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Cuisinart CSB-175 vs Vitamix Immersion Side-by-Side Comparison
Our Verdict
- Performance (50%)7.4/10
- Design (20%)8.5/10
- Usability (30%)7.8/10
- Performance (50%)8.6/10
- Design (20%)9.1/10
- Usability (30%)8.2/10
The choice between the Cuisinart and the Vitamix is more about your budget than any other factor.
As a premium blender, the Vitamix costs roughly three times as much as the Cuisinart. That high price reflects its exceptionally high power and outstanding durability.
Although they’re roughly equal in terms of functionality, the Vitamix certainly looks much sleeker. It’s not perfect, but overall we’d call it the most efficient heavy-duty hand blender on the market today. The Cuisinart, on the other hand, is a more modest design intended for light-duty tasks.
Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender Performance
- Hot Soup Purée (35%)7.0/10
- Frozen Fruit Smoothie (30%)7.5/10
- Mayonnaise (15%)9.3/10
- Almond Milk (15%)9.0/10
- Whipped Egg-Whites (5%)0/10
- Hot Soup Purée (35%)9.5/10
- Frozen Fruit Smoothie (30%)8.8/10
- Mayonnaise (15%)8.3/10
- Almond Milk (15%)9.3/10
- Whipped Egg-Whites (5%)0/10
Hot Soup Purée
- Pureeing Time: 30 seconds
- Result: Silky chunky
- Suction: Slightly
Despite being among the least expensive mid-range blenders on our testing list, this Cuisinart is plenty quick, taking only 30 seconds to give us a pot of soup. Still, we were just moderately satisfied with its performance. The soup was not well pureed enough to look entirely smooth. After we drained it through a strainer, we noticed many foods still remained unprocessed. For the best pureés maker, we recommend the Vitamix 5-speed.
- Pureeing Time: 30 seconds
- Result: Exceptionally smooth
- Suction: No
Pureeing hot soup wasn't challenging the Vitamix thanks to its powerful motor and razor-sharp blades. Although it wasn’t any faster than its counterparts in pureeing time, it warranted the higher cost by providing us with a nutrient-dense purée of silky smooth texture. It also stood out from the rest with a non-suction performance that helped keep splashing to minimal.
Indeed, the Vitamix is the most suitable hand blender for preparing restaurant-quality soup at home. It’s a great bargain for any recipes that involve fibrous food, too. If you’re now looking for a tool that can consistently ensure the smoothest blends, we particularly love and recommend this blender.
Frozen Fruit Smoothie
- Blending Time: 1 min 20 secs
- Result: Slightly Coarse
- Suction: Slightly
Although the Cuisinart CSB-175 Smart Stick could pass this test in 1 minute and 20 seconds, it had a very hard time grinding frozen fruits. By comparison, its counterparts — the Vitamix 5-speed and the Braun MultiQuick-5 — could turn all the ingredients into a green silky smoothie without a struggle.
The Cuisinart’s smoothie was acceptable but didn’t have the smoothest texture. It came out rather lumpy due to kale chunks. Our straw got clogged now and then with bits that were still too big.
- Blending Time: 1 min 5 secs
- Result: Smooth
- Suction: No
The Vitamix took only 1 minute and 5 seconds to complete this test. By comparison, its counterparts such as the UTALENT 5-in-1 and the Hamilton Beach 2-speed required nearly double the time.
Regarding the smoothie’s texture, of all the blenders we tested, only the Vitamix could churn out a thick, creamy smoothie with almost no solids left behind. Plus, despite being longer and heavier, it operated well in our 24-oz blending jar while the BPA-free plastic bell guard helped prevent scratches on the jar’s surfaces.
Mayonnaise
- Emulsifying Time: 1 min 10 secs
- Result: Smooth
- Suction: Yes
Coming off the other tests, we didn’t expect much out of our Cuisinart when it came to making mayonnaise. For the most part, we agreed that a whisk attachment would emulsify sauce far better than any ordinary blending shaft. But as it turned out, of all the blenders we tested, the Cuisinart was the fastest to yield a creamy, mouthwatering sauce. It even beat the Braun’s whisk attachment by about 30 seconds, though in both cases, the mayonnaise’s texture was essentially the same.
Still, there was a minor drawback. When the mayonnaise began to thicken, our blender suctioned itself tightly to the beaker’s bottom, making it a bit trickier for us to move the blending wand around. Nevertheless, given this blender’s outstanding performance, this issue wasn’t a true dealbreaker and should be tolerated.
- Emulsifying Time: 1 mins 40 secs
- Result: Quite Thick
- Suction: No
In this test, most of the blenders produced acceptable outcomes and only our culinary expert could tell the differences between them. However, the Vitamix didn’t have the fastest performance, requiring about one minute and forty seconds to incorporate all the ingredients. This was around 30 seconds slower than the winners, including the Cuisinart Smart Stick, KOIOS 4-in-1, BELL 10-speed, and Chefman cordless.
This is because when the mayonnaise emulsified and started to thicken, the blending wand generated a suction force, pulling itself against the container’s bottom. That made movement more difficult and slowed the whole process down. We don’t necessarily consider the time to be a deal-breaker. Since the blender itself is quite heavy, though, the longer the process takes, the more it will fatigue your hands.
In conclusion, despite this drawback, the Vitamix is an acceptable alternative to a hand mixer for preparing mayonnaise or other emulsified sauces. Still, it is not the best hand blender for this job and ideal results may require extra effort.
Almond Milk
- Grinding Time: 40 secs
- Result: Fine
- Suction: Tightly
This Cuisinart performed fairly well in this test. Besides being the fastest contender, it also blended quite uniformly. While it did create suction and cause a humble mess when we lifted the blending wand upward, it sustained a nice vortex, so our liquid didn’t overflow. In contrast, some models, such as the Hamilton Beach 2-speed and the Mueller Ultra-Stick couldn’t produce the consistent vortex. This caused the liquid to overflow excessively when we turned them up to higher speeds.
- Grinding Time: 40 secs
- Result: Fine
- Suction: Slightly
The Vitamix took just 40 seconds to yield one serving of drinkable almond milk.
That said, from start to finish, its crushing process didn’t go very well. The almond skins, along with peeled chunks, became lodged in the blade guard. We had to stop the blender temporarily and use a spatula to dislodge the food, which we didn’t have to do with other models, such as the Braun MultiQuick-5.
That said, from start to finish, its crushing process didn’t go very well. The almond skins, along with peeled chunks, became lodged in the blade guard. We had to stop the blender temporarily and use a spatula to dislodge the food, which we didn’t have to do with other models.
Not only that, but because the Vitamix couldn’t create a consistent vortex, everything got close to overflowing when we increased the speed.
Suction was a problem again as well. As a result, we got some almond spatter when we tried to lift up the wand. Most of the splatter-related issues could probably be avoided, though, if we blended it in a taller or larger jar.
Whipped Egg-Whites
- Beating Time: N/A
- Result: N/A
- Suction: N/A
Of all the blenders we tested, only machines with whisk attachments could draw enough air into the egg-whites to create a stiff peak. The Cuisinart's ordinary blending shaft, on the other hand, just gave us a cloudy liquid made of two layers: bubbly film and eggy water. We awarded this blender no points for this test.
- Beating Time: N/A
- Result: N/A
- Suction: N/A
The Vitamix could be a great all-around blender if it included a whisk attachment. This is because, in our test, there was no way the immersion blender could beat egg-white with its ordinary blending shaft. Unlike a whisk attachment, the blending shaft can’t force air into the egg whites, which is the way to create an even, bubbly foam. Consequently, the result was a cloudy liquid with two separate layers of bubble film and eggy water. We awarded it no points for this test.
Cuisinart Smart Stick 2-Speed Design
- Blending Shaft (30%)8.0/10
- Build Quality (60%)8.5/10
- Power Cord (5%)10/10
- Beaker (5%)10/10
- Blending Shaft (30%)9.5/10
- Build Quality (60%)9.5/10
- Power Cord (5%)10/10
- Beaker (5%)0/10
Speed and Controls of the Cuisinart Smart Stick 2-Speed
- Control Type:Press
- Min Speed:11,670 RPM
- Max Speed:12,660 RPM
- Presets:No
- Noise Level:80 dB
- Digital Display:No
- Pulse Mode:No
At first sight, we thought this blender would be very easy to use since its two-button interface looks really intuitive.
Unexpectedly enough, we couldn’t figure out how to activate the device until we consulted the user manual. Not only that, but we also needed quite a lot of practice to operate it smoothly. Unlike others, this blender has an additional locking button which acts as a safety mechanism.
The locking button must be held down along with the operational button. That paired-button operation forced us to use two hands in some cases — certainly not what we’d call user-friendly.
The Cuisinart Smart Stick also allows us to switch between the two speed options (Low and High) with the slide control. We’d prefer more than two settings since multiple speeds give us more control over the food’s texture.
That being said, the slider also makes this blender more complicated to use, especially when the dial’s location is entirely separated from the On/Off button. It’s tough for one person to use the blender, adjust its speed, and hold the beaker at the same time, so we had to stop blending to speed up or slow down.
- Control Type:Press
- Min Speed:8,600 RPM
- Max Speed:15,700 RPM
- Presets:No
- Noise Level:85 dB
- Digital Display:Yes
- Pulse Mode:No
We particularly like this blender’s intuitive interface. You can get five different speeds out of it but there are only two buttons on the front. You won’t need much practice to operate them smoothly; we figured out how they worked before reading the user manual. As a visual aid, this blender also has an LED display on top indicating the speed.
The Vitamix is also different from others in terms of its acceleration. Its speed steps up gradually rather than the violent torques others create. That went a long way toward preventing messes and should also prolong the motor’s lifespan.
Blending Shaft
- Material:Stainless steel
- Type:Sharp Blade
- Guard Material:Metal
- Blade Count:2
- Removable:No
- Dishwasher Safe:No
The Cuisinart’s blade has two prongs: one sharp and the other blunt. Although it isn’t as high quality as the Vitamix, it can withstand consistent use. It even defeated its higher-priced counterpart in our mayonnaise test despite being the underdog.
A metal housing partially covers the fixed stainless steel blade to keep splashing to a minimum. This blade guard, however, left much to be desired in our test due to its awkward design. Rather than being a solid piece like others, it has several small holes which significantly degrade the shielding’s effectiveness.
Not only that, but the metal blade guard also caused scratches on the blender’s original beaker in its smoothie task. This is too awful even to be imagined.
- Material:Stainless Steel
- Type:Sharp Blade
- Guard Material:BPA-free plastic
- Blade Count:4
- Removable:No
- Dishwasher Safe:No
The Vitamix’s blade is constructed of hardened stainless steel. Featuring 4 prongs, this is a unique blade assembly found exclusively in Vitamix-brand hand blenders. There is also a permanent bell-shaped guard at the end of the blending wand. As advertised by its manufacturer, this blade guard can efficiently reduce suction. Made of BPA-free plastic, the bell’s rim should help protect the interior surfaces of your cookware or blending containers.
In the Box Cuisinart Smart Stick
- Motor body
- Blending shaft
- 24-oz beaker
- User manual
The Cuisinart CSB-175 Smart Stick set includes 4 items: a blender motor body, a blending shaft, a 20-ounce beaker, and a user manual. Before using your blender for the first time, make sure to clean it thoroughly following the user manual’s instructions. For safe operations, you should also comply with all the basic safety precautions issued by the Cuisinart manufacturers.
- Motor body
- Blending shaft
- User manual
In the package, you will find a handheld motor section, blending wand, and owner’s manual. The lack of additional accessories like a blending jar or a whisk attachment did make us hesitant about the high price. Nevertheless, as soon as we had a hands-on go at this blender, its solid construction proved that it was worth the money.
Dimensions
- Height:15.6" (39.6 cm)
- Width:2.3" (5.8 cm)
- Weight:1.6 lbs (0.7 kg)
- Shaft Length:8.4" (21.3 cm)
Stylish and portable, the Cuisinart CSB-175 Smart Stick offers a delicate balance of weight, size, and aesthetics. With a reasonably sized blending shaft, it doesn’t have any difficulty operating even in deep pots. Plus, it is compact enough that it fits easily into a drawer for storage.
- Height:17.5" (44.5 cm)
- Width:3.0" (7.6 cm)
- Weight:3.2 lbs (1.4 kg)
- Shaft Length:9.2" (23.4 cm)
Compared with others, this blender is quite tall, measuring about 17.5 inches tall, 3 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. That length may allow it to reach the bottom of deep pots more easily. At 3.2 pounds, it is also heavier than most — we were pretty shocked by its weight at first.
Build Quality
Although this blender is mostly made of plastic, its motor body looks and feels as solid as the stainless steel wand component. Even so, it may become discolored with use.
The stainless steel blending wand is built well enough to endure regular use. So far, our blades have shown no signs of rusting or dulling, but we have found a user’s complaint about her blade that snapped in half after just two months of use.
The controls are of decent quality. They are easier to press than those of the Braun MultiQuick-5 and seem to be much more durable than the Mueller Ultra-Stick. Other than an awkward power button (to be discussed later) we were quite pleased with this unique design.
The Vitamix 5-speed is a simple, high-end blender. Mostly made of stainless steel, it is sturdy and appeals to us aesthetically as well. We’re confident when we say it’s among the few hand blenders on the market that provide the right balance of performance, quality, and value. Better built than most, we also believed its exterior is less likely to be damaged or succumb to basic wear and tear over time.
Beaker
- Material:Plastic
- Capacity:NaN fl oz (NaN ml)
- Measurements:Yes
- Weight:0.2 oz (7 g)
- Height:6.5" (16.5 cm)
- Dishwasher Safe:Yes
- Tamper Included:No
Made of eco-friendly food-grade plastic, the beaker is entirely safe for use with any ingredients. It’s top-rack dishwasher-safe but doesn’t resist shattering, so we still recommend washing it manually to avoid any possible damage. Since it isn’t designed to withstand high temperatures, you also shouldn’t use it to blend hot liquid.
Besides the measurement marks, a wide pour spout is also a nice feature of Cuisinart’s beaker. When we used it to pour out the smoothie, we experienced less spillage than with other blender jars.
- Material:N/A
- Capacity:NaN fl oz (NaN ml)
- Measurements:N/A
- Weight:NaN oz (NaN g)
- Height:NaN" (NaN cm)
- Dishwasher Safe:N/A
- Tamper Included:N/A
As mentioned above, the Vitamix immersion blender doesn’t come with a particular blending container, but we ensure you can easily buy an optional one of any brand on the market.
Power Cord
- Cord Length:6.0 ft (1.8 m)
- Type:2-prong plug
- Detachable:No
The power cord has a reasonable length. Its plug is polarized so it will only be inserted one way into your outlet. For ultimate cable management, Cuisinart also included a nylon zip tie.
- Cord Length:4.9 ft (1.5 m)
- Type:No
- Detachable:2-prong plug
The Vitamix features a polarized power cord whose one pin is slightly wider than the other. As a safety feature, you can only insert its plug into a polarized electrical outlet in one direction. Should the plug doesn’t fit in your receptacle, make sure you will not force it or try to trim down the pins. Instead, you should contact a qualified electrician for a proper solution.
Extra Accessories
- Material:N/A
- Dishwasher Safe:N/A
- Removable:N/A
The Cuisinart doesn’t come with any accessories other than the 24-oz pitcher.
- Material:N/A
- Dishwasher Safe:N/A
- Removable:N/A
There is no additional attachment included. If you want to use blending attachments other than the stainless steel shaft provided with this appliance, make sure they’re recommended or offered separately from the Vitamix’s manufacturers.
Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender Usability
- Ease Of Use (60%)7.6/10
- Blade Assembly (10%)9.0/10
- Handling (20%)8.0/10
- Cleanability (10%)7.5/10
- Ease of Use (60%)8.4/10
- Blade Assembly (10%)8.0/10
- Handling (20%)8.5/10
- Cleanability (10%)7.0/10
Ease Of Use
At first sight, we thought this blender would be very easy to use due to its simple-designed interface.Unexpectedly enough, however, we couldn’t figure out how to activate the device until we consulted the user manual. Not only that, but we also needed quite a lot of practice to operate it smoothly.
Unlike others, this blender has an additional locking button which acts as a safety mechanism. The locking button must be held down along with the operational button. That paired-button operation forced us to use two hands in some cases — certainly not what we’d call user-friendly.
Given that the dial’s location is entirely separated from the On/Off button, it’s also quite tough for use to use the blender, adjust its speed, and hold the beaker at the same time. More often than not, we felt very annoyed when having to stop blending if we wanted to speed up or slow down.
Another drawback was that all sorts of our blending motions, from stirring to drawing up, weren’t performed with ease. In particular, when the mayonnaise began to thicken, the blender suctioned itself tightly to the beaker’s bottom, making it a bit trickier for us to move its blending wand around.
Likewise, in the hot soup test, the suction force created by the blender was so excessive that it entirely threw off our momentum when we were struggling to pull it out. Together with the absurdly-designed blade guard, this caused us lots of splatter every single time we moved our hand. Indeed, no other blenders we tested created as much mess as the Cuisinart.
There was also a problem in the smoothie test. At some points, this blender demanded we temporarily stop to dislodge the food trapped in its blade guard’s holes. And since blending frozen fruit was a prolonged procedure, it took a toll on the motor. Therefore, we had to let it rest every 60 seconds, and this was so inconvenient.
Despite the relatively heavy-weight, The Vitamix is comfortable to hold. It even allows for one-handed operation since there are only two control buttons. Not only that, but this blender is also different from others in terms of its acceleration. Its speed steps up gradually rather than the violent torques others create. That went a long way toward preventing messes and should also prolong the motor’s lifespan.
That being said, we noticed that this blender can cause spattering when operating at the highest speed setting if the container’s sides are not tall enough. This isn’t the case with all immersion blenders (for example, the Braun MultiQuick 5 — a mid-range blender — allowed us to start low and increase as we went without any risk of spattering).
On the bright side, the Vitamix doesn’t create as much of a mess as the Cuisinart Smart or the cordless KitchenAid. With the bell guard, it doesn’t suction to the pot’s bottom as much as its counterparts, either. As such, you won’t have to simultaneously lift and stir the wand around. Overall, that meant faster blending times and fewer food splatters.
Blade Assembly
To set up our blender, we attached the blending wand to the motor body until they clicked. When blending was complete, we removed the wand by pressing the release button and pulling it out. The pulling force is relatively large compared to other blenders we’ve had our hands on, so this one was tough to disassemble when our hands were oily.
Like most immersion blenders, the Vitamix breaks down into two parts that connect with a simple twist. Given how heavy the thing is, though, it may be tougher to get the job done if your hands are greasy.
Handling
The Cuisinart’s handle has nothing particularly special. It doesn’t have a rubber layer (like the Vitamix or the Braun MultiQuick-5) to help you maintain a grip. On the bright side, it is ergonomically designed to protect your hand from fatigue.
We’re really impressed with the Vitamix’s ergonomically designed handle. It’s not just about modern looks; this handle is coated with a rubber layer to ensure a comfortable grip, which makes it practical for processing large batches of soup. It’s nice to have that comfort, especially given how heavy the motor is.
This coating is also very handy when you have sweaty or slippery hands. You can focus on your prep work instead of your grip.
Cleanability
Since the blending wand isn’t dishwasher-safe, it demands manual scrubbing after use.
Following each test, most of the food residue rinsed off effortlessly under our running tap. We removed more stubborn remnants using a soapy sponge. Along the way, we didn’t have as much difficulty scrubbing the backs of the blades as we experienced with the Vitamix.
The removable blending wand is not dishwasher-safe, so after each test, we had to clean it by blending water with dish soap and letting the blades clean themselves. Along the way, we noticed a few extra differences between the Vitamix and its competitors which mainly stem from the blending wand design.
Although both the soup and smoothie tailings rinsed off easily under the tap, the Vitamix was the most difficult to clean after making mayonnaise. As an oil-based substance that is both sticky and insoluble in water, we couldn’t remove mayonnaise by blending in warm soapy water alone. A lot of gunk remained until we resorted to a bottle-cleaning brush and specialized cleanser.
But the real problem was cleaning the blades. It was a real challenge to scrub the backsides of those blades. And since the 4-pronged blade assembly is razor-sharp, we had to clean it with extreme caution. What a time-consuming and frustrating process that was!