My Braun immersion blender is now 8 years old and keeps getting slower. I mainly use it for making smoothies and pureeing soups. Would a cheap blender from Aldi be enough for that or do I need another immersion blender?
Don't just buy some cheap mixer and hope for the best - the stuff from Aldi is often really useless for regular blending. For smoothies and soups you need a certain amount of power and stability, otherwise you're stuck with a device that feels like a toy. I went through that myself after my old immersion blender (about as old as yours) gave up the ghost - I got myself a cheap mixer because I thought saving money is saving money, and that was total crap.
A regular stand blender can actually serve you pretty well, but you need to know what to look for. You need at least 800-1000 watts, decent motor power basically. An immersion blender is just more practical for small amounts and especially with soups I can tell you it's more convenient - you hold it directly in the pot instead of pouring everything into a big container to put in the blender. If you only blend stuff occasionally then maybe a better immersion blender for 40-60 euros is enough, they hold up pretty decently these days. But if you make smoothies daily and blend soups regularly then I'd go for a mid-range price point - with an immersion blender something from Philips or Bosch (have always been reliable for me personally), or with a stand blender something with decent watts. Aldi mixers are just too underpowered for that kind of thing, trust me.
A cheap countertop blender from Aldi probably won't last long with regular use if you're pureeing soups every day - they just don't have the power for that compared to the occasional smoothie. Have you already thought about whether you'd rather stick with an immersion blender or if a countertop blender would suit you better in principle? If you're not blending daily, a mid-range model from Philips or Bosch could be enough, but in my experience the cheapest models are really meant for light tasks like shakes, not for harder stuff.
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