Good Vibrations (Dualit 88815)

Member Name: Cat19

Product:	Dualit 88815
Date:	27/07/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective, easy cleaning of dishwasher safe attachments

Disadvantages: One of the more expensive hand blenders on the market

I love to cook and one household appliance I would be lost without is my Dualit hand blender. Dualit is a brand I trust and as I already have the kettle toaster and large food processor, I bought my hand blender on-line without seeing it in real life first. My items are actually in cream not the chrome shown in dooyoo's picture but it is the same in all other respects.

The handle is about nine or ten inches long and much heavier and larger than I had expected from the pictures. In fact I cannot even close my hand around it, but the curved ergonomic design nevertheless makes it comfortable to hold, the material it is in has a soft touch feel to it which helps to ensure that it can be gripped firmly and doesn't slip in use.

The speed setting range from a minimum 9,000 rpm to a maximum 16,000rpm and this is controlled by a dial on the top of the handle, it would be almost impossible to adjust this mid-blend, you would need to set and adjust it in-between spurts, unless you have very large hands I suppose. On the front of the handle there are two conveniently placed buttons to switch the blender on and to switch the Turbo blend on if extra oomph is required. I find a low speed setting more than adequate and rarely need the turbo as this blender is already a powerful 500 watts. Perhaps because I use a low speed, I am not unduly troubled by the noise of this blender, although of course there is no getting away from some noise. I am also fortunate to have conveniently placed plug sockets, the power cord is about 2 metres long and this is more than enough for me.

I find the blender blade attachment great for soup-making, I tend to blend in the pan I have used for cooking and can make short work of large vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower or broccoli. As I am blending hot foods, I am grateful that I can get away with a low speed setting as I would be concerned about splashing hot liquids if I had need to turn this up.

Other attachments include the balloon whisk and the dual beaters and I use these regularly too for whisking eggs and dessert making mainly. I find all the attachments snap easily into place and off again. These two attachments are completely detachable from the main working parts of the blender and so can be popped into the dishwasher for easy cleaning. The rest of the blender, I clean by wiping over with a damp cloth, but as the blender is not prone to splashes to be honest it never really requires much.

The accessory I find particularly useful is the blending beaker, it is so much easier to use this than get out a huge food processor, which I can now reserve for when I need to process larger quantities of food. The blending beaker is ideal for making items like pesto, sauces or chopping small quantities of most food stuffs, I have found even tricky items like nuts are coarsely chopped in seconds. Again, the beaker and the blades are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.

I ordered my blender directly from Dualit's own website as at the time it was the only place that had the cream model in stock. Prices start at around £60 from various high street retailers.

Summary: A household appliance I would not be without.