My parents kindly gave me this as a gift last Christmas along with a few other gadgets as unfortunately I have recently been diagnosed with rheumatiod arthritis and my hands suffer dreadfully making it difficult to do things like chopping.

My first impressions of this mini chopper were good. It was small and compact so wouldnt take up much space and would be easy to store. It was made by Wahl and James Martin. Wahl seem to make quite a lot of electrical products and I own clippers made by them and they are still going strong after 6 years. James Martin is a well known yorkshire tv celebrity chef who has been working in catering since he was a boy as his dad was a chef too.

When I took it out the box I liked the fact that it was heavy enough to hold its self in place and not move about due to the little rubber feet but was light enough for me to move about and pack away easily. I also liked the fact that it looked modern and silver so fitted in with my decor in the kitchen. It has an instruction booklet with it and a recipe book. On looking it up they are relatively cheap at around £17.

This is where the positive bits stop and am afraid the negative bits start.

The mini chopper has 3 speed setting but they dont really make much difference. The chopper is plastic and seems to have great difficulty chopping anything. The only thing it does really well is make good pulp. I have tried it with herbs but it just whizzes round. I end up with some pulverised and some still whole. Tomates go to mush so thats the salsa and brushetta out the window. Garlic gave it trouble as again I got puree with lumps. Worst of all were nuts for pesto. They just created a huge banging noise and I thought they were going to fly all over the room.

So I gave up. I took it apart and washed it. Which I have to say is really easy as you can put the top int he dishwasher and being able to take the chopper out is a great idea. It is now taking up space in my cupboard and will remain there until there is a jumble sale or something that I can donate it too.

Sorry Mum and Dad, it was a great idea in theory, unfortunately it didnt work in practice.