Opinions wanted please - hand mixer?

iamana1ias

Glitzkiss wrote: »

So far I have found mixers ranging from the 125 up to 400 watt. How powerful do they get?

3-400 is probably plenty. I think mine is 300

The cheap ones tend to be 120-150 which is rubbish

Pitlanepiglet

I'd buy the cheapest mid range Kenwood I could find. My old one cost me about £12 some years ago and it worked well for ages until I upgraded to the Chef.

Don't get suckered into the bells and whistles if all you are going to do is mix lightweight cakes.

cyclingyorkie

i bought the James Martin one from Argos about 15 months ago - DD2 had opted to do food Tech GCSE and wanted to learn how to use one.

It's well powerful enough - 300watts - and has produced cakes and meringues. Am very happy with it - would recommend!

daska

this looks like a good guide to choosing but as per previous post the Kenwood HM320 is a Which? best buy. At about £17 it looks a good bet to me.

jackieglasgow

Just logged in to have a nosey. My old one is white! I don't even think they do it in white any more but I couldn't resist having a look at Argos and my new one is this one

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0504386/Trail/searchtext%3EGREAT+DEALS+ON+KENWOOD.htm

that's a brilliant price and it's fab! The 5 speeds are great, and it has a "pulse" which I find really useful. (Mine is red)

HTH

ChocClare

I had my mum's moulinex for years (must have been the first electric hand whisk ever produced, LOL) and it was brilliant, if held together with gaffer tape towards the end. In fact it was still going strong when I bought my new one - it's just that it looked like a bit of a fire hazard even if it wasn't one...

I bought the cheapest el cheapo Argos' own mixer. Big mistake. Huge.

Moral of the story: as others have said above - don't buy anything which has a pathetic little motor which won't even whip an egg. It really is a false economy. I'd have been better sticking to my 1968 moulinex. If you get a decent brand it should last for years anyway. My Kenwood chef is still going strong and that's so 70s it's not true!

geordie_joe

I bought a cheapo Cookworks one from Argos a couple of years ago. It cost less than a fiver, has a 120 watt motor and only 3 speeds, but it does me.

I use it 2 or 3 times per week, which is 4 times more than the OP intends to use one.

It mainly gets used for batters, cake mixes etc. and the occasional mash, but it does the job.

It's been dropped off the bench several times, and once thrown into a sink full of water. Luckily it wasn't plugged in, senior moment on my part. I picked it up to "shoot" the paddles into the sink and for some reason I threw the whole thing into the sink. Two days on a window sill with an open window and it was fine.

There's no point in buying something powerful enough to mix concrete if you're only ever going to mix batter in it.

There's no point in buying something that will last a lifetime if you're 78.

Or, as my dear old gran used to say "There's no point in buying a bus if you've only got 2 kids to take to school"

Bronnie

My Kenwood hand mixer (wedding present) lasted me through 20 years of hammering;cooking and baking for the family. When it died, I inherited my mum's model c1978, which is even older, though less well-used and still going strong today.

Maybe current Kenwoods are not built to the same standards as the past, but I'd be inclined to buy the £11 Kenwood from Argos and keep the receipt oin a safe place just in case!

Olliebeak

cyclingyorkie wrote: »

i bought the James Martin one from Argos about 15 months ago - DD2 had opted to do food Tech GCSE and wanted to learn how to use one.

It's well powerful enough - 300watts - and has produced cakes and meringues. Am very happy with it - would recommend!

That's the one I've got - think I was lucky though as it was on offer at the time (nearly 2yrs ago) for about £14.99 - paid for it with gift-vouchers from work .

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductLargeImagePopup?storeId=10001&jsparm=true&imageName=58-4232379SPA72UC587972X.jpg&imageText=

Earlier this year, I got this (again with gift-vouchers): http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductLargeImagePopup?storeId=10001&jsparm=true&imageName=4226859A65UC229928X.jpg&imageText=

But shhhhh - don't tell OH - I mostly use the James Martin one because I can't be asred with all the clean-up - tho it IS good for slicing onions for the freezer :rolleyes:.

Kiwisaver_2

I just ditched my old Kenwood Hand mixer a few weeks back, it was still going strong after more than 20 years, but I was so ashamed of the colour of it. It used to be white but had turned yellow with age. It was an engagement present, a combo gift package that included a blender; funny that gave up the ghost around the same time - I poured some soup into it and it all leaked out of the bottom, the seal must have totally withered away. Can't grumble at the length of service they have given me.

Without much thought I replaced the hand mixer with a cheapo Breville one and it's fine for all I need - to whip cream, eggs etc It struggled a bit to beat a packet of rock solid cold cream cheese though.

Wish I had researched a bit and seen the more industrial looking black ones and I might have been enable to entice the other half to dabble in the kiitchen with my power tools.