I tested a smoothie maker that's half the price of Nutribullet's top model

The Salter Kuro NutriPro Blender & Smoothie Maker is spookily similar to a £100 Nutribullet

Nothing beats a smoothie for a quick burst of nutritional goodness. Within a couple of minutes you can prepare and guzzle a delicious, healthy snack that will top up your five-a-day tally and perk you up from that mid-morning droop.

The market-leading brand in the smoothie-making world is Nutribullet, which has carved a reputation for quality blenders and juicers - but like all the finer things in life, they come at a price.

However, I've been testing a new smoothie maker from Salter which has the same power as Nutribullet's top model but is half the price.

It's the Kuro NutriPro Blender & Smoothie Maker. And it even looks a bit like the Nutribullet 1000 Series it rather unsubtly seems to be aimed at. Well, it does if you squint a bit.

So how does it compare? Firstly, the £49.99 Salter comes with very little in the box. There's the unit itself, the blending cup, a blending lid, a standard lid, and a fairly basic set of instructions.

The £99.99 Nutribullet, on the other hand, comes with basically the same kit, but a stainless steel cup is included, there's a "vessel grip" for the blending cup and the standard lid has a flip-top.

So it might feel like it's first blood to the Nutribullet and, truth be told, everything does feel better built, but the Salter still has a few aces to play.

Firstly, it has the same power as the Nutribullet 1000 series - 1,000 watts, to be precise. It also has a slightly larger blending cup at one litre - Nutribullet's "Colosall Cup" is 930ml.

While the Nutribullet does have a few smart modes, which detect when to speed up the blades and slow them down during an automatically-set 45-second cycle, the Salter has just an on-and-off mode. No fancy pulsing, no set cycle time. Just start and stop.

I've been whipping up fruity treats with the Salter for a few weeks now and, to be frank with you, I've never felt the need for any variable speeds. Having some sort of timer would perhaps be nice, but I wear a watch. So that solves that problem.

And, when all's said and done, a blender is a blender. The blades in the Salter are strong and sharp, the 1,000 watts of power cuts through even the most stubborn strawberries, and I'm honestly not sure I'd make use of the Nutribullet's flip-top lid. I like a thick smoothie, so it'd just get in the way. The standard flat lid on the Salter does the trick for me.

There is a big hitch I've found with the Salter though. Its instructions aren't great, but I'm pretty sure they indicate that its parts aren't dishwasher safe. They are with the Nutribullet. I love my dishwasher, and that's quite a big stumbling block.

That said, it's not hard to rinse things off, and the cavernous blending cup is a doddle to wash. Not quite the case with the blades, but a good rinse straight after use does the job for a while.

I also wish the Salter's blending cup's four "catches" that lock it into the blending base weren't quite so sharp to the touch. It's not really all that practical to use as a cup anyway, thanks to the threaded lid - I usually just pour the mix into a pint glass - but getting your lips around the top and catching it on a jagged protrusion isn't pleasant.

But in every other way, the Salter really does do a great job. It performs well enough to make you wonder why you'd bother forking out for a Nutribullet, and that's exactly what Salter is clearly trying to achieve.

Quality niggles aside, the Salter Kuro NutriPro Blender & Smoothie Maker is great value for money, and if you're eyeing up a Nutribullet, make sure you check it out first.