Good Light Duty Immersion Blender Know Thy Limits
Overview: 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.
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| Brand | Cuisinart |
| Color | Brushed Chrome |
| Style | Modern |
| Recommended Uses For Product | Blending |
| Power Source | Corded Electric |
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Cuisinart CSB-75BC Smart Stick 200 Watt 2 Speed Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome
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Compare with similar items
 | Cuisinart CSB-179 Smart Stick Variable Speed Hand Blender, Stainless Steel | Cuisinart CSB-75BC Smart Stick 200 Watt 2 Speed Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome | CUISINART SmartStick 2-Speed Hand Blender with Chopper Attachment | Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender with Storage Bag | All-Clad Cordless Rechargeable Stainless Steel Immersion Multi-Functional Hand Blender, 5-Speed, Silver | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | (3187) | (4281) | (8470) | (1001) | (153) | (1556) |
| Price | $129.99 | $69.99 | $129.99 | $83.79 | $34.99 | $179.95 |
| Sold By | AM Shopping | Amazon.com | BDWFinds | ZAB Deals | Gibdevelopments | Amazon.com |
| Color | Brushed Chrome | Stainless Steel | Brushed Chrome | Silver | — | Silver |
| Item Dimensions | 3.3 x 3.3 x 14.25 inches | 5.5 x 8.5 x 13 inches | 4.8 x 4.8 x 15.75 inches | 5.75 x 8.75 x 13 inches | — | 11.02 x 7.17 x 4.96 inches |
| Item Weight | 2.50 lbs | 4.20 lbs | 2.20 lbs | — | 3.20 lbs | 3.02 lbs |
| Material | Plastic, Metal | Stainless Steel | Plastic | Stainless Steel | Plastic, Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel |
| Wattage | 200.00 | 300 watts | 200 watts | 300.0 watts | 300 watts | 600.0 watts |
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