Easy smoothie heaven!

I've been looking around for a nice hand blender for a while and happened across this deal at our local Sam's club recently. I know that I shouldn't be buying myself things so close to the holidays, but at $30 I couldn't pass it up. All I really wanted was something that I could use to make easy smoothie shakes and chop up items in soups that I make at home. When I saw this deal I was hooked because it also included the mini food processor AND the whisk attachment.

Features

The features are pretty impressive:

200 watt motor
easy-rinse stainless steel housing
Quick switch attachments
comfortable grip with pulse switch
Whisk attachment
Chopper attachment

I'll tackle these one at a time. First off:
200 watt motor
This means this thing has plenty of power to buzz its way through hard objects. I was able to grind through ice and frozen berries rapidly and without any hassle. I wouldn't try buzzing through chicken bones, but I have little doubt this device COULD do it.

Easy Rinse Stainless Housing
Simply put - this unit is easy to clean. You can detach all of the "working end" parts of the unit and place them in a dishwasher safely. Usually I just rinse under warm water and let dry. The stainless housing also looks MUCH better (in my option) than the gaudy white devices I've seen around.

Quick Switch Attachments
To take off one attachment and go to another all you have to do is press a button, pull the old attachment off, and snap the next one in place. Literally it takes less than a second and I have used this feature OFTEN. I'll be whisking egg whites into a froth and immediately switch to the blending attachment to puree my soup (I do all my cooking on one day during the week).


Comfortable Grip with Pulse Switch
Pretty easy to figure out. It fits comfortably in your hand and your fingers rest easily on the on/off switch.

Whisk Attachment
Essentialy this is a power handheld style whisk. It makes it much easier (in my opinion) to whip cream or beat eggs. I'll still bring my full sized mixer out on occasion, but this whisk is light and easy enough to use that most of the little things I would use the mixer for I instead use this device for.

Chopper Attachment
If you attach the device to the lid of this attachment you have a mini food processor. It works well for small amounts of food.

Use
This thing is a breeze to use. It is light and it fits in my hand pretty well. It is a little on the noisy side, but I have yet to find a power tool for the kitchen that WASN'T noisy....

The first thing I did was make a smoothie. I took the included measuring cup, added 3/4 cup of soy based smoothie base, cut up 1/4 of a bananna, a couple slices of orange, and a hand full of frozen strawberries. To finish it off I added a couple of ice cubes and inserted the blender. The unit buzzed and grinded its way through the frozen items and blended it all into a wonderful and healthy smoothie in about 30 seconds. I disconnected the blender attachment, left it in the measuring cup and took it all to the sink. I poured the smoothie mixture into my cup and rinsed the measuring cup and attachment off with warm water. That was it - no messy cleanup, no special instructions, nothing. Add ingredients, blend, rinse.

After that I did some cooking and was delighted to see that I didn't have to drag my big mixer out of the cupboard. I have a small kitchen so any space I save is precious. I was able to use the blender to soften soup in the crock pot, quickly mash potatoes, and mix heavy cream into a base for dessert. In between each course all I did was rinse the attachment under water briefly and moved on to the next item on my list.

The results were smooth and consistent and were achieved very quickly. I didn't have to pour the hot soup into a blender or food processor to puree THEN pour it back into the pot to finish cooking. A few presses of the button and the job was done

Issues
So far I have not had a single issue with the unit other than making my wife mad at taking away one more gift idea she had for me. The unit is strong and has a very sturdy feel. The only gripe I have is that there is no speed adjustment on this unit. It is either ON or OFF which means you have to quickly pulse the unit if you think the soup pot you are blending in isn't quite big enough to keep from overflowing. Other than that one little gripe, this thing is perfect

Conclusions
Overall I am most impressed. I have come to expect a lot from the Cuisinart brand name and this device lives up to my expectations. All the attachments seem to work very well and I have the feeling that I will still be using it 10 years from now.


*** UPDATE 12/19 ***
I have now had this unit for almost three weeks and have used it quite a bit. I'd say I average using it once a day and yesterday the bottom of the plastic measuring cup they include for making smoothies cracked causing all of my smoothie mix to leak out. I will contact Cuisinart to see if they will replace it for me.