Juicers

[dreamrawalwz]

In your opinon what is the best juicer? My mom purchased a cheaper one last year when I got the idea of raw and to see if we'd actually USE it. Well, part of it broke an I have to tape the top part on so it'll run. Now we want a really GOOD versatile one, any suggestions?

[sport]

I spent a lot of time checking up on this but in the end was forced to chose from what was available on the on line site that I was using. I bought the Green Star Gold but think that a cheeper one would be just as good but it has to be a twin gear model. Do not get a certrefugal one. The quality or quantith of the juice is not as good from them. Any good twin gear should be OK. After that it is down to budget and attachments.

[Maverick]

I currently have 3 juicers, and 2 are centrifugal and other is Green Life (Green Star). I love the Green Life for vegetables and wheatgrass, but I am not happy with it when it comes to fruits even with the fruit accessory. So, I found myself using my Juice Lady or Breville juicer alot. I just bought a Vita-Mixer, and I find myself using it almost exclusively for fruits to make smoothies etc. Although, I do prefer the Breville for organic cantalope juice, I use the skin and all. Yum!!! Taste like a milkshake, it's my favorite, that and organic watermelon juice (skin and all). :)

Bottom line is, you have to decide what you want out of the machine. I bought both types of juicers, because there isn't one that does it all (unless you buy the pricey hard to use Norwalk). In my case, wheatgrass is great in the Green life, but poor in the Breville and Juice Lady, but I get alot of foam out of the Green Life if I use it for fruit, so the Juice Lady and Breville does a great job with fruit! Regarding the Breville and Juice Lady, they both do a fine job with parley, kale, spinach etc. when feed through with other vegetables.

I have read the studies regarding the quality of juice using different juicers, and I realize with a centrifugal type juicer are not as good as the twin gear models etc., but I was willing to sacrifice the quality for a juicer that was easier to do fruits. If I could only have one juicer it would be centrifugal, because it does more IMO, and is easier to use and clean up than my Green Life. I hope that helps. Best of luck with what ever juicer you are going to buy. :)

[Punky]

Bottom line is, you have to decide what you want out of the machine. I bought both types of juicers, because there isn't one that does it all (unless you buy the pricey hard to use Norwalk). In my case, wheatgrass is great in the Green life, but poor in the Breville and Juice Lady, but I get alot of foam out of the Green Life if I use it for fruit, so the Juice Lady and Breville does a great job with fruit! Regarding the Breville and Juice Lady, they both do a fine job with parley, kale, spinach etc. when feed through with other vegetables.

I have read the studies regarding the quality of juice using different juicers, and I realize with a centrifugal type juicer are not as good as the twin gear models etc., but I was willing to sacrifice the quality for a juicer that was easier to do fruits. If I could only have one juicer it would be centrifugal, because it does more IMO, and is easier to use and clean up than my Green Life. I hope that helps. Best of luck with what ever juicer you are going to buy. :)

I totally agree with Maverick here!
I think you have to decide which one will fit better into *your* lifestyle.
What do you plan to juice? do you have time to clean a machine that is a
twin gear model? Yes the Centrifugals juice I've heard is less quality than
a twin gear model, but it is still wonderful and clean up is very easy.
I LOVE my centrifugal juicer ( i have had my L'Equip model for almost 5 years
and it still works great. My mom just bought a Breville which is nice too).
I don't plan to juice wheatgrass, and I can do some greens in my Centrifugal,
and I have two young active boys to keep up with so not alot of time
for extra upkeep, so it fits into *my* lifestlye perfectly...I juice mainly fruits,
citrus, bell peppers, celery, carrots, beets, and lots of cucumbers and even ginger root to add a great flavor....sometimes I ball up leafy greens (parsley, dandelion, kale) and work that into my juicer too.
If you really want to focas on wheatgrass or lots of leafy greens than you might want to invest in a twin-gear because they will juice those much better.
Hope that Helps.

[Meowzr]

I am curious, none of you mentioned the Champion Juicer. What do you all make of that one? I am also in the process of choosing a juicer :D

[twinyoga]

I want to buy one, too.

I want to juice fruits and greens. The greens are spinach, cucumbers, celery. I have my energetic twins so clean up has to be easy. I'm thinking of buying a used one. Any thoughts on that?

[rawpriestess]

What a good question!!

I have several juicers, and each one has a different purpose.

The Champion is an excellent juicer, but will not do greens (I don't care for green juice, so it doesn't matter to me at all)

I also have electric citrus juicers, and centrifugal juicers and a Vita Mix whole juice machine.

I personally like to eat my fruit, not juice it, but if I did, I would do what Victoria Boutenko suggests, I would make smoothies, and green smoothies specifically, using my Vita Mix blender as a juicer.

You just plop everything into your blender and turn it on.

The only juice I drink on a regular basis is carrot and orange, and the carrrot I use my Champion for, as I use the carrott pulp in soups and crackers, and orange juice that I make in the Vita mix, so I get all the fruit.

Other than that, I like to chew. LOL

Good luck on your choice, I'm sure you'll make the right choice for you, with all the good information you've already received here.

[Jamie]

I love my Champion but have never used anything else.... so I can't compare.

For my green smoothies I use a heavy duty blender. My old WalMart blender died,,,so I invested.

Jamie :)

[dreamrawalwz]

Thank you all for your responses so far. I plan to use it just for fruit mostly. I don't juice greens (i'm scared to lol) and i can't do wheat grass or anything similar. :p

[Kris]

I have a centrifugal juicer that someone handed down to me, and although it's not a high quality machine, I find that between it and my blender I can juice anything I want (within reason).

The centrifugal juicer works fine for fruits and hard veggies like carrots. I can also put some parsley or spinach in for flavor, but I don't get a ton of juice out of the greens. For greens and wheatgrass, I never drink their juice straight -- always mixed with something a bit sweeter and tastier. If I want to mix some green juice into other juice, I simply throw the greens/wheatgrass into the blender with some water, blend it up, and then strain out the pulp. This process works really well for me, since I'm not looking for thick wheatgrass shots, but just some green juice to mix into other juices. The blender does a great job of rupturing cell walls and getting the nutrients out.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree and say that you really need a more expensive juicer, but the juicer/blender combo is working great for me right now. Just a thought...

[Punky]

I have a centrifugal juicer that someone handed down to me, and although it's not a high quality machine, I find that between it and my blender I can juice anything I want (within reason).

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree and say that you really need a more expensive juicer, but the juicer/blender combo is working great for me right now. Just a thought...

Hey Kris,
I think your blender/juicer idea for wheatgrass is splendid.
I will try it because I do not want to spend the $$ to buy a more expensive
juicer for wheatgrass since I only plan to drink it mixed like you on
occassion. Thanks for the tip!

[rawpriestess]

The number one reason I bought my Champion was to make ice cream from frozen bananas, I thought it would help me with my ice cream habit.

But, it didn't, I like the frozen fruit all mushed up like ice cream well enough, but I wasn't addicted to ice cream, I was addicted to dairy, so just like all the other things that I have ended up substituiting for my dairy dishes, I don't eat them much.

So, I mostly use it for carrot juice, or to make frozen sorbet for guests. Who, of course, love it.

Just thought I'd put that in about the ice cream part, as so many people love it.

I still vote for blender, so you can make smoothies, and keep all the good fiber with the fruits.

[sport]

When I wes researching the juicer I read that the twin gear juicers break down the cell in a certain way that generates more and better juice and that the last 10% of juice generated has a much highter proportion of nutrients. The twin gear also juices wheatgrass.

[Sweet lips]

I have juiceman, champion, green star and citrus juicers and as stated all work well for what your needs are - juiceman was my first and I love it, it cleans up well and does a great job - and if your pulp is too wet, run it back through, same instructions that comes with my champion, which I use a lot now and it works fine. My green star works well for wheat grass, but it is not my favorite - it just works. I also have a vita mixer, a smoothie maker and the magic bullet - I am please with them all! Was I any help?