This blender arrived on Friday the 11th, and is being returned on Monday, the 14th.

My first suspicion came as I unpacked the blender and I noticed the base was not chrome, but in fact, plastic. (which was not disclosed on the technical information). The cord was thin, and only had two prongs at the end, in comparison with my old Waring blender with a very thick black cord and 3 prongs at the end for heavy duty performance.

My enthusiam dampened, I put an inch of freshly peeled and thinly sliced ginger in the blender, went first to
puree, then to liquify, then with no decent results went through all of the different selections and barely got useable results. I then put in a half of bunch of parsely, (unchopped) read the instruction booklet, tried the selections for different speeds, and end up with chopped parsley flakes everywhere. Unwilling to give up in spite of failed attempts, I added my berries, and applesauce. Berries, sweet, soft berries, and soft applesauce. I pureed, I liquidfied, I went through all the speeds, and ended up with bits of berries, ginger, and tons of parsely flakes everywhere and produced the worst unblended drink in my blending career. Perhaps most people don't blend fresh ginger and parsely (so-o good for you and tasty too), but my old waring blender has been making this drink for me for years, giving me smooth pureed results each time.

Hindsight being better than foresight, I realized I allowed myself to be seduced with the very nice new shape of the blender jar, thinking it would work much better than the old shape, and the new "touch pads" . Wrong on both counts. The wide shortened new shape looks great, but somehow doesn't work as well as the narrow original shape of the blending jars. The touch pads are a pain to use, and you have to be in the right light to see if you've turned the machine on or if it's off. I was very disappointed in the blender, but more in Cusinart, a brand I have trusted for years who makes the best food processor imaginable. So much for trusted brands. I'm refurbishing my Waring blender with new parts, at least I know it works well.

This blender has features to recommend it IF did not have a documented history of breaking. The clutch unit that engages the blade is plastic and breaks . . . frequently.

The digital control pad is easy to clean, no more using a cotton swab to clean between buttons. Except for the previously mentioned clutch unit, the blender is very well made. It seemed to labor when blending milkshakes or smoothies.

Overall, the blender worked in an acceptable manner before it broke. It was only used about 15 times before the clutch disintergrated.

I am replacing the Cuisinart with an Oster Beehive, which has an all metal drive unit.

I have an old Osterizer (beehive) that I finally decided I needed to replaced. I looked at several different blenders and finally ended up with the Cuisinart. It is performing well for me. Most of the items I am making require crushing ice cubes, and this blender has done a wonderful job. I am getting nice smooth drinks with not chuncks.

As another reviewer mentioned, the based is a chrome plastic convering. But unlike many other blenders, this does not feel too flimsy.

The base is sturdy and the controls repsond well (I had tried a Kitchen-Aid and could not get the off button to work). Clean-up was a breeze, although I do wonder if the pastic based on the jar will hold up over time. I am so use to the metal one from the Osterizer, that the platic does not seem as durable.

My only real complaint is that this unit is a bit noisy. The Kitchen-Aid was very quite by comparison (but pulling the cord to turn a blender off did not seem like such a good thing), so I guess I had expected a quiter unit (the Oster is at least 25 years old -- probably older -- it was my other comparison point for noise).

Longevity will be the key to this unit, but for now it seems like one of the btter choices available.

I've had this blender for 3 or 4 years and have been pretty happy with it. I've made many different types of things in it---humous, salsa, smoothies, margaritas, etc.---and I've used it to crush ice on numerous occasions. The people that have complained of "frozen fruit ice cubes" probably need to blend their smoothies longer.

It's a fine blender, but when I need to replace it I'll get something more powerful with fewer frills. I don't need 7 speeds, and I'd like a blender that works a little faster. Sometimes I need to let it run for a minute or two before solid things like ice or frozen fruit are fully pulvarized. But it is definitely easy to clean. The whole cansiter goes in the dishwasher and the base is easy to wipe down because of the flat button design.

This blender replaced a Sunbeam I had for 30 years. The jar is oversized and supported by small blades placed in a small opening at the base of vessel, isolated from the mass inside. It takes forever to blend anything smooth. After operating the motor for more than a few moments it begins to emit a strong burning smell. The plastic drive assembly for the blades snapped off in the first week of use. Cuisinart replaced one free. The second one cost about twenty dollars. I would not recommend this blender, there are better choices.