Sunbeam Mixmaster Dual Function Hand and Stand Mixer, 250 W, 5 Speed, White

I bought this almost a year ago to replace my Sunbeam electric hand mixer that I'd used for 13 years. To give you some background, I grew up in a home with a professional Kitchenaid stand mixer, and I used it regularly for cooking and baking. I'm an avid cook, although by no means a gourmet or professional.What I like best about this mixer is that the top part detaches to become just a powerful hand mixer. You can go quickly and seamlessly from stand mixing to hand mixing (and back again) without changing bowls or getting any new tools out. I pretty regularly start my recipes with the stand mixing function, then when it becomes too thick or the sides aren't getting scraped down, I detach the mixer and mix by hand, and then put it back and continue stand mixing.The bowl is not as large as I like, but so far it's been enough for most of my recipes. I put it in the dishwasher on a regular basis. No issues. It screws into the base with a simple twist and it's easy to remove. The bowl spins on friction from the mixer (I think?) rather than a motor. So, it doesn't spin when you've got thick batter in there. Honey badger don't care.Where the bowl/stand function really shines is for thin batters/meringues/whipped creams, etc. I used to have regular meringue failures with my hand mixer...but now I'm making awesomeness.This is a VERY powerful hand mixer, at least compared to my other one. I haven't had any issues mixing even the stiffest dough when using the hand mixing function. If I have a huge recipe, I get out my ginormous mixing bowl and use just the hand mixer alone. I've never needed the "Boost" function, and I've rarely even made it up to the highest speed setting.The machine came with two beaters and two dough hooks. I haven't used the dough hooks. The beaters are fine; one has a white nub on the bottom so you know to put it in a different slot -- it's what helps the bowl spin, I think. The beaters started rusting after just one trip through my dishwasher. I was pretty bummed. A year later, they're still in good shape, just have unsightly rust areas. That's a big flaw that the manufacturer should fix, IMHO.The "Eject" button is a bit stiff; I have to press with quite a bit of force to get the beaters out, but they've never not come out.One of the things I like about this product is that I keep it out on my counter and it works as a storage bracket for the hand mixer -- before I had to wind the cord up and stow it in a cabinet. That probably sounds weird, but having a storage place for it out on the counter just makes life easier.So far, I'm very pleased with the purchase, and this is a product I would purchase again.I did give pretty careful thought to purchasing a Kitchenaid instead of this, but the price was a big deterrent, plus the reviews were discouraging. I now can say from having experience with both products, that I like this better. Yes, Kitchenaids are prettier and a status symbol. Yes, there are models that would hold a lot more in the mixing bowl. However, the flexibility of the hand/stand mixing function makes this a superior product for my needs. I wish they made it with a larger mixing bowl option and better beaters.

I wondered how I could go wrong for the price and didn't go wrong at all!I wanted a power tool for kneading bread dough. As a test I made a batch of 80% hydration dough with bread flour and tried kneading it with the dough hooks at the slowest speed. To my surprise it had plenty of power to work the dough. After several minutes the dough was sufficiently kneaded and passed the "window pane" test. Mission accomplished!It has an internal fan to cool the motor but at 250 watts it doesn't get very warm. On the counter next to it is a Hobart-era KitchenAid K5A (it weighs at least two tons!) which I can only run for a few minutes before it gets quite warm and I wind up turning it off so it doesn't overheat. Kneading with the Sunbeam is actually quicker because you don't have to stop it, wait for it to cool down and start again.You can't put this mixer on its stand, turn it on, walk away and come back to kneaded dough because it won't get all the dough that way. The trick is to take it off the stand and use it as a hand mixer. You can then guide it by hand to get all of the dough. It is plenty light so you don't mind the weight and the process goes quickly, much faster and less laborious than hand kneading. Even at the slowest speed it seems like it's running faster than it needs to, and would probably benefit from a somewhat slower speed, but in use this is not a hindrance. It has a clever way of ensuring that the correct hook goes into the correct receptacle. Removing the hooks is a little fiddly but no big deal. The stainless-steel bowl is three quarts. If you need a larger capacity you could get a bigger bowl. Note that this model does not come with wire whisks; it comes with regular beaters and dough hooks. I don't know if the regular beaters could beat an egg white or whip cream, and I don't know how the mixer would perform with stiffer ingredients such as cream cheese, cookie dough, or lower-hydration bread dough with whole-wheat flour. You can probably get whisks from Sunbeam after the fact.For my purpose of kneading bread dough I am quite satisfied with its performance. The housing and stand are made of plastic but this is not a drawback for the home user. I'm not sure I would use this in an industrial setting such as a bakery, restaurant or cafeteria. For the home user it's perfectly fine and costs a fraction of the price of expensive high-end mixers. I do have reservations about consumer goods made in a certain far-off land, but with this product they are unwarranted. I expect this mixer will see more use than the KitchenAid.Yes, I would buy it again and would recommend it to a friend who didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars for a mixer.

I was in the market for a new hand mixer for the times I don't want to haul out my huge KitchenAid stand mixer just to whisk up some whipped cream or do a quick cake mix, then I saw this one on sale for $30 and figured I'd give it a shot. Unit arrived with stand, mixer, standard beaters and bread hooks. The documentation mentions whisks but unfortunately my model didn't include them, that's too bad, would have preferred those over the bread hooks, I used my KitchenAid for mixing my bread dough.The mixer itself is larger than a regular hand unit, but it is still easy enough to handle on its own. Beaters are decently sized. Dough hooks seem small. Mixed up some cake and cookie batter easily enough. Low speeds still seem quick compared to my other mixers.The stand is large, but lightweight. Includes a "lazy susan" type turntable for the bowl which locks into it. Surprisingly the motion from the beaters was enough to spin the bowl on its own mixing up cake mix, but you can easily turn it by hand. You will want to keep a spatula handy as the mixers have a gap between them and the edge and bottom of the bowl. The mixer locks in down or angle position, a second button releases it from the base. Note, there is no sort of auto-shut off, you can lift the mixer while it is running.Bowl is thin but sturdy enough, large enough for a cake mix or batch of cookies, no issues there.I would recommend this mixer, but would suggest getting a model with the whisks as they might be more handy than the bread hooks. I haven't tried mixing bread with this myself, I'm not sure if it would do well with the thicker dough.

Nice

My mother just loves this item. It's a two in one mixer!

Not as strong as I had hoped for but works okay for cookies, cakes, and other light recipes, not too good for bread or thicker recipes .

Good mixer for the price. Ability to convert to a portable mixer is a nice feature.