The Hamilton Beach Performance Plus 6-Speed Mixer 62676 is a six-speed portable electric mixer with a good deal of power, plus a few "extras."

This unit consists of a black handheld mixing body with closed loop handle, a flat end for resting on the countertop, a built-in compartment for wraparound cord storage and a handy plastic snap-on storage case for holding the mixing attachments.

Attachments for this mixer include a set of sturdy wire beaters, a single whisk and a single milkshake blending tool. We found the wire beaters to be extremely efficient for mixing frosting, whipping cream and even tackling cookie cough. The mixer whizzed through easy tasks, such as pancake batter and pudding, and held its own with thicker mixtures. On slow speed, the mixer struggled a bit with our thick cookie dough, but when bumped up a speed or two, it completed its task admirably. Since the wire beaters are so efficient for most tasks, we found the whisk and immersion blending tool unnecessary, unless you are mixing a milk shake. The thin rod can go right into a tall cup or mug for blending ice cream shakes or energy drinks. The whisk is designed for whipping cream; however, we found the wire beaters just as effective for that task.

The Hamilton Beach Performance Plus also has three notches on its underside, which serve as bowl rests. With the beaters resting in the bowl, you can set the mixer against the bowl's rim and rest it on one of the notches for stability. The bowl rest feature only works with larger glass or metal bowls, which have sufficient weight to support the mixer.

We especially liked the clean storage offered by this mixer. The cord can be tucked away inside a slide-out end cap and the attachments can be put inside the plastic storage case, which snaps onto the mixer itself so all of the pieces can be stored together for convenient access later.

The Hamilton Beach Performance Plus Mixer has six speed settings: Slow, Blend 1, Blend 2, Beat 1, Beat 2, and Whip. A separate power burst button accelerates the current speed setting, but the difference is minimal and unnecessary since the regular speeds are adequate for most tasks.


Pros: 6 speed settings; sturdy wire beaters, whisk and drink mixer; convenient storage case
Cons: Power burst ineffective