Cuisinart Velocity Ultra 1 Hp Blender + Reviews
While almost every blender we tested was of the high-performance variety , we kept seeing extremely positive reviews for this conventional KitchenAid model. And in fact, this one pulsed and crushed ice and basic smoothie ingredients better than its high-performance counterpart from KitchenAid, which we also tested . However, because it isn’t high-performance, it isn’t as well-equipped to hander studier ingredients; you won’t be able to make nut butters or milks in this model. Perhaps you aspire to fill your diet with nutrient-packed smoothies, homemade almond milk, or tropical cocktails. If so, finding the best blender—full-size or personal, depending on your needs—is crucial. Blenders range from straightforward ice-crushing machines to button-laden beats with tons of extra features, so finding the right model for you can be a bit of a challenge.
Keep in mind that Cuisinart does charge shipping fees, so you’ll have to pay a bit even under warranty. The Cuisinart HB-155PC Smart Stick Stainless Steel Hand Blender is an electric immersion blender that’s compact and easy to use but has less functionality and doesn’t cuisinart pots and pans set feel very durable. This model’s 500-watt motor is reasonably strong, though we found the blades less durable. Our least favorite feature was the plastic gears, which break easily. Cuisinart does offer replacement parts, along with a good three-year warranty.
Personal blenders are smaller machines designed to take up much less space in your kitchen and make one-off, rather than larger batched, recipes. Most are set up to take your blended smoothie immediately on the go straight from the motor with the addition of a sippable lid. For the personal blenders, we first used each machine to make a simple pesto—a popular use case for a small but highly-powered machine. We washed each blender by hand, and then made a smoothie in each, ensuring that we wouldn’t taste residual garlic and basil in our fruity drinks. We made each smoothie with two larges leaves of kale , a handful of frozen mango, another of frozen blueberries, and a splash of almond milk.
It took us a moment to figure out that we had to hold down the unlock button and the on button to start the blender. This two-button safety feature may cause some trouble for individuals with limited dexterity or the use of only one hand. After our first recipe, we discovered another joy — the Smart Stick is super easy to clean, more than any standard blender we had ever used. Because the blending shaft can be removed from the motor body, it can be hand-washed in hot water with mild detergent. If anything splatters on the motor body after unplugging, it just needs to be wiped clean with a damp cloth or sponge. You should never immerse the motor body in water or put it in the dishwasher.
It features simple controls with an on/off switch, a high/variable switch, and a dial for varying the power level yourself. It has no extra buttons or specialized settings—but we didn’t miss them. This is just a straightforward, extremely efficient, high-performance blender packing a ton of power. The motor isn’t powerful enough to handle heavy blending, and the carving knife is too long and bulky to be useful or easy to store. The 500-watt motor isn’t very powerful and may burn out quickly, and the blending capacity is small, so you won’t be able to efficiently blend large quantities.