Help me pick a juicer? I need help!

[richedie]

Hi all!

My nutritionist recommended I get a juicer since I have been sick with Lyme and coinfections for some time and might have some gut issues and ability to digest well. She recommended a Hurom Slow Juicer because she said it is a slow style juicer that crushes and presses, hences less heat, enzyme and nutrient retention.

She said with other juicers you have to drink the juice immediately. Personally I have no problem with that because I juice and drink it right away.

I picked up the Hurom on a Thanksgiving weekend sale and it has been a nightmare. Using the strainer to allow less pulp, veggies get bound up, clogged and wrapped around the drill auger. Using the strainer that allows more to pass through produces too much pulp and is nasty.

I might return it.

I want one that is easy to use, easy to juice, less jamming, can easily take ginger, large carrots, celerey, kale, etc and retain nutrients and enzymes even if I have to drink right away.

How about the Matstone 6-in-1 Juicer? Is it better thant he Hurom Slow Juicer?

Any thoughts????? I have till Saturday to return.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

[Aleesha Sattva]

I loooove my champion juicer. It's soooo great. I also have a greenstar but do use the champion more often.

[kaybee]

hi--not relevant to juicer but you might want to look into the herb TEASEL for lyme.

[lovenlife]

I LOVE my Vitamix blender for juicing. I put all ingreds in, blend and strain. Perfect juice every time and ease of cleanup!

I have the champ too and a centrifuge juicer.

[Aleesha Sattva]

how do you blend bette cause that is what really takes the time and why i never use mine for that purpose... also you often have to add water to your juices in order to get them blended in the first place.

i find that squeezing out a nut mylk bag and then cleaning up takes forever compared to rinsing off the parts of my champion.

but that's the beauty of this... find what works best for YOU and run with it!

[richedie]

So it sounds like I should get a Vitamix, and replace my Cuisinart blender and my Hurom juicer?

Should I return the Huron?

Juiced potatoes, spinach, Ginger, parsley, and celery tonight using the fine strainer and the base started leaking!!!

Is the Champion better?

[GreenT]

Im with you Aleesha, i LOVE my Champion!! Its so easy to use and so fast and easy to clean!

[richedie]

What model Champion? Is it cheaper than the Hurom Juicer? Will it do leafy greens, Ginger, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, etc?

What type of juicer us it?
Can you change strainers to vary the amount if pulp?

I thought the 6 in 1 juicer was supposed to be even better?

[kaybee]

it sounds like you should return the hurom if its a nightmare

i have a solostar, which sounds like it is similar design (single auger slow turning) and ive been pretty happy with it. ive had it for 5 or 6 years. i dont use it daily though. once and a while it leaks where the auger attaches to the base, but it does fruit and veg and greens like parsley and spinach. it doesnt do soft apples well though, they end up with really gross juicey pulp, but hard ones it does fine.

vitamix is awesome but is going to give you the whole pulp blended smooth, not a juice, and it doesnt sound like thats what you are looking for.

teasel is supposed to be great for helping the body with lyme (its a flower/herb)

[Dimond]

While I love the idea of just one appliance, using the Vitamix with a strainer bag wasn't really easier than using a juicer and the juice doesn't taste as good either. If you go on amazon, you can read the reviews there for juicers. The Omega 8006 is a 6-in-one that is one of the most popular. I haven't tried the Champion yet so I don't know how it compares.

[richedie]

KaybeeDo you know where to get teasel tea??? I have been trying to find that and Boneset tea. :( No luck.

Maybe the Hurom is just fine. Apparently if they are overworked auger style masicating juicers can have a little leakage. Maybe the potatoes caused it.

I hear it is also normal for a little of the leafy greens to get wraped around the auger and the same for celerey. I guess it is unavoidable.

This morning I made lemon, celerey, romaine and carrot juice and it worked fine, no leaking....just some excess wraped around the auger.

I mean is the Champion any different really? I read the Matstone 6 in 1 is supposed to be top notch but the Hurom still cost more.

The Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer($269) is supposed to be commercial grade and is CHEAPER than my Hurom which was on sale! Why??? Does that mean my Hurom($299) is also a dual stage, commercial juicer?

-Rich

[dmb2002man]

I have a Breville BJE510XL juicer which gets close to 5 stars on amazon. It worked great but wouldn't do greens very good and just wasted vegetables by the pulp. The juicer was hard to clean and took about 15-30 minutes. I bought a vitamix and love it. I can make my green smoothie and clean it within 10 minutes. Vitamix is way easier to clean then the juicer and it doesn't waste at all and blends up the whole fruit.

[KaleMama]

I have the Omega 8005 Masticating Juicer in chrome/black and it has worked well for us. We've had it for about a month and put everything through there. Wheatgrass, carrots, ginger, all types of greens, nuts, seeds (we don't have a blender or food processor yet) and it has worked really well. We use it 2-3 times daily and it ROCKS! We bought it for about $259 and it was a wonderful investment. :)

Best of luck!

[richedie]

I have the Omega 8005 Masticating Juicer in chrome/black and it has worked well for us. We've had it for about a month and put everything through there. Wheatgrass, carrots, ginger, all types of greens, nuts, seeds (we don't have a blender or food processor yet) and it has worked really well. We use it 2-3 times daily and it ROCKS! We bought it for about $259 and it was a wonderful investment. :)

Best of luck!

Does celery and and leafy greens get wrapped around the auger drill?
If not, how do they prevent this?

[KaleMama]

Does celery and and leafy greens get wrapped around the auger drill?
If not, how do they prevent this?

Nope! It has worked really well for us. We rotate leafy greens with carrots or something that is a little tougher to push anything that is stuck through. After kale, wheat grass, apples or oranges I add celery or carrots right after. If there is anything stuck in the auger it is a really small amount that does not really make a difference. That seems to do the job. :)

[richedie]

Nope! It has worked really well for us. We rotate leafy greens with carrots or something that is a little tougher to push anything that is stuck through. After kale, wheat grass, apples or oranges I add celery or carrots right after. If there is anything stuck in the auger it is a really small amount that does not really make a difference. That seems to do the job. :)

Good point on following up leafy greens with some carrots, etc. I will try today! Does it do ginger OK?

I purchased mine on 11/26 and have 15 days to return so I have a few days left to pack and ship.;)

[KaleMama]

Good point on following up leafy greens with some carrots, etc. I will try today! Does it do ginger OK?

I purchased mine on 11/26 and have 15 days to return so I have a few days left to pack and ship.;)

Definitely does Ginger well! We have used ginger and garlic in our green juice in the past. When we were looking for a juicer we wanted one that could do everything - this one is specially good with wheat grass which we tried this week.

[richedie]

Had you considered a 6 - 1 juicer? Do you know the difference?

How about the Hurom, had you consider it?

Finally, I noticed reviews say you must cut up veggies in smaller pieces for the J8006. I do that sometimes with the Hurom but not sure it is always necessary.

[Dimond]

I've been consuming juices with ginger and I love it. Gives such a great flavor to my juices. It juices very well in the Omega Vert which is similar to the Hurom.

[kaybee]

richedie--i dont think you can get a tea for teasel, but usually rather in drops. if you google "lady B teasel" or lady B lyme disease, there is alot about Lyme and teasel, and you can ask questions. that is where i got my teasel (extract?) from, but I had spoken to that particular herbalist on an herbal forum previously. she has tons of experience with her own lyme

[stiggs]

Had you considered a 6 - 1 juicer? Do you know the difference?

How about the Hurom, had you consider it?

Finally, I noticed reviews say you must cut up veggies in smaller pieces for the J8006. I do that sometimes with the Hurom but not sure it is always necessary.

hello Richedie,

The matstone samson juicer would be similiar to the 8005/8006/solostar etc. The main difference would be the auger style.

I have to agree with dimond and delise and recommend an omega 8005/8006. I bought one recently and I am delighted with it. You dont need to cut carrots, celery etc unless they are too fat to fit in the chute which most aren't. The 8006 will juice hard veg and leafy greens very well but it suffers a little with soft fruit.
I had an omega vrt before - this juicer is identical to the hurom you got. It also clogged up on me a few times. Celery was the main culprit for me. You need to cut it into 1in pieces so the strands dont clogg up the pulp ejection outlet. The main reason I stopped using the VRT was the pulpy-ness of the juice - I mainly make veg juice so dont like bits in that. I keep the VRT for juicing fruits and making nut milks occasionally.

I have never juiced potatoes so I cannot comment on that. Do you use the pusher with your hurom- I would recommend not using it (unless something blocked of course) and giving the juicer some time to go through the produce.

you should check this youtube channel for juicer advice and tips on cutting veg etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWwVZOVqQwo

[richedie]

I had good luck with it today so maybe I will stay with it. I watched a woman who posted a few videos of this juicer compared to her Green Star and another juicer and she loved the Hurom and I am warming up to it as I learn it. She made a great point about counter space, it has a small footprint compared to others and that is key for us!

[levamssg]

There are so many juicer choices out there. I've had experience with a Breville, a Champion, a Hurom, and a Green Star.

I've sold the Breville, given the Champion to my daughter-in-law, and still have the Hurom and Greenstar.

I almost never use the Hurom anymore, I always go back to the Greenstar because it does everything ... including wheatgrass.

I make about 24 oz of green juice every morning; usually around 12 oz of citrus juice during the day, and veggie/wheatgrass juice several times a week. The greenstar does it all.

The very best juicer is one you will USE. So, try different ones and find one that suits you.

[stiggs]

This champion juicer (http://www.juicer-reviews.net/champion-juicer.html) review seems to think it's ok in some respects but it seems to be let down by the speed. I have a friend who has one and she always says that if she makes more than one glass of juice that the second one is slightly warm. Also, she has made me apple juice with the champion and it goes off very quickly. I have an Omega juicer and it doesn't have these problems. What do you think? Is the champion really good when it comes to the quality of the juice?

I don't think the champion juicer can compete with many of the juicers on the market today. Almost any single auger/twin gear juicer will do better in terms of juice quality (much less oxidation than the champion, 70/80rpm vs 1400rpm). The champion struggles with leafy greens which is bad news since most people juice to increase their intake of leafy greens and nutrient dense veg they normally wouldnt eat so much. I believe people hold it in such high esteem since it is still working after 25 years, however juicing has come along way since then too.

Here is a video comparing and contrasting it with an omega vrt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrQbMprVU3g&feature=related

[stamarrs]

I love my Omega Juicer so much. I have had it for about 7 years and it has always worked like a champ. It does crush food but it never binds. I make sure and put wet things behind dryer things like Kale or Parsley and visa versa.

I swear by this juicer. I love how quiet it is compared to the loud blade kind and super easy to clean. It comes with a screen on the containers that catch the juice so pulp is easyly eliminated. This juicer will also do wheat grass and flour..plus nut butters. Most juicers cannot do wheat grass so it's worth it's weight in gold.

I wouldn't be shy after your first crusher didn't work...this one rocks!!

Good Luck

p.s. Any fresh juice is going to oxidize as soon as it hits the air..so your juicer is not going to make a difference. :rolleyes:

[belleadonna]

I love my Omega Juicer too. It is so easy to use and clean. I have the stainless steel parts so I can put them right in the dishwasher. It is not a continuous juicer like the Champion (I have one of these too) but I like it better because it is easier to clean up. They also have one of the best warranties in the industry. Nothing gets bound up in it.

I don't have the kind that juices wheatgrass or citrus but they have ones that do. I have had mine for 4 years and no problems at all with it. They are moderately priced too. I have the 9000 model. 10 year warranty!!

[raweater]

I had a Breville (crap because it was centrifuge type which oxidizes all the juice before it even comes out of the machine), Green Star (great but nightmare to clean so I used it about 4 times a year), and now a Hurom which is much faster, easier to use, easier to clean, and takes much less counter space. I use this one much more regularly than any other. The Hurom also juices wheatgrass (one reply seemed to imply that it didn't).

[Bud Greene]

Hurom is a poor choice since you only get a one year guarantee, or so i think. With other ones in the class you get at least 5 years. Also, I heard that the Hurom manufacturer closed its doors. You might want to consider that. Check the reviews on Amazon for Hurom.

[raweater]

I chose Hurom because of Omega's gross disrespect for the health of their customers because they knowingly sold their 8000 or whatever model it is that grinds highly toxic melamine into your juice.

Also, a machine like the Hurom will last for decades, and it's parts are interchangeable with the Omega VRT which is exactly the same juicer with another brand name on it if ever you did need replacement parts (most likely from loosing them as it's practically unbreakable).

If they did go under then you can get the Omega VRT which is the same as the Hurom.

[christineg62]

My 3 favoirte things- Vitamix, Champion Juicer, and food processor. :)

[Mrs. Papaya]

I swear by my Green Star. It does everything (greens, wheatgrass, nut butters) and does it well. Just love it. I wouldn't consider it a nightmare to clean -- sure, you have to clean multiple parts, but nowadays it only takes me about 5 minutes or so to clean. You get used to it. (Hmm, advice I should take for myself re: my "time commitment" thread!)

[Mrs. Papaya]

I should say "nut pate" rather than nut butter. I actually haven't tried to make full-blown nutbutter in the Green Star; rather, I just run the nuts through once and mix w/ veggies for a yummy pate. I think getting real nut butter out of it might involve running the nuts through multiple times and/or adding oil?

[raweater]

I had the green star for 2-3 years and used it maybe 15 times because it's simply too slow to juice and too complex to clean.

I've had the Hurom for less than a year and used it probably 50 times. It juices much faster and clean up is much faster also. My only complaint is the juice is a bit more pulpy but that makes it healthier, and you can always strain it if you want pulp free juice.

About making nut butter in the green star it makes more of a flour, a food processor works much better and faster for making nut butters.

The green star is great if you don't mind the slow juicing and longer cleanup, but I simply didn't use mine more than about 5 times a year at most for these reasons.

[belleadonna]

I have since bought a Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900. I love it.
It a continuous juicer and has 5 speeds. I liked the Omega too but it was not continuous, it had a small mouth, and labored on greens. I didn't realize that it was only 250 rpms. The Breville is 1000 rpms. It is easy to clean and is much quieter and it doesn't vibrate all over the countertops!! It also makes the pulp like sawdust. The Omegas pulp was way too moist.

I am very happy with this juicer. I recommend it. It is moderately priced.

[raweater]

The Breville is not 1000 rpm, it is 12,500 rpm, that is why this type of juicer (centrifugal) is not recommended. It is by far the most violent type and the type that destroys by far the most antioxidants, nutrients and taste. Centrifugal juicers also do not do leafy vegetables and wheatgrass, they will just throw them in the pulp bin unjuiced and in general are the least efficient juicers in terms of juice extracted.

You keep saying "the Omega" but never say which one you are talking about, Omega has many, many types of juicers all using different extraction methods (including centrifugal juicers like the Breville, auger type slow juicers, etc.).

I used to have a Breville like that and sold it for the above reasons, plus cleanup was a pain.

I did this test and encourage you do try it also, juice oranges in your breville, then juice oranges on a manual citrus juicer (simulating a slow juicer like the Omega VRT, Hurom or Green Star). Compare the taste of both juices, the one from the Breville is nearly tasteless compared to the manual/slow juiced one.

For the cost of that Breville you can get a quality slow juicer and if you are still in the returnable period I'd highly recommend it because the Breville is very expensive for a juicer that does such poor quality juice and inefficient extraction.

[belleadonna]

Sheesh. You sure know how to rain on someone's parade!!

The Omega I had was a 9000. It never fully chewed up all of the food put through it including greens. I found whole pieces in the bin. The speed was so slow that the foods were binding up. The Omega didn't do citrus.

This Breville : Speeds range from 6500 rpm to 12500 rpm for maximum extraction

Anyway, to each his own. I am happy with my Breville. :D

[raweater]

OK, as I suspected the Omega you had was also a centrifugal like the Breville. A slow juicer doesn't leave a single gram of food unjuiced as everything you put in it MUST be juiced before getting out the other side. With centrifugal juicers like your old Omega and new Breville, any food at all can fully go from the input chute to the pulp bin without ever getting juiced, and what does get juiced has about 90% of it's nutrition destroyed (as bad or worst than pasteurizing it).

The reason the Breville has to go to 12 500 rpm is because centrifugal juicers are so inefficient that they require extreme speeds to juice, a slow juicer is so efficient that even at 60 rpm will extract twice as much juice about as fast.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I strongly, strongly recommend you return it and get a slow juicer, I guarantee you will like it 2000 times more than your old Omega and 1900 times more than your Breville. Not to mention juicing will cost you half the price as you will get double the juice from the same amount of produce (squeeze the pulp of your Breville in a nut milk bag to see what I mean, and consider a slow juicer would extract even more than you could with with nut milk bag).

Think about it, the point of juicing is to get more nutrients, does it make sense to use a juicer that destroys 90% of the juice's nutrients?

[belleadonna]

Ok, duly noted. But I am not new to juicing. I have been juicing for about 14 years. I know the pros and cons of both types of juicers.

I have a Champion Juicer that I used for many years when I started juicing. It was messy, a pain to clean, and I had to run the pulp through the juicer twice because it left so much juice in the pulp. Now you may tell me Champion is not the best masticating juicer. Maybe, I don't know. But it was such a chore to juice that I gave it up for awhile.

I think that it is best to get something that I like and is easy to use as opposed to not juicing at all. The Breville did my citrus this morning beautifully. The juice was bright orange and the pulp was dry. Same with my carrots. I will not be returning this juicer. It gives me what I want for the money. Short of buying a Norwalk press (I ain't no millionaire :eek:) I will stick with this model Breville. I am sorry that you had a bad experience with your Breville. What model did you have?

[OnMyJourney]

I love my Green Star and since it's my first and only juicer, I'm a little biased in my recommendation of it. :p However, Alissa has it on sale right now if you chose to take advantage of her generosity! I love it and while many complain of the time it takes to clean it, I don't find it cumbersome at all...again, I don't have a point of reference for anything "simpler." I don't feel that it takes me long at all. This is an investment in my life, in my family's life. We juice together like we do most of our food preparation so the time isn't a burden...it just is what it is. But that's just for me/us.

[raweater]

I don't remember the exact model number of my old Breville but I know it was exactly like yours with the only difference being it has 2 speed settings instead of 5 (or however many yours has) and the fastest speed was the same as on yours.

After the Breville I got a Green Star which was much better in every aspect except it was both slow to juice and long to clean up due to many parts including large ones. It also takes the space of 3 Hurom/Omega VRT juicers on the counter.

I now have the Hurom (identical to the Omega VRT) and it has the best parts of every juicer with none of the downsides. It juices as fast as the Breville, takes even less counter space than the Breville, and makes about as good quality juice as the Green Star, and cleans much faster than any juicer I ever had. I can peel oranges/grapefruits, juice them, and clean the juicer all that in 5 minutes. Cleanup alone is 1-2 minutes at the very most.

[sptygl]

I have a Breville and I recommend it to everyone I know. I love it!! It does very well and always gives me a full cannister of juice, does well with all veggies, fruits, cactus, etc. I have easy clean up.. simple just rinse and its ready to go.

I have the stainless steel version and it is amazing. The pulp is always dry and I think this juicer is a great machine.

I love nut butters and wheatgrass and that would be the only thing I guess I may be missing out on not having another type of machine. I do mank nut milks myself, so can make nut butters from that..

[raweater]

Again, the juice from any centrifugal type juicer (which all Brevilles are) will have most of it's nutritional value and taste destroyed leaving you with mostly colored sugar water, has poor juice extraction even if the pulp seems dry (about half the amount of juice compared to slow juicers from the same amount of food), can't juice leafy veggies or wheatgrass.

If you have a centrifugal juicer do this simple test: Juice an orange on a manual citrus juicer you can get for $1, and juice another one in the Breville/centrifugal juicer. Taste both, you won't believe how tasteless the juice from the centrifugal juicer is compared to the manually juiced orange which simulates a slow juicer.

Centrifugal juicers should be avoided at all costs, there is no worst juicing method. The only reason you like the Breville is because you haven't used a slow juicer.

[raweater]

By the way I don't mean to "rain on anyone's parade" but it's important to understand why centrifugal juicers like Brevilles are so poor and the worsts possible choice for a juicer. The reason to make juice is to get more nutrients, centrifugal juicers leave you with colored sugar water (that is barely better than drinking sodas) that has practically no nutrients left because they whip tons of air into the juice instantly oxidizing all nutrients.