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Purchasing
your First Juicer - What's the best?
by John Kohler One of the
most common questions I get is, “What’s the best juicer to purchase?”. I usually respond by asking a few questions, and
giving the person a few recommendations on
the juicers that I would suggest. In most cases, I recommend people to read the
article – best juicer, which explains that each persons
needs for a juicer varies, and the right juicer for you, may not necessarily be the right
juicer for your neighbor.
Hopefully this article will give my insight on
juicers, and suggest the juicers I would recommend for a person who is purchasing a juicer
for the first time.
Being in the business for almost 10 years,
offering information and juicers to the public, I would definitely say I do have my
favorite juicers. This article will share
some of these juicers with you. Infact,
the juicers that I will recommend sit on my personal kitchen counter. I'm a believer in the health benefits of juicing
fresh fruits and vegetables and juice often.
I would break down the first time juicer into two
categories:
1. Someone
that just wants to juice. In many cases, a person that saw an infomercial on TV and got
interested in juicing for the benefits of juicing. They
just want to juice, and not worry about “all the other features” a juicer can
offer. This is how I got started in juicing. This person usually wants to juice a
variety of fruits and vegetables. With no
specific emphasis on any particular type of produce.
For this person, I would recommend a centrifugal ejection style juicer. My favorite model is the Lequip Mini 110.5
Juicer for a few reasons:
- Cleanup
in under 2 minutes. This juicer is the
easiest to clean centrifugal ejection juicer
(only 4 parts) – Bowl, Juicing Screen/Blade Assembly, Clear top and pusher. (Be sure
to line the pulp catch bin with a plastic bag)
- Juices
a variety of fresh fruits and fresh vegetables. Many first time juicers have no idea what
they will be juicing. The Lequip mini allows them the flexibility to juice mostly
any juiceable fruit or vegetable, and does a good job at juicing most produce. This juicer will not juice wheatgrass. While it will juice leafy green vegetables (Kale,
Chard, Collards, Spinach, Lettuce, etc) its not the most efficient at juicing this type of
produce. It will juice harder produce such
as: celery, carrots, beets, apples and pears really well.
- It
juices fast- This Centrifugal Ejection juicer runs at about 10,000 revolutions per minute
and is faster than most other types of juicers. This
is good for the busy person, as many of us are in this day and age. Sometimes its good to slow down and smell
the roses. J
- Has
a long 10 year warranty. Other
juicers may have a short 90 day or even 1 year warranty.
The Manufacturer warranty protects your investment in your juicer, which is an
investment in your health. In my opinion,
your health is the MOST important investment in your life!
- Larger
Feed Chute- accepts most standard produce (carrots, celery, etc) without cutting. Although it doesn’t have the wide 3”
feed chute (which is good for speed, but can be bad for yield.
- BulletProof
design – we have been selling this juicer for many years now, and have had a very low
incidence of returns and/or defects reported.
- Low
Cost. Priced at under $100.00, its affordable
with a long warranty.
2. Someone who is looking more for a lifestyle
change. This type of person
recognizes that juicing is good, and that they want to incorporate more fresh fruits and
vegetables into their diet. Maybe a doctor
has recommending making a lifestyle change or a friend or relative has recommended eating
diet including mostly fresh fruits and vegetables. This type of person may want to juice
most fruits and vegetables along with processing other things (such as frozen fruits,
nuts, seeds or grains through the juicer). For
this type of person, I would recommend the Omega 8003/8005 Juicer (or the new 8004 or 8006 model) for a few reasons:
- Cleanup
in under 2 minutes – This juicer is the easiest
to clean single auger style juicer (only 6 parts to clean – Funnel, Auger,
Auger Housing, Screen, End Cap and Pusher.
- Juices
a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. This
juicer will juice most kinds of produce as well, and does a really good job at juicing
wheatgrass. It also is much more efficient
than the lequip mini at juicing leafy greens obtaining a much higher yield out of these
produce items. I was impressed on how well it
juiced fruits such as: pineapple as well as tangerines. While this juicer will juice
carrots, I do not reccomend it for someone that wants to juice mostly carrots since it is
not as efficient as the Lequip Mini when juicing carrots.
- High
Quality Juice. This type of juicer operates
at about 100 revolutions per minute, which is much slower than other kinds of juicers. In general, the slower the speed, the higher
quality juice that is created.
- Has
a long 10 year warranty. A juicer is an
investment. There should be a long warranty. There should no need to purchase an “extended
warranty”
- Excellent
Design – The Omega 8003 design basically
took the single auger design to the next level by making it easier to clean, and obtaining
higher yields. We have had very few
after-sale service issues with these juicers.
- Quiet
– We have had customer comments on some juicers that,
“It sounds like an airplane taking off in my kitchen”. Well no need to worry, the Omega 8003 is one of
the quietest juicers we offer. So if
you juice early in the morning when others are sleeping, this juicer will probably not
disturb them.
- Best Value for the Money – Although the Omega 8003
and 8005 are priced in the $200 range, the 8003 is one of the least expensive single auger
style juicer, and offers the easiest clean-up and one of the highest yields.
I hope that my suggestions will help you choose the juicer that is right for
you. Of
course, these are my two favorite juicers, which is based largely on cost of
the juicer and ease of cleanup. There are
more expensive juicers, but unless your really serious about juicing, I would recommend
getting a juicer that is easier to clean. A
juicer that is easier to clean, will be more often than a juicer that is harder to clean. If you purchase a juicer that is hard to clean,
might not get used, since it is harder to clean. What good is a juicer that is never
used?
| Juicer |
Lequip Mini Model 110.5 |
Omega
8003
|
| Picture |
 |
 |
| Extraction Method |
Centrifugal Ejection |
Dual Stage
Single Auger |
| Horsepower |
1/3 HP |
1/3 (1.5 - 2 hp
w/gear reduction) |
| RPM |
10000 |
80 |
| Juice Speed |
Faster |
Slower |
| Ejects Pulp |
Yes |
Yes |
| Size of Feed Tube |
2.75" x
1.5" |
1.5" x
1.5" |
| Shape of Feed Tube |
 |
 |
Construction
of Juicing Screen and Grinding Plate |
Stainless Steel
Grinding Plate & Mesh Screen on plastic base
(no plastic frame) |
PLASTIC HOUSING,
MELAMINE (plastic) auger, STAINLESS STEEL SCREEN |
| Continuous Juicing |
Yes |
Yes |
| Juices Wheatgrass |
No |
Yes |
| Replacement Parts |
Available |
Available |
| Warranty |
10 years |
10 years |
| Your Price |
$99.99 |
$229.00 |
| Retail Price |
$139.99 |
$299.99 |
| You Save |
$40.00 |
$70.00 |
| Comments |
Easiest to
clean ejection juicer. Good for Juicing a variety of Produce. Not very efficient at
juicing leafy greens. Better for juicing hard vegetables. |
Does a good job at
juicing wheatgrass and leafy greens. Will juice fruits, but not recommended if
you want to juice mostly fruits. Dual Stage single auger juicer yields more juice
than single auger juicers. Easiest to clean single auger juicers. |
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