Plastic jugs are lighter in weight but can become scratched and absorb odours over time. Glass jugs, on the other hand, are sturdier and more aesthetically pleasing, but can be very heavy when full. A high-quality BPA-free plastic such as Tritan is strong, light and looks like glass, offering the best of both worlds – but it can be pricey.

The BlendJet 2’s 450ml plastic jug has handy markings on the side, so it’s easy to measure liquids directly into the blender, and the lid features a handy carry-strap. You can charge the appliance using any USB-C cable you might have to hand, but BlendJet does supply a charging cable in the box, too. A full charge takes one hour, delivering approximately 15 blends. Attractive and simple to use, the BlendJet 2 is a great option for blending on the go. In testing, the Nutribullet’s high-speed blades had no trouble with fibrous vegetables, nuts or seeds, whipping up a classic green smoothie in fewer than 30 seconds. Every smoothie or sauce blitzed came out silky-smooth and bright. What’s more, we found that smoothies made in the Nutribullet appeared to keep their colour and freshness for longer than those made in cheaper models.

Kenwood’s Blend-X Pro blitzes with six reinforced blades made of aerospace-grade stainless steel, reaching speeds of up to 30,000rpm using a variable speed dial for precise blending control. This is a blender that means business.

Pros: Versatile model that can handle a good range of ingredients; powerful motor; iconic design Cons: Bulky and heavy base - you'll need room on your worktopSo what do you get for your money? First and foremost is a high-powered 1440W motor, which spins a laser-cut stainless steel blade that can blitz through just about anything. A generous 2-litre jug means you can blend for the whole family in one go – ideal if you’re batch-cooking soups and sauces for the week ahead. A dial on the front of the unit offers 10 different blending speeds for ultimate control, and a handy digital timer shows you the length of time you’ve been blending. You can even connect the A2300i to the Vitamix app for recipe suggestions. Easy to clean and smaller than the average jug blender, the Nutribullet Balance won't take up too much room on your worktop. It will however make itself known in use - when we used it to make a banana, raspberry and cocoa smoothie, the noise levels ramped up to 107 decibels. It also needed a shake half way through to get the cocoa powder to dislodge and continue to mix with the other ingredients. You'll also expect your portable blender to be, well, portable, as well as light and compact because otherwise, what's the point?

Set up is straightforward – once you’ve loaded your ingredients into one of the 700ml cups, you screw on the powerful Pro Extractor Blade lid and fix it in position on top of the base. You can choose from manual settings, that you can stop and start at your own leisure, and use pulse controls too. Or you can opt for the intuitive ‘Auto-IQ’ one-touch programs, that work for a set time and limit the guesswork. Choose from the likes of the 50-second Blend setting, that works well for drinks with ice and frozen ingredients, or the 60-second Max Blend setting, which is good for use on ingredients with skins or items such as seeds and nuts. While you can crush small amounts of ice in this version, we’d suggest opting for a higher-powered model – such as the 900 series – if you’re planning on regularly using it for super-tough jobs.The Philips Daily Collection Mini Blender is powerful enough to blend fruit, vegetables, nuts, coffee and even meat with ease, and thanks to its small footprint it won’t take up that much room on your worktop either.