Seemed to tick all the boxes but in reality it's all form, no function – I wanted a blender that was powerful, easy to clean and looked good in our kitchen. We use a blender to make smoothies with fresh and frozen fruit, and sometimes to make pesto.

This blender seems to be a winner in every respect... until you use it. The design of blades and jug seem to be such that there is no natural movement of contents towards the blades, and lumps get stuck down the bottom and never blended.

Honestly every time I have used this (for about a year) it has produced sadly lumpy results. Yes, it's capable of crushing ice, fruit & sugar into a sorbet but the process requires so much removal of the lid and readjusting of the contents, time and again, and in the end there are still lumps, it's barely worthwhile. And the lid is difficult to get on and off so this is even more annoying than it sounds.

Even a simple smoothie of banana and soy milk will have big lumps of banana in it, regardless of how long it is blended. Really, really not good enough.

Now I have dropped the blade holding assembly part (plastic) on the floor and it's chipped enough to make the jug leak. It will cost $49 to replace and I am thinking that will be throwing good money after bad.

Sadly, sadly disappointing. Looks great. Powerful motor. Easy to open and clean. Simple, uncomplicated operation. Simply does not blend as well as it should.