Gastroback is a relatively new kid on the blender block. It’s a German company positioning itself as producing professional level, modern kitchen appliances that use high grade materials and innovative design – for less.

Products run the gamut of juicers, raclettes, espresso machines and more, with its best known product, the 41029 micro blender, a more powerful doppelganger of the Nutribullet. The vital mixer is a larger jug style blender that has many similarities to the market leading Vitamix (£599, Vitamixuk.com) but costs just a fraction of the price –intriguing.

A good blender is helpful for all manner of kitchen tasks, from milkshakes and iced lattes to mayonnaise and baby food. This multitasking piece of kit can take your recipes and creations to the next level with minimal faff. But the sheer number of blenders on the market today is quite overwhelming, so picking one can make your head spin.

Will you be using it for soups and smoothies, slicing and chopping, or is cocktail o’clock a frequent occurrence in your house? If it’s the latter, you might like to look for a specific ice-crushing function, which usually comes at a premium. Not with this model though, which promises to do it all at a rock-bottom price, rather than triple figures. So, is the Gastroback vital mixer too good to be true?

How we tested

To see how it fared compared with similar machines, we looked to particularly hard-to-blend ingredients – think frozen fruit, spices and sticky textures like peanut butter, tahini and pate – while sticking to the brand’s specifications, like suggested quantities and no-go ingredients.

Its ability to produce even and consistent textures was important, as well as how easy it was to use, and the level of noise it produced. As mentioned, not all blenders can work their way through ice, but as the vital mixer claims to be able to crush ice, we added this to our testing schedule too.

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Gastroback vital mixer

Rating: 7/10

Power: 850W
Dimensions: (W)17.5cm x (D) 18.5cm x (H) 39.5cm
Capacity: 1.5l
Colours: Silver
Guarantee: Two years

Design and features

The Gastroback vital mixer is designed like most upright jug style blenders, whereby a large bladed jug sits atop a main power unit. In this case, the jug is made from heat and cold-resistant glass and has a 1.5l capacity, while the blending section is made from six super sharp stainless steel blades. Gastroback says that the blender can be used as an ice crusher (a big claim) as well as to whisk, chop, shake and mix up anything from smoothies to purees and spice pastes to cocktails with its 850W power.

The blender unit is made from brushed stainless steel and features non-slip feet to keep the machine in place. Place the jug blender on top of the power unit and load up your ingredients (recipes can be found using the QR code supplied) and you’re ready to get whizzy. You can select from two manual speeds or go for the pulse function via the manual dial on the front of the motor.

The lid also has a handy opening slot so you can add more ingredients or liquids to your concoctions without stopping the blend function. Once you’re satisfied with the mix, the jug has a pourable spout for easy serving of soups and smoothies. To wash up stubborn residues, warm water and detergent can be added to the jug and mixed quickly before rinsing by hand, while the power unit can be easily wiped with a soft cloth.

Performance

OK, so things like protein smoothies, banana milkshakes and blitzing up soups and sauces are no problem at all for this machine. In this sense, it outperforms all the budget blenders we’ve tried in this same style, and a lot of this is down to its fairly powerful 850W motor – impressive for the price point. But soft sweet potato soups, berries and powders aren’t enough to wow us; we need to see how it takes care of the crushed ice.

We’re going to be really honest: this machine is no match for the Vitamix (£599, Vitamixuk.com) or the triple figure price machines when it comes to ice. Load up the jug with ice cubes and the blender doesn’t do so well; we found ourselves having to manually dislodge cubes from the blades and shake the whole jug up and down.

However, if you take care not to overload the jug, it works better (and we mean better, but not brilliantly). For what we’d call good ice crushing ability you’ll need to add a significant amount of liquid in there too. Iced lattes, frozen margaritas and granitas all work, but go heavy on the juice and coffee for the best effects. This isn’t ideal, but for the price – a mere £54.90 – it’s pretty good and outperforms all your Nutribullets and similarly priced blenders.

It works really well on hard veg and chops things evenly, quickly and not too loudly, but you’ll find some manual intervention may be required for trickier ingredients like nut butters or claggy foods like pate. We made a tasty hummus without the usual shaking and worries that the blender motor would pack up, but it did need the sides scraping down in between rounds of blending.

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The verdict: Gastroback vital mixer

This Gastroback machine a great no-nonsense blender to keep on the worktop for chucking in your daily smoothie ingredients. Equally, the fact it can blend hot soups is a bonus and its large capacity is helpful. It doesn’t have the heat up or chill function of a Vitamix or other premium models, and doesn’t tackle ice as well as pricier options, but at a fraction of the cost, it’s still a worthy contender.

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Gastroback vital mixer review: Does the new kid on the blender block rival its pricier competitors?

We got whizzy making soups, smoothies and sauces to put it to the test