I love making smoothies, but found that my big blender was awkward to use and hard to clean. I recently decided to try a stick blender for my smoothie making, and I'm really glad I did.
Stick blenders (also called hand blenders) are wands with the rotating blades at one end, designed to be immersed into what you want to blend. Some do come with separate canisters, but less expensive models may not. If yours does not come equipped, you'll need your own high-sided container in which to blend.
These kinds of blenders come in a wide range of wattages, anywhere from 200W to more than 700W. You will need to consider how much blending you want to do, and how liquid you want your results to be. Sticking to a smoothie usage, you'll want one strong enough to fully liquefy your fruit or whatever you're putting in your smoothie. But you won't likely need the power required to puree hard vegetables. For regular smoothies, you will only need 200-300W.
The blender model that I got was the Braun Multiquick (MR400). It has 200 watts of power and came with a separate canister for blending. The power mechanism detaches from the blending wand with just a twist, making cleaning really easy - look for this feature when buying a hand blender. This is the main reason I chose this type of blender in the first place.
You can also use a stick blender to puree or mash soft vegetables right in the soup pot. You can make baby food. In fact, you can make just about anything where you only need a small volume blended.
When making smoothies, I find things go better if I puree my fruit before adding the milk. My latest mix is a few canned pear halves, a spoonful of brown sugar, several heaping tablespoons of vanilla yogurt and enough milk to fill my canister. Nicely sweet, and less thick than a typical banana smoothie.
Oh, limit spatter by placing the head of your stick blender down into the liquid before turning on the power.
