Smoothie Makers

Can anyone tell me is a smoothie maker just a glorified more expesive name for a good old liquidiser.?
I own neither, but we do like smoothies and would like to make our own as they are so expensive to buy in a carton.
Would a cheaper liquidiser give the same result?

The same thing

Get yourself one of those hand blenders. You can pick them up for under a tenner (try the supermarket), and they're brilliant for soups too.

Same as a liquidiser. I have a liquidiser that was bought as a wedding present (32) years old now and I make lovely smoothies in it.

Agree with the rest, you don't need a smoothie maker. Liquidiser does the trick just as well.

Hi,
Does a hand blender do a good job of them? I was wondering as I didn't fancy another implement on my bench. If they do do a good job I may invest in one.

Thanks

Ian

We have a liquidiser that Kev normally uses.
But we went to tesco, and they have hand blenders for under a fiver!
They work just as well - just don't use a shallow glass lol

The only time you need a diff machine is if you want to get juice to add out of hard fruits such as apples, then it`s a juicer you need not a smoothie maker.

I think they're great. I have a cheapo one of those and a big old KitchenAid jug blender, and use them about equally. The KitchenAid chops vegetables and crushes ice (mmm, margarita!), which the stick wouldn't, but you can stick the hand-blender straight into saucepans full of soup, and it's a hell of a lot easier to clean They're equally good on the smoothies I've made, although I think if I were to have a go at apple, I would probably use the KitchenAid.