. You have to hold them down to keep it going, but that is something I prefer because I want more control when I'm mixing or chopping something. The turn dial on top switches smoothly between speeds and doesn't "click" into a speed. With the 5-speed turn dial on top and the 2 push buttons, there are 6 different speed settings. The power cord is 5-ft long, so there is enough to maneuver around the counter. There are two attachment release buttons that have to be pressed at the same time to remove an attachment. The blender is connected to the attachments by a twisting type motion and not just slammed in. The blender has a 380W motor.
Stainless Steel Tube Tri-blade: The blades are slanted at different angles which cause more of a swirling action when pureeing foods. I pureed some frozen blueberries (with a dash of juice) in seconds. The bottom of the attachment is notched so as to allow flow around the blades & hopefully prevent suction to the bottom of the bowl.
Plastic "Big Foot" Tube Tri-blade: The blades are also slanted at different angles on this as well. Being that it's plastic, it's safe for metal pots & pans. The base of this also has the grooves/notches and is about 4" wide. It turns cooked vegetables into soup with ease.
Blending beaker (2 parts): It's 24 fluid ounces, made of plastic, dishwasher safe, and has a rubber lid that can be burped. There's a handle and it's tall and skinny. I puree food or make whipped cream in it with no problems.
Food Processor (4 parts): The cap for this attaches to the blender and also locks into the bowl with a twist & click. It feels pretty secure. The rubber lid fits on the bottom & top, and it can also be burped. The blades fit onto the metal shaft in the middle and will twist to stay in place. Be careful when removing them. If it doesn't pull off EASILY, then keep twisting until the holes line up with the notches. One annoying thing about the bowl are little "columns" along the outer edges. Food gets caught on them, and they prevent spatulas/spoons from effectively scraping out the bowl. Most of the stuff will come out, but some always gets stuck on those. The bowl, blades, and lid are dishwasher safe, but the cap isn't.
Whisk (2 parts): The whisk slides into the base that then attaches to the blender. This is because the whisk is dishwasher safe, but the base isn't. The whisk is really good for light applications (whipped cream, crepe batter, mousses, meringue, etc), but not for thicker batters (pancake, muffin, cupcake, cake, etc). It's a pretty flimsy whisk, but I don't mind mixing the other batters by hand.
Well, I hope there's enough information there & thanks for reading my review.