Episode 2 What to Buy and Why

Hello and welcome to Osborne House

on the Isle of Wight for the show that asks the top professionals

what you should be spending your money on.

I'm Cherry Healey and I'm travelling to spectacular locations

around Britain to ask the country's best experts to show you

how to shop like a pro.

From TVs, steam irons and toasters...

Cheers.

..to bed linen, hair products and luggage,

our specialists will push everything to its limits to help you choose

what to buy and why.

January and February is the time of year to bag a gardening bargain,

so, here at English Heritage's most visited palace,

the ground staff will decide if the latest equipment is up to the job.

You're not going to electrocute yourself by running over the cable.

-That's always going to be good.

-Yes, staying alive is good.

Also on the programme, our reporter Naga Munchetty investigates

if living in Britain means we pay more for our cosmetics...

In the UK it's around £15 a bottle.

Here I can get two for around £11.

..and inventor Tom Lawton finds out if you can breathe new life

into broken gadgets, instead of shelling out for new ones.

It clearly works, but there's no suction whatsoever.

If you want the inside track on the latest products from the people

really in the know, then look no further.

This is What To Buy And Why.

Osborne House,

Queen Victoria and Princess Albert's seaside retreat, was built the 1840s.

Today more than 250,000 people come here every year,

one of the biggest draws, the immaculate grounds.

In the UK 12 million of us are regular gardeners,

spending £5 billion a year on plants and equipment in the process.

It may seem more obvious to buy in the summer,

but if you shop now, whilst it's still out of the season,

you're far more likely to land the best deals.

Now, I'm completely clueless when it comes to knowing what gear

I should be buying, but thankfully the same can't be said

for some people around here.

Supervisor Alan and his team of highly skilled gardeners

are responsible for keeping all 270 acres of plants,

hedges and meadows in pristine condition.

-Is this how it would have looked if I was Queen Victoria?

-Yes.

-We try to be PC, which is, in our terms, period correct.

-OK.

And Queen Victoria passed away in 1901, so we try to use plants

that were available in this country before 1901.

That's amazing!

With this incredible attention to detail,

who better to get us started on our first product test?

Get this - we spend, on average,

around two months of our lives mowing our lawns.

If you're going to be spending that much time doing it,

you might as well make sure you've got the right piece of kit.

The priciest item of garden equipment most of us will ever buy

is the lawnmower.

And the fastest-growing domestic options are cordless,

with sales last year rising by nearly 60%,

but they don't come cheap, costing up to £500.

But how well do they work?

And do you need to spend big bucks,

or do the machines at the cheaper end the market cut the mustard?

Grass would have been worked a bit better there.

Yes, there's no point in going cordless if the battery can't

get round the back yard in one go, so our gardeners are going to do

the legwork for us to find out if paying more guarantees longer mowing.

Lawnmowers ready.

Philip has the cheapest option we could find, the £150 Sovereign.

The makers say the battery can keep going for 30 minutes.

Jo is using our mid-priced option, the £269 Bosch.

It should last longer - supposedly up to 45 minutes.

And Philip, again, is...

Oh, no, it's his twin brother, Nigel,

manning our priciest mower, the £500 Ryobi.

It has twin batteries so, although there's no specified survival time,

we're expecting great things.

..one, go!

When cordless mowers were first launched,

battery life was a real problem,

with some running out of power before the lawn was even finished.

We want to know if they've got any better.

So, what are your predictions with these three mowers?

-It should be the Ryobi, cos it's got the double battery.

-Right.

Are battery-powered mowers a gimmick?

They are safer than using a cord -

you're not going to electrocute yourself by running over the cable.

-That's always going to be good.

-Yes, staying alive is good.

For well over half an hour, all three cut away very happily.

But then...

Oh, they've stopped.

The Sovereign has run out of battery.

Which is not surprising - it is the smallest mower.

But it comfortably lasted for more than the 30 minutes

the manufacturer said it would,

and made decent inroads into this huge expanse of Osborne House lawn.

That's cut a third of that area,

plenty big enough for a small garden.

And it's only £150, which is considerably cheaper than the others.

The Bosch and the Ryobi plough on for another ten minutes,

-but then a surprise second casualty.

-Gone!

Oh, interesting, so the Ryobi has died.

-That is, actually.

-That's... Are you surprised?

I am a bit because the Ryobi's got two batteries there.

So the Bosch is still going,

and it's significantly cheaper than the Ryobi.

About £230 cheaper to be precise.

Another few minutes, it, too, bites the dust.

-I'm out.

-Oh, the Bosch is gone!

They've all gone. It's the end of the race.

After the battery test, the Bosch is our surprise front runner,

but don't rush out to the sales just yet -

there are more challenges to come.

Will the Sovereign and Ryobi fight back

as we test manoeuvrability and look to find the ultimate cut

in our very own back yard obstacle challenge?

Find out later which mower to buy and why.

In this series we want to introduce you to top professionals

who really know their stuff,

passionate specialists whose short cuts and money-saving tips

could help us all become better shoppers.

I'm Andreas, I was voted Greengrocer of the Year 2015.

You can make your celery and leeks last longer

by taking the very tops off.

This will stop them from rotting from the top down.

I'm Carlos, my parents have run these stalls for as long as

I can remember, so I guess fruit and veg are in my blood.

To bring your wrinkly lemons back to life, boil them in water

for a few minutes and leave them to cool and they'll be as good as new.

I'm David. I've been in the fresh produce industry for 30 years.

If you got hard avocados, green bananas,

just pop them in a bag with an apple.

The apple will release a gas called ethylene,

which, within a couple of days, will ripen them up.

When you buy your herbs and chillies, chop them up,

put them in a bag in the freezer, then you can use them as and when

you need and they won't end up rotting in the back of your fridge.

Still to come here at Osborne House, cameras.

Sales have fallen by 35% since 2010,

largely because of the convenience of being able to snap away

with our mobiles.

Chizu. That's what they say in Japan.

But, is the quality of the pictures you take on your phone

anything like as good as those you get from a compact?

We'll find out which takes the best photo in our

What To Buy And Why shoot-out.

But first, cosmetics.

Us Brits pay more for our make-up than many of

our European counterparts, so just how bad a deal are we getting?

Lipstick in hand, our roving reporter,

Naga Munchetty, investigates.

Take these products here - liquid soap, sun cream, make-up remover.

Even online this lot will set you back £208.

To find out how much it would cost to buy them in Europe,

I'm heading to our nearest neighbour.

Can I save money on my make-up

and get a day out in the most romantic city in the world?

Only one way to find out. Paris, here I come.

Just to get to France, the cheapest advance tickets are around £72,

so those prices need to be pretty good for me to pull this off.

I'm going to look for exactly the same eight randomly chosen products

that we bought in the UK, to see how much cheaper they are here.

First stop, discount chemist City Pharma.

I can't believe how busy it is in here.

People are buying in bulk,

and obviously there are some bargains to have,

so I'm going to go and find what's on our list.

Sorry.

With this many people shopping here

I'm starting to think I'm on to something.

The first product I spot, make-up remover.

In the UK it's around £15 a bottle.

Here I can get two for around £11.

And I've just spotted some sunscreen, as well.

It's around £8, which is pricey,

but back home in pharmacies and even online, it's much, much more.

Lip balm, even that saves me £1.64.

Excuse me.

Let's see if the firming serum is cheaper here too.

I know quite a few people who buy this back home

and they spend £45 on a smaller bottle.

Here, £24. Good bargain.

Next, a quick stop at make-up shop Sephora.

So, this foundation is about £5 more expensive

online in the UK.

It all adds up.

And my final shop, the supermarket chain Monoprix.

I make a £5 saving on an anti-ageing moisturiser,

and then, to really clean up...

This is upwards of a tenner in the UK,

which, if you ask me, is a lot of money for soap.

Here it's just £4. Probably worth buying two.

I've now bought exactly the same items that I sourced back home.

Time to crunch the numbers.

So, if I'd bought all of these products in the UK,

looking for best prices online, it would have cost me £208.

Today I've spent £135, so I've made a saving of £73.

My train ticket was £72. I've done it, I'm in profit.

The more make-up you buy, the more money you'll ultimately save,

leaving you with more cash in hand to enjoy yourself.

Talking of which, salut!

And it's not just cosmetics we're paying through the nose for.

Furniture is more expensive for us than for anyone else in Europe.

So, hire a van, head to IKEA in Lens, an hour outside Calais.

With just a few items you'll cover the cost of the ferry.

What about clothing?

In London this outfit from Zara cost £305,

but in Spain it's £223.

An £82 saving that could get you a return flight to Madrid.

I tell you what, I could get used to this kind of shopping trip.

Given how picturesque it is here at Osborne House,

it's the perfect setting to take a few pics and the odd selfie.

OK, babe, pose.

Just make sure you get my good side.

You don't have a good side.

Three quarters of all Brits now own a smartphone,

and, of those, 95% have used them to take pictures, so unsurprisingly

sales of compact digital cameras have dropped dramatically.

But are we sacrificing picture quality by shunning compact,

or are the cameras now so good on these

that you no longer need to buy one of these?

To find out, I've enlisted the help

of one of Britain's top photographers,

Christopher Ison.

His portfolio includes wildlife,

adventure, and sport,

so there isn't much he doesn't know about what makes cameras tick

or click.

A few years ago I would have said that a camera on a phone versus

a compact camera, there's no way the phone's going to win.

Times have changed and phone manufacturers have invested a lot

of money in producing high-quality lenses and sensors for their phones.

-It is a fairly fair fight.

-Absolutely.

-Yes, for the camera section, yes.

-OK.

Well, let's see how they work in practice.

'We're going to take a series of identical photos

'on a best-selling camera phone and a best-selling compact.

'Both have 16 megapixels

'and all snaps will be taken in automatic mode.

'When we're done, we'll compare the results.'

-Look at this, this is cool.

-Queen Victoria's bathing machine.

If you've got to protect somebody's modesty, it's got to be the Queen's.

It's going to be the Queen's.

'To test the skin tone, a couple of quick portraits.'

-All right.

-Chizu.

-That's what they say in Japan.

-Oh, really?

-Yes.

So it will be interesting to see if your camera is able to zoom in

and to photograph that boat.

It has the equivalent of a 480mm zoom.

OK, let's see how mine does.

'Next, how well do our devices cope with close-ups?'

Here is a shell.

-Look at that.

-OK, let's see how this does. OK.

'Back to the house to see how well

'the cameras cope in the lowlight of the magnificent Durbar Room.

'Victoria and Albert's banqueting hall.'

-Wow. That is absolutely beautiful.

-Stunning.

'First, a quick red-eye test with the flash.'

Cheese.

'And finally some pictures with the flash off.'

'We've taken plenty of photos, now it's time to review our handiwork.

'First up, the portraits.'

Which do you think, technically, is the better picture?

-I think the colours are nicer on the phone.

-It's warmer.

-Yes.

-I mean, I look like I really need a spray tan there.

-Slightly washed out.

So, the first picture here's the compact camera, at full zoom.

That's amazing detail, you can see the people on the boat.

It was probably a mile away, that boat.

And actually you can see the pylons in the distance.

Yes, the camera phone.

Whoa, that is bad!

So, next was the beautiful shell.

If you really want to get in close, the camera phone wins.

-I was really expecting the compact camera to win that one.

-Yes.

Cos of the lens,

I really thought that it would do better on that test.

'The flash on the compact performed well indoors with no red eye,

'unlike the phone.'

The flash on the phone is very harsh.

'But, with the flash turned off, however...'

This is the camera.

It's not particularly great, I must say. It doesn't look hugely sharp.

The phone, it's definitely crisper.

I'm surprised that the phone did better.

So, what's our expert verdict?

The phone won almost every test except for the zoom

and the subtlety of the flash in low light.

You are a professional photographer, so, in your opinion,

-which do you want in your pocket?

-Definitely the phone.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

If you're going to carry a camera in your pocket,

then it might as well be on your phone.

More ingenious money-saving tips now

from our resident team of specialists.

I'm Amanda.

About ten years ago, I decided to start my own cleaning business.

Here's a simple tip to vanish lingering smells

from your microwave. You take a bowl of water

and put a slice of lemon in it.

Put the microwave on for a couple of minutes and then it will

ventilate the microwave and make it smell as fresh as a daisy.

I'm Jan, I'm a housekeeper.

My aim is to leave the house looking sparkling and clean

as if no-one's ever stayed in it before.

You might be surprised to know that baby oil cleans many surfaces

and protects them in the home. Granite, stainless steel.

You just need a little dab on a cloth,

then just polish it on. Then you just take a soft cloth,

Buff it up and it will give you a really professional finish.

Don't clean windows on a sunny day.

The sunlight will dry out the product too fast and leave smears.

Wait until it's cloudy and this will ultimately save you time and money.

My name is Arnold Shine, so it's no surprise I'm a cleaner.

You can save money on expensive air fresheners by using some

essential oils on your radiators. It'll send a lovely smell

around your home and will last loads longer than an air freshener.

We buy more consumable goods than any other nation in Europe,

but we're also one of the worst culprits for throwing things away.

Take electronics.

We chuck more than 1.4 million tonnes of the stuff every year,

so are we being too hasty?

We sent inventor and product designer Tom Lawton

to have a root around to try and find some treasure in the trash.

You'd have thought that something has to be wrong with this,

otherwise why would you throw it away?

These are expensive, aren't they?

A new Dyson like this would set you back well over £200.

So, instead of replacing it, can it be brought back to life?

Into the workshop we go.

MOTOR WHIRS

You know, it clearly works, but there's no suction whatsoever.

A quick search on the internet can give you a range

of troubleshooting ideas.

The first thing to do is try and clean out this.

Oh, look at that.

Let's check the hose out.

Oh, yes, that's properly blocked.

Aha!

Let's try that again.

And see if there's any suction.

A little bit, but nowhere near enough.

You can easily find instruction manuals online.

The one for this vacuum reveals the filter should be cleaned every

three months, but by the looks of things...

These are filthy.

A quick wash later and...

MOTOR WHIRS

You know, as far as I can see,

this is a fully functioning vacuum cleaner.

That's over £200 you won't need to spend -

no repairs, no replacement parts,

just a bit of research and some hot, soapy water.

Loads of things can be fixed instead of replaced.

Take this £60 kiddy's scooter.

Do you know what? This one's going to be an easy fix.

It's just the back wheel that's seized.

A bit sad, really, that it's been thrown away just because of that.

It can be as simple as finding a spare part from other stuff

that's lying around.

I'll just whip this wheel off, which is identical.

Just seconds later the scooter's ready to go.

How easy is that?

A broken pair of headphones look like they'd be a more challenging fix.

They look quite good quality, as well.

These would cost nearly £90 to replace.

Now, they do look all sealed up and with electronics

sometimes it's a little bit intimidating to even start to

fix them, but if they are broken anyhow, what have I got to lose?

A quick look inside reveals a very obvious disconnected wire.

That's an electrical contact, so no wonder it wasn't working.

A simple reconnection later...

And honestly that looks like it's fixed.

Screws in, earpads on,

and Tom is ready to get down.

# Smile and it's a sunshine day... #

Well, they work. That's awesome.

So, thanks to a few simple fixes,

Tom could have saved himself over £350 in replacement goods.

So the next time that you think you're going to bin something,

ask yourself the question if you can fix it

and you might save a whole lot of money.

Earlier the expert gardeners here at Osborne house

tested these three cordless mowers for battery power.

The Bosch is leading the pack, but there's still plenty to play for

to see which one is worth picking up in the sales.

We want to know which will perform best in our own back yards.

Our experts will each push their mowers through our

challenging obstacle course so they can assess handling,

edging and ultimately how well they will mow your lawn,

to find out which gives you the best bang for your buck.

First up is head honcho Alan, who is pushing the Ryobi,

our top-priced option at £499.

Despite its dual battery system, it placed second in our mower marathon.

-You can do the driving.

-Oh!

-And I'll just natter.

-Oh.

-Sounds good?

Sounds like the wife.

I'm looking to see how it cuts to the edging alongside the fence here.

Without going on to the fence.

-Don't go onto the fence because you'll damage the blade.

-A corner.

-That wasn't comfortable.

-It's not ideal.

In a small confined space like this,

it is quite a long mower with the box on.

He looks worried, Alan. He's praying.

He's got his hands on the prayer position. Careful.

It's pretty good, it's got a blade that cuts

as a trimmer on the side of the mower here -

-I don't know if you can see.

-Yes, easy edge.

And I'm getting pretty close to the side of the feet here.

Up next is silver fox Nigel, driving our mid-priced machine,

the Bosch, priced at £269.

It lasted the longest in the battery comparison.

-Bosch on.

-Right.

Here we go. It looks nice and light.

-Yes, it's a nice, light, compact machine.

-It is compact.

Seems to be getting up to the obstacles quite well.

It is not too long, though.

No, how would you say it is doing on how close it gets to the edge?

I'd say it gets up to the edge pretty well, actually.

You look very comfortable.

Yes, the handles are quite long, actually, so it's -

much like wearing gloves - it gives you a lot more better grip, really.

Is that a mowing tip?

It is - you get a better grip and also it helps against vibration

-so that you don't get white finger.

-What is white finger?

White finger's when you lose all the sensation in the tips

-of your fingers and you can't pick up any beer any more.

-What?

-That's not OK!

-I know.

And finally Jo, who'll be operating

our budget mower, the Sovereign - a steal at £150.

Currently in bronze medal position after the battery test,

let's see if the underdog can turn things around.

-Ready?

-Yes.

-Let's do it.

That's not...

-It's not very easy to start cos of the position of the handle.

-OK.

So how is it on the handling? It looks quite light.

-It's very, very light.

-So I suppose for this...

-You knocked the fountain, I saw it!

-I did, I did.

I do notice that for this, where you're doing lots of turns

and back and forth, the lightness - I imagine it's quite good right now.

Yes, it is, actually - it's really, really helpful.

ENGINE STOPS

-Oh.

-Did you mean to stop it?

-No, no, I didn't.

-What happened?

-It just stopped.

That tricky handle again.

Now that all the mowers have run the garden gauntlet

and completed the battery mower marathon,

what's the experts' verdict?

What do you think?

-They're all good for their own...

-They've all got a place.

-..purposes really.

-I think the Bosch gives a good finish,

but the Ryobi has the best finish, the best cut.

The Sovereign's good, depending on what storage space you've got.

You know, you might only be able to fit in a Sovereign.

I didn't really like the Sovereign. It just kept disengaging.

So the £150 Sovereign was easily the hardest to handle.

Its cut was decent, though, and its battery did do better than expected.

The Ryobi gave the best cut, but it's big

and it came second in the battery test.

The Bosch won that challenge and was runner-up for the quality

of mowing, and crucially it's over £200 cheaper than the Ryobi.

So, as the expert gardeners from Osborne House,

which mower would you spend your money on?

-Bosch.

-Bosch.

-Bosch.

Bish, bash, Bosch.

-Unanimous.

-Yes.

-Why?

Why? Value for money.

It's a really good compact machine and it's good for cutting around

obstacles and it's got a good edging device on it

and I think for a small garden it's probably not a bad machine to have.

So, what have the other companies got to say?

Sovereign told us it was disappointed, but that

because the product is lightweight and easy to use, it feels the machine

is an ideal choice for anyone new to gardening, or with a smaller lawn.

Ryobi said its larger size means it cuts more grass at once

so works harder and faster, hence the reduced run time in the battery test.

The company feels it represents a more logical choice

for larger lawns than the other machines.

Are you all quite excited to get back to your industrial-sized mowers?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. OK!

Next week we're in Blackpool to find out how the electricity bill

for the illuminations was cut by one third

and how you could do the same at home.

This technology, which we were one of the pioneers of -

take in to domestic environments, save yourself a fortune.

When we buy bed linen, are we being misled

by manufacturers over the thread count?

And our expert audio visual engineers will road-test the very latest TVs.

For the price, you are getting a very nice image.

So you can choose which one to buy and why.