Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Pros:
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1. Very compact: It takes less counter/table space than a small plate. Most of the electrics (except the L'Equip mini and the Waring JEX 328) are major space hogs.
2. Very efficient: Masticating juicers extract more juice than the centrifugal models. Perhaps more importantly, they do a better job of crushing tough plant cell walls and releasing enzymes - think minced garlic versus chopped garlic. (Whether or how much added health benefits this results in, depends on what you juice. It's hard to get good info on this, but plant enzymes typically help in breakdown and better absorption of nutrients.)
3. Cheap (Check out their Ebay listing - it's $10 cheaper over there.) If you don't want to drop upwards of $250 on an electric masticating juicer, or aren't sure whether you'll stick to it, this one's worth a try.
4. Easy to clean
Cons:
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1. The hopper's a bit small, which means you'll be reloading frequently. This seems to be the trouble with masticating juicers in general (including the electrics), but the Z-star manual juicer (also available on amazon, though at twice the cost) has a somewhat bigger hopper.
UPDATE: see effort section below.
2. As I haven't used this long enough, I can't say how durable it is, though it seems very tough and well-made. (The auger tip and the surface it crushes against are both stainless steel, and all the rest is polycarbonate.)
Juicing effort:
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Turning the handle: Effortless for leafy veggies, very little effort for carrots and firm veggies, provided you cut them into smaller pieces first. Don't expect to be able to throw a whole carrot or radish in. The reviewer that claims that you need to be a weightlifter to turn this thing was funny, but wildly off the mark.
UPDATE: Curiously enough, on trying red cabbage, the juicer groans, esp. with largish pieces. I noticed that the juicing effort is quite sensitive to the size of the pieces - with smallish pieces, not only is less turning effort required, but the produce doesn't need pushing either. This lets you feed and crank the handle at the same time, making the process faster.
All in all, though, this idiosyncracy counts as a negative point, and I'm lowering my rating to 4 stars.
UPDATE 2: When juicing cabbage, drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the chopped cabbage - this completely eliminates the groaning (which happens due to friction between the rubbery leaves and the juicer body).
Cleaning: better than the electrics in this department because of fewer parts and simpler design. Cleanup is a major part of juicing effort, so I count this as a pro.
Cutting: For firm veggies, you'll have to cut them into smaller parts (no perfect julienne required; just a quick, sloppy chop would do.) Even so, this adds a little bit to the effort, so if you primarily want to juice firm veggies, you should look at an electric.
Setup: Very easy (again, from the simpler design).
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Healthy Juicer - Manual Hand Powered Wheatgrass Juicer - Wheat grass juicer
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