Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have owned this juicer for over a year, and I juice 2-3 times a week on average. When I first saw this machine in a store demo (W-S), I was amazed at how this thing TORE through everything. After reading "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose, I decided to invest in my health. My first purchase? This juicer. PREVIOUS JUICING EXPERIENCES: Having juiced with smaller and less powerful machines in the past, I found the process tedious and time-consuming. Not only did I have to cut all the fruits and vegetables into minute pieces, but it took forever to load them. At the end of the process, the amount of juice produced was almost not worth the effort. I encountered NONE of those problems with this machine. THIS JUICER: I call this juicer a monster for several reasons: -Size: It's big -- really big. It takes up the majority of my NYC kitchen counterspace, but after using it once, I didn't mind its size. Another big plus is the 3" feed tube. -Construction: It's built solid, and is pretty hefty...this isn't an appliance, it's a machine. -Effectiveness: It DEVOURS everything I put into it. Hard vegetables juice best, but I've juiced everything I can get my hands on (and I live near a Whole Foods, so that's a lot of variety). The large feed tube is the best thing about this machine. Instead of having to slice apples in 8 pieces, I toss 3 WHOLE APPLES in at a time and let this machine do all the work. (I occasionally have to slice an edge off a larger apple to get it to fit down the tube, but the slicing is minimal). Carrots literally disappear, and you can even juice those gigantic, extra-large carrots with no slicing -- I even leave on the tops. I've even juiced an entire cantelope (sliced in 8ths), rind and all. Try THAT with any other juicer! With leafy vegetables, they suggest pairing them with harder vegetables and juicing on the low setting, but I've found a solution that works very well for me. I juice kale/romaine/collards everytime I juice, and I've found that if I wrap them together in a "roll" lengthwise with the larger leaves on the outside, you can juice them like any other hard vegetable. The trick is to have enough to keep the roll packed, but not so much as to slow/clog the chute -- make the "roll" just smaller than the chute. I insert it stemside-down, then use the food pusher in a slow up-and-down motion to keep it moving (some leaf pieces tend to break off and cling to the side of the chute, jamming the pusher -- this motion prevents that). Also, I find that the high setting works better, as juicing using this method simulates juicing harder vegetables. JUICING EFFICIENCY: If you do your homework, you'll read that centrifugal juicers (which rely on spinning force to separate juice from pulp -- like this one) don't juice as well as masticating juicers (which basically "chew" and squeeze the juice out). While this may be true, you'd be pressed to find a more time-efficient juicer than this one. A long-time juicer and I discussed this issue, and he asked, "Would you rather have a juicer that works at 95%, but you never use? Or a juicer that works at 90% and that you use all the time?" If I'm spending $300 on a juicer, I plan on getting my money's worth. Note: Yes, the pitcher is large, but be careful when juicing. There's a "MAX" line for a reason. If you reach it, turn off the machine, pour some of the juice into another pitcher, and then continue. Keep in mind that you're often juicing entire fruits or vegetables, and it can produce more juice than you're used to. CLEANUP: Cleanup is fairly simple, and it's easiest if you clean up immediately after juicing (nothing has a chance to dry on the parts). You'll need to use the supplied brush to clean the "teeth" and filter, but everything else can pretty much be rinsed off without much effort. They also suggest putting a plastic bag in the pulp container before juicing. All the pulp goes into the bag, and you avoid having to clean the container. CONCLUSION: In a year of use, I've found no flaws in this juicer. It's a solid and effective machine that I plan on using for years.