Mueller Ultra-Stick vs UTALENT 5-In-1 Immersion Side-by-Side Comparison

None of the low-range blenders we tested churned out the silkiest puree in 30 seconds, but the UTALENT’s soup was so chunky that we couldn’t consider it a pass. Most of the unprocessed chunks, including carrots and celery, are large enough to be visible after straining. Some couldn’t even be blended because they got lodged in the blade guard’s holes.

Making hot soup puree is the easiest and most basic task of an immersion blender so it really doesn’t make sense to buy this one.

Despite being a low-priced blender, the Mueller Ultra-Stick wasn’t any slower than the others we tested. It took about 30 seconds to yield two servings of pureed soup packed with carrots, pumpkin, and parsley.

That said, it wasn’t so good at drawing ingredients toward its blades, so we needed to move it around for an even blend. Moreover, it sucked tightly to the pot’s bottom, which didn’t cause as much spatter as the Cuisinart, but did cause small scratch marks on our cookware’s surface. It also made it very challenging for us to stir with the blending wand.

Our Mueller soup’s texture was acceptable but not the silkiest; there were still several large chunks of veggies left behind.

The UTALENT is definitely not for you if you like your smoothies packed with frozen fruit or green veggies. Apart from being too weak to blend through tough ingredients, it’s also unable to liquify leafy veggies effectively.  

Our smoothie was churned out with a grainy, leafy texture even after up to 2 minutes of processing. Upon stirring it to check its smoothness, we noticed that there were some grains of unprocessed kale still left in the mixture.

Furthermore, the machine required our intervention to draw all the ingredients toward the blades: We had to constantly stir with the blending wand to ensure everything was incorporated. What a frustrating blending process!

To ensure this portable machine can do the work of a full-sized blender for making smoothies, we designed this specific test for it. We would award it corresponding points if it could create a homogeneous mixture of just kale and frozen fruit. Disappointingly, we found that the Mueller Ultra-Stick isn’t great at blending solid fruit and leafy vegetables. 

In this task, it had a very hard time breaking up the ingredients. This caused it to demand up to 1 min 15 secs to finish the test. 

And although the Turbo mode is intended to give the blender ​​an extra boost at max speed, we noticed the speed increment wasn’t enough to make any difference. Our smoothie came out pretty smooth, but there were many unprocessed chunks of mango. It was also a bit grainy due to a mass of tiny leafy bits. For about $35 more, you can upgrade to the better Braun MultiQuick-5.

As this blender shouldn’t run for longer than 60 seconds at the time to avoid damage, we took a break after 30 seconds. In the meantime, we used a spatula to dislodge the food that lodged in the blade guard.

Our mayo sauce was a very simple one: an emulsion of oil blended with egg yolk. We made it in about 1 minute and a half using the blender’s whisk attachment. Regarding its consistency, we wished that it could have been creamier. Although this machine made short work of incorporating all the ingredients, our emulsification came out relatively thick—albeit stable.

Although the Mueller’s whisk attachment has thin, floppy wires, it got the job done in less than two minutes. That was 10 seconds faster than the Braun, whose whisk is more sturdy and springy. It was nearly as fast as the high-end Vitamix and handily beat the cordless KitchenAid by a full minute.

It was also easier to clean. For the most part, its mayonnaise tailings rinsed off easily under our running tap. Using the blending shafts, on the other hand, caused the food to get clogged in the blade housing. As such, it was very challenging for us to scrub off the residuals on the blade’s backsides.

Of all the blenders we tested, the UTALENT was the slowest performer. It took up to two minutes to complete this task — twice as slow as the winner, the Cuisinart Smart Stick. And even still, the nuts weren’t evenly ground. As a result, our milk couldn’t pack the full flavor of almond. It was drinkable but quite watery and not as creamy as it should have been.

Grinding raw nuts shouldn’t be a challenging task for any hand blender. However, our Mueller couldn’t perform any worse, though part of the reason is due to our blending jar — its small size caused the liquid to overflow all over the countertop every single time we moved the blender. So if you intend to use this blender to prepare watery drinks, it’s best to use a bigger container. 

None of the blenders we tested could avoid suction, but the Mueller’s was so strong that it was hard to stir or withdraw the wand, and when we lifted it up the container came with it. These things caused the liquid to easily overflow.

Not only that, but this blender didn’t grind finely enough for a creamy drink. Our almond milk was drinkable, but quite watery and not as sweet as others.

The low power rating made this blender lag behind its rivals. We had to spend a great deal of time to achieve a stiff peak. Of course, it wasn't a big deal to simply blend for a few more minutes but the prolonged operation caused the motor to overheat, thus impairing its durability. Still, this is a pretty common occurrence for most low-grade blenders. To name a few, the Mueller Ultra-Stick, Hamilton Beach 2-Speed, and the BELLA 10-Speed.

Before we began this test, we presumed that all the whisk attachments would perform well at  beating egg-whites, though some may be more efficient than others. Surprisingly, Mueller's performance proved us wrong.

First, it had an advantage over the blending wand in incorporating enough air into the egg whites, allowing the egg-protein to form a stiff, airy foam. What was until its motor seriously overheated several times, requiring us to let it stop and cool down. This issue didn’t regularly occur with the other blenders, and spending so long with the Mueller was tiring.

Even worse, after this test the whisk attachment had lost its original bulbous shape. The strands of looped wire were all out of their initial order, which would impair its performance in the next emulsifying and beating tasks.