38 consumer reports sep tember 2011

Lab teStS

test update: Stroller recalled for brake problem

Clutter-cutting blendersWith an immersion blender you take the appliance to the food. You dunk it directly into smoothies, soups, and other fare. It also fits in a drawer, saving counter space. Our tests whipped up three top picks, including a CR Best Buy that ran circles around a pricey “professional” model for a fraction of the cost.

We puréed chicken bouillon and vege-tables for soup and blended frozen fruit and yogurt for smoothies, typical tasks for these machines. Our testers grated cheese, and chopped garlic and other foods with models that have a chopping option.

Even the best immersion blenders aren’t nearly as fast or as powerful as a countertop model, but they’re a useful complement. Here’s what else our tough tests revealed:

Don’t buy by price. 2 Miallegro, a CR Best Buy at $50, blended and puréed nearly as well as 1 Breville. In its chop-ping mode it grated cheese more finely for half the money. It also left the $180 6 Bamix far behind.

Weigh the features. All three of our picks have an auxiliary mixing beaker, chopper assembly, and a whisk for beat-

Brand & model Price Overall score Test results Features

Reco

mm

enda

tion

Rank

0 100 P | F | G | VG | E

Yogu

rt bl

end

Soup

puré

e

Chop

per

Whi

sk

Turb

o

Beak

er

Claim

ed sp

eeds

Max.

rpm

€

nd 1 Breville Control Grip BSB510XL $100 91 &Z &Z • • • 15 13,200

nc 2 Miallegro Professional MiTutto 9090 50 84 &X &Z • • • • 4 17,200

nd 3 Delonghi DHB723 100 81 &X &Z • • • • 5 13,500

4 Hamilton Beach 59765 30 58 &C &X • • 2 14,600

5 Waring Professional SB-10 40 53 &V &Z 2 14,900

6 Bamix Professional (Williams-Sonoma) 180 51 &C &C ⁄ 2 18,300⁄ Includes whisk-like tool. € Tests conducted under no-load conditions for consistency. Results have been rounded.

cCR Best Buy dRecommended

5 Excellent 4 Very good 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor

ing. Metal parts that come off for cleaning are another handy item on all but the Bamix. But having three blade tips in-stead of the usual two made no difference on 3 DeLonghi.

Don’t assume that faster is better. As the Ratings show, the models with the highest speeds aren’t necessarily the best performers. And although 3 DeLonghi is

RatingsIn performance order.

1 Breville

2 Miallegro

3 DeLonghi

About 20,000 Britax B-Nimble strollers have been recalled because of safety concerns over their braking mechanism.

Although an audible click is heard when the brake pedal is pressed, that doesn’t indicate that the brake has been engaged. So there’s a danger that someone could think the brake is set when it isn’t.

This problem was found in testing by Consumer Reports, and the results were published in the July 2011 issue. We designated the stroller a Don’t Buy: Safety Risk and notified the company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The company, Britax Child Safety, of Charlotte, N.C., says it has received seven reports of the brake not being fully engaged. No injuries resulted. About

800 of the strollers have also been sold in Canada.The recall involves B-Nimble umbrella strollers

manufactured on or after Aug. 1, 2010. Strollers included in the recall have model numbers U311771, U311773, U311775, and U311780.

Consumers should immediately stop using their strollers and contact Britax for information and to request an improved replacement stroller. For additional information, contact Britax toll-free at 888-427-4829 or go to www.britaxusa.com.

We have not found a similar brake problem with any of the other umbrella strollers in our Ratings. If you are in the market for a new umbrella stroller, we recommend the UPPAbaby G-Lite, which costs $130.

Britax B-Nimble

one of two machines with a high-speed turbo mode, it was barely faster than the nonturbo Breville.

Take “pro” with a lump of salt. The Bamix and 5 Waring are two of the three “professional” models that were included in our tests. But neither the Waring nor the Bamix, with its heavy-duty parts, de-livered when it came to performance.

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