I wanted a good blender for making smoothies but as with everything nowadays there were so many styles and brands to choose from. Also, the reviews I looked at seemed to differ widely for every model available, and several people would give a model 5 stars while several others would give the same model only 1 star and cite various problems with it. After a lot of tiresome research, I chose the Philips HR2160/50 blender based on my own faith in the Philips brand, as I have had various Philips products in the past that have proved to be of good quality and durability, and also the fact that this blender has 600 Watt power as there does seem to be general consensus online that any blender below 600W is unlikely to blend hard fruits well enough to make smoothies.

I paid £39.99 for the black HR2160/50 Blender with Pulse and Ice Crush on amazon.co.uk and this included postage and packaging. It took less than a week to arrive and it was well packaged but not excessively. When I saw the blender I was immediately impressed. There's no doubt that this is a very suave, classy looking model. The outer plastic has a futuristic blue tint to it and it is very lightweight. It has a black lid with a square plastic-covered hole in it for added ingredients as you blend without removing the lid. The lid opens easily however so I rarely need to use the hole when I blend. The blender slots comfortably and easily into a small cube-shaped black base which has a long lead attached to it for delivering that powerful 600W. The unit is very nice looking and would make an excellent gift for a blender fan, and it is also very compact and therefore tidy looking, which I really appreciate as my kitchen is rather small and does tend to get overrun with appliances and dirty dishes!

I have made every kind of smoothie with this blender and I have to say that it works really well. Even the hardest chunks of fruit are chopped up into tiny pieces, though as with all blenders some kinds do not disappear entirely (if you really want to avoid drinking tiny bits in your smoothies then skin hard fruits etc first). The blender also does its job really quickly. A few quiz whizzes and everything is broken down, no lumps are left at all- it is a very efficient blender. It is also very easy to clean, I thought I'd have trouble getting around the blade inside it but actually the blade is so small that cleaning around it poses no problem at all.

There are only two potential niggles with this product. One, it is loud. Not so loud that the neighbours will hear it, but loud enough that your baby girl sleeping in the room next door will wake up alarmed whenever you use it. But, this is the case with any 600W blender, as they are powerful appliances and that comes with the cost of noise. So, I try to blend when baby is awake and bonny.

The pulse and ice-crushing functions are even louder but again they only need to be used for very short amounts of time. I have used the ice function to crush blocks of ice many times now and after only 20 seconds no pieces of ice remain at all! The pulse also works well though I have not had cause to use it properly as the other functions work so well at decimating whatever I put into the blender, including hemp seeds, chunks of coconut flesh, chocolate, apple, frozen fruit, dried dates and raisins. (I don't mind a few tiny bits in my overall smooth smoothies.)

The other niggle with the Philips HR2160 is that the spout is not quite large enough to pour what you have blended into a container. Even the smoothest of liquids clogs it up. This is a shame as the blender jug unlocks so easily from the base and could be ideal for pouring the liquid into other containers. So at this point you do have to take the lid off to use the jug efficiently, which will of course splodge bits of whatever you have blended all over the kitchen surfaces and blender, as it has to be pulled off to detach it from the mug and the inside is already covered with blended material. This is a minor issue though and a quick wipe of the surface after you have used the blender, to me at least, seems like a small concession for what is overall an excellent product. I have had it for several months now and it has yet to fail me, in fact it barely looks used. I use it every day to get my smoothie fix and I have never been healthier- largely thanks to the Philips HR2160!

If you love smoothies or creating smooth sauces or soups, I highly recommend this blender. It would also make a great gift for other people as it is such a good-looking product, in fact it looks a lot more pricey than it actually is. £40 well spent!