Great blender and food processor in one

I was almost sure about getting a bullet shaped blender advertised on TV that comes with mugs and many other accessories (you know the one I'm talking about), I had decided on getting it on Saturday so I waited until Monday to place my order since it wouldn't ship until Monday anyway and looked to see if I could find other blenders that are better.

I'm glad I did, I then saw this Cuisinart Smart Power Duet 2 in 1 blender and food processor that was about the same price as that bullet blender, it seemed like the obvious choice since it's a lot more powerful and does a lot more, until I read a LOT of bad reviews saying it broke easily, well I also read very good ones from users that used it to crush ice for months, so I decided to take a chance and get it because it looks perfect, I already had a food processor but never used it because it was always in the cupboard because it was too big. The food processor part is very small and can be stored almost anywhere.

So far I've used it very intensely for 2 days crushing ice for frozen drinks and smoothies and I am very impressed by the performance of both the blender which is very large and food processor which is pretty small but can still do most jobs.

I find for thicker foods like whipped cream, chocolate mouse, etc, the food processor and chopping blades work much much better since the blades make the entire length of the bowl so there's no escaping them, thick foods in the blender tend to create a bubble of air around the blades and you end up whipping air.

What you get in the box:
-2 in 1 base unit with controls and motor
-Glass blender jar with cover, built in base and pouring/measuring lid built in cover (the pouring lid has a 2oz measurement on it, a nice touch but a 1oz measurement would also have been nice since it's hard to estimate half with the curved bottom)
-Food processor base attachment (contains a gearbox for optimized speed and strength for food processing)
-Plastic food processor bowl, cover and pusher assembly that also serves to pour liquids
-Chopping blade (that big S-shaped one that extends to the edge of the bowl)
-Reversible slicing/shredding blade disc and attachment stem
Firstly, the slicing blade is EXTREMELY sharp, I've cut myself twice in 2 days with it and the second time I was actually being very careful, be VERY careful when handling this blade disk and find a safe box to store it in (I cut 2 holes in a DVD box for the stem and store it in there).

I really like how the control panel is made, it's those "flat" buttons like what you find on most microwaves, first you press the "On" button, now you can press any speed button and release and it will keep running at that speed, or press "Pulse" before choosing a speed and all the speed buttons will now behave as pulse buttons. The only exception is the "Ice Crush" button that operates in pulse mode whether or not you have activated the pulse mode, I like this idea since that speed is normally used in pulses or for just a few seconds at a time. A red LED will light up next to buttons representing the current mode (if it's on, the on button lights, if it's in pulse mode the pulse button lights, if it's on mix mode, the mix button lights).

The blender jar, food processor bowl, lid, pusher and blades are top shelf dishwasher safe, but for the blender I simply rinse the lid by hand and then fill the blender jar half way with water and run it on "Stir" (lowest speed) for a few seconds and repeat a second time. For the food processor and blades, a quick run under the faucet with warm water and a bit of soap works well.

I use it everyday so I wouldn't even consider washing it in the dishwasher since I run it only once every few days and it's very easy to clean by hand.

The unit is so small that you will leave it on the counter and use it every day, we already had a food processor under the sink that no one ever used, I decided to get this 2 in 1 because it's small enough to leave on your counter (and the food processor attachment is so small and light you can put it in a cupboard or on the fridge), so even though it's not as big as a normal one, you'll actually use it because you'll never want to put it away.

Another great feature is that you can adjust the cord length to whatever length you want by pushing some of it into a built in compartment inside the blender base.

One thing I don't understand is why they call it a 7 speed blender, I can only count 6, unless they count "off" as a speed?