I started a low calorie low fat diet and found myself eating a tin of soup most lunch times. I decided to look up some recipes online and make myself some nice low fat healthy and fresh soups. All of them required blending so I decided to buy myself a hand blender. Nothing fancy as I'm no expert chef, all I needed it for was to blend my soups.

I decided on the Argos Value Range hand Blender. It's only £4.79 and had good reviews on the Argos website. You can check the stock in your store and reserve it to pick up later which I always do. It saves traipsing all the way to the store only to find it's out of stock.

The blender itself is what you'd expect for the price. Very basic with only one speed setting. It''s all white with a blue button at the top so when you're holding it and using it you can easily press it on and off. It's 220 watts and has stainless steel double action blades which cut horizontally and vertically. This is supposed to give you less lumps. The handle is supposed to be "ergonomic", it does fit in the hand very easily and is comfortable to hold.

I've been using this to make up my soups and although basic it does the job. It is very noisy though but then again I suppose all blenders are. It takes a little while to get my soup nice a smooth with this but it eventually does the trick after a good few long blasts. There is plastic around the blades to prevent any splash back which does work.It's dead easy to clean and for those with a dishwasher the parts are dishwasher safe.

All in all for the price it's a good little blender. If you're a more experienced cook I'd suggest going for something a bit better. But for my needs it's perfect.