Well, my old one just died and I went through all that decisionmaking. The one I wound up with is the Kitchen Aid KHB2351. I'm not 100% thrilled with it (mostly because the blender blade isn't super sharp), but it's okay. FWIW my criteria:

(1) Absolutely necessary -
* Removable blender arm. Trying to clean a cheap immersion blender while keeping the motor part out of the water is just not worth the money it saves IMO.
* Chopper attachment. I use that as much or more than the stick part, for emulsifying salad dressings, making tahini, and grinding certain spices.
* Dishwasher safe attachments. What can I say, I'm lazy.

(2) Highly desirable but I was willing to compromise -
* Higher wattage motor. (The one I wound up with is only 200W, which I had to call Kitchen Aid to find out since it isn't anywhere in the product literature. I would have preferred at least 300W and blenders are available up to 500W.)
* Non-polycarbonate chopper bowl (and shake container if supplied). I wasn't too worried about that from a personal safety standpoint since I don't generally let foods sit in the containers for any period of time, but from the standpoint of reforming the industry, it was on my list.
* Sealed bearings/bushings on the attachments, and two sets of bearings/bushings on the blender arm to minimize wobbling and wear.
* A brand name I trust.

(3) Nice, but not necessary:
* Not made in China. (I gave up on that one. I couldn't find a single hand blender at any price point that wasn't. But if you find one post it here!)
* Whisk attachment. The holidays are coming up, and whipping cream or egg whites by hand is a chore and a half ... still, it's probably better not to have the temptation to burn coal to do those tasks.
* Available from a local merchant.


There wasn't a single blender I found that met all of my points. There were others I strongly considered. Now that I have the KA, I like that it's very quiet and easy to clean, I dislike the dull blade and bulky handle. The mid-range price point I thought was a reasonable compromise.

HTH...