NOTE: These three mixers were featured in our first attempt at having fun on YouTube. Go check it out! But be warned, the punchline has already been spoiled for anyone reading this review. :(

The detachable mixing stem is a must for easy cleaning of your hand-held blender. Both the Durabrand from Walmart and the Oster purchased at Target have a detachable stem. The Hamilton Beach hand-held blender from Kmart, however, did not.

The Oster comes with a mixing / measuring cup, which is great since you can make quite a mess if the wrong sized cup is used. Just remember, as your drink froths up, it will take up more space so leave at least 1/3 of the glass unfilled when you start mixing with your hand-held blender.

Power is important, as well as the ability to control the power level. All three of these blending sticks come with two speed options, but when you look at the amount of power coming from the Oster (Over twice the amount of either competitor!) it is obvious that the Oster is going to be able to handle those ice cubes a better than the other two. In fact, with so much power, we think it would be better to have three speeds on the Oster mixer rather than the standard two-speeds.

We also liked the look of the Oster brand much better, as it has the stainless stleel mixing stem and dark red handle (your can also get it in white), whil the other to brands were plain white plastic from top to bottom.

In the end, you get what you pay for in the Oster and we would recommend shelling out the extra $4 obove the Hamilton Beach model to get the sleeker, more powerful Oster blender. But for those on a budget, the difference between the cheap Durabrand brand from Walmart and the Hamilton Beach brand really isn't all that significant. So if you honestly just can't cough up the extra few dollars, we'd recommend saving some money with the Durabrand instead of paying an extra $7 for the next step up.