Product Description

Puree chunks of vegetables into a velvety-smooth soup or whip egg whites into a meringue for your pie using the Cuisinart SmartStick. Included with your SmartStick is a whisk and chopper attachment to extend this blender's performance. Blend or whip in a bowl, pitcher or pot. With the chopper attached, you can even chop onions or celery in seconds. The SmartStick has a push button control for continuous pulse action. It operates on 200 watts and has a comfy grip. This blender is not cordless and requires an electrical outlet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112414 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Cuisinart
• Model: CSB-77W
• Released on: 2007-06-01
• Dimensions: 3.60 pounds

Features

• 200-watt immersion hand blender housed in brushed stainless steel
• Powerful chopper and whisk attachments provide added versatility
• Lightweight design; easy-to-grip ergonomic handle; simple push-button control
• 16-ounce mixing/measuring beaker and 2-cup mixing container included
• Measures 2-1/8 by 2-3/5 by 14 inches; 3-year limited warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
Equipped with a powerful 200-watt motor, this immersion hand blender quickly purees soups, blends batters, mixes beverages, and more. The unit's unique blade provides extremely smooth and even blending, while its protective blade guard helps prevent splattering. The blender also includes a powerful chopper for chopping or mincing a wide variety of foods, plus a whisk attachment that delivers optimal whipping results. Other useful features include a lightweight design, an easy-to-grip ergonomic handle, and simple push-button control. A 16-ounce mixing/measuring beaker and a 2-cup mixing container are included. The compact immersion blender measures 2-1/8 by 2-3/5 by 14 inches and carries a three-year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Love those plastic innards
I purchased this blender in August 2005 and used it several times successfully. On the first really chilly day in October 2005, I was getting ready to puree a giant batch of homemade tomato sauce that had been simmering all day. I put the blender in my sauce and pushed the button. It made a weak, strained noise, emitted a 'burned motor' odor, and I found that the blades were not spinning. I took the shaft off the motor and found little bits of black plastic. Apparently, the axle (inner shaft?) had disintegrated and what didn't land in my food was rattling around inside the detatchable blender shaft. I bought this thing to replace a regular Farberware blender that gave out in a similar manner. Even though I can still use the food processor and whisk attachments, I once again have no blender. If I choose to send the offending part back to be replaced, I am out $10 for shipping, however much for insurance, and my time to go to the shipping store. I am off to Sprawl-Mart to get a cheap stick and I won't be so disappointed when it dies--and I'll bet it can last more than 2 months!

Why didn't I buy this before?
I bought this immersion blender when I went to take an extended holiday at my parents house and wanted to make some blended soups. The cuisinart is an upgrade from the simple one I have back at home, but it's only $10-15 more expensive. (The Amazon listing currently has it at about $38.)

Its powerful motor blends quickly and effectively. The leek and potato vichyssoise I was making was so smooth, it was as if I put it through a strainer. And, of course, b/c it's an immersion blender, there were no additional containers to wash up (a blender cup, a strainer, or cheesecloth), since you put the blender straight into the pot to blend. Also, for those of you who've never used one before, the blade is effectively separated from the bottom of the blender, so you don't get scratching on your pots.

A big change of the cuisinart over my immersion blender at home is also the fact that its bottom is made of stainless steel instead of plastic. Sure, the plastic will save you a few bucks, but if you're like me and are a little impatient waiting for your pot of soup to cool down completely before blending it, then who knows what sort of chemicals are released when you heat up the plastic right in your food. Recent studies have shown that plasticides aren't so great when heated up against food and I have a feeling that the trend is simply going to increase as more studies are done. So it's nice that this is just one extra thing of plastic that I don't have to put in my food.

Of course, there are the bonus pieces. It comes with a mixing bowl, a whisk attachment (which I admit I haven't used yet), and a chopper attachment. The chopper works similar to a food processor, but it's not going to replace a large food processor any day. First, you have to cut your vegetables pretty small in order to even get it into there. Then, if you actually want it to work, you realize that you have to cut the pieces even smaller. So, after cutting my potatoes into cubes, I was able to use the chopper attachment to finely cut it into mush. But you're not going to get small cuts with the chopper attachment. Either you have the mush, or you're going to have large chunks of vegetables with a little mush that's been shaved off the chunks. But again, it's a great tool if you need to cut broccoli, potatoes, or other veggies into your soups or casseroles, and need it cut finely but not quite liquify it.

All in all, it's a great buy and highly recommended. It's also available in stainless steel with black trim.

Don't be fooled by the looks
I purchased this hand blender for my wife last Christmas, 2007. She has used it regularly with good results. However, today the gears in the main body broke and a new one can be purchased for around $25 plus shipping, so in the $35 range. The main body is on backorder, which is not a surprise since many others must be experiencing the same trouble.

Her previous hand blender was purchased at Walmart for $25 and never had a problem. She gave it to our daughter this summer since she had an extra blender.

We like the stainless look but wish the insides were a little more sturdy. My wife will be purchasing her next blender at Walmart for about half the money and it won't be a Cuisinart unit.

Brad