Pop into Aldi or Lidl for your weekly shop and you might spy a tempting ‘special buy’ piled up in a corner. Both stores have a tradition of selling cheap gadgets for a limited time. Some of these products have impressed us – but what have your experiences been at home?
From hedge trimmers to coffee machines, these products are usually a bargain price compared to bigger brands.
But, Lidl and Aldi products rarely make it into our full lab tests as they’re only available for such a short time, meaning that by the time we’ve tested them they’ve already gone – incidentally, if you’re on the hunt for a high-spec pressure washer then Aldi has one for £80 on sale from Monday!
As part of our home appliance research team, I’ve tried a number of these products out to share with you our first impressions on these products and give a steer on which ones are worth buying.
Special buys
I’ve tried out gadgets including a £15 Lidl cordless iron and an £80 Lidl espresso machine with automatic milk frother – and in some cases I’ve been pleasantly surprised by them.
Knowing the kind of branded equivalents these gadgets are up against, the features you get with some of these products are impressive. And I thought some did a good job too, especially considering the price.
Many of these products also come with a three year warranty, which again is pretty generous for a small appliance, especially when they’re compared to similarly-priced competitors.
It seems like a no-brainer to take a punt on these cheaper gadgets then, and plenty of you are doing just that. Our reviews of Aldi and Lidl products are some of the most viewed on which.co.uk, and these products tend to sell out rapidly in stores too.
Highs and lows
Some products we’ve tried have fallen far short of the mark though, making jobs harder than they need to be – or just not doing their core job very well.
Others aren’t actually that much cheaper than branded products we’ve lab-tested, so that special buy may not be so special after all.
Have you ever bought one of these special buy products? What have your experiences been?
Have you ever bought an Aldi or Lidl appliance?
Yes - I loved it (51%, 528 Votes)
Yes - it's OK (24%, 251 Votes)
No (21%, 214 Votes)
Yes - I hated it (4%, 37 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,030
