Customer Reviews

OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

We purchased this mandoline after it "won" the top spot on America's Test Kitchen's product reviews, over products that were much more expensive. America's Test Kitchen was considering safety features, as well as good slicing and convenience. It does have great safety features (which is a good thing, because those blades are SHARP!!!) And it works as well at slicing ripe tomatoes (which many mandolines mangle) as it does at slicing onions or potatoes. Great product, and yet another example of Oxo's great product design!

America's Test Kitchens evaluated mandoline slicers and chose this one as their favorite. Features they liked:
- 'V' blade gets high marks: Models tested had straight blades (bad), or diagonal blades (better), or 'V' blades (best). All could slice hard things like potatoes & carrots, but only those with a 'V' blade could slice a tomato without destroying it.
- Pusher handle keeps your fingers away from the blade
- Slice thickness easy to adjust.
- Comes with 3 blades that conveniently store in the bottom of the unit.
- Good value for the price. (There was one product they rated higher, but it sells for over $300!)

I've used Borner V-Slicers for many years and I wanted to try a different machine, so I picked the OXO based on the cost and positive reviews.

Pros: Interchangeable blades; adjustable slice thickness; folding back foot
Cons: The blades are fussy to change; the julienne blades are not long enough for anything more than the thinnest slices

I want my mandoline to be fast and easy to use and clean. The Borner V-slicer fulfills this need, but it can make only 2 thickness slices. I liked the idea of the adjustable slice thickness of the OXO, but it seems to be of little practical value. Changing the julienne blades on the Borner is very fast and eash, but on the OXO, it is much more difficult and I feel that I'm in danger of cutting myself while I'm doing it. The OXO feels more precisely made than the Borner, but that feel doesn't translate into a better product. Cleaning the Broner is faster and easier than the OXO. Setting up and cleaning the OXO just seems like way too much of a project, and as a result, I find that I usually pick up a knife instead.

Update: I chop a lot of onions, so I've decided that the best way for me to use this machine is to leave it set up as a dedicated onion chopper, with the coarse multi-blate insert always in place. It's always ready to go and it's fairly easy to clean with a sink sprayer. Now that I'm not having to deal with changing the blades, I pick it up all the time for this tedious chore.

We got this off our wedding registry and are having a blast with this! We made homemade French Fries followed by homemade crinkle cut potato chips the same day we got it- delicious! It was really easy to use and very safe (especially for someone as clutzy as I am!). It does take a little bit to figure out how to switch out the blades, but if you just take the time to read the directions, it's a snap. I'm definitely very happy with it!

We loved the OXO mandoline and used it religiously for around 8 months. We received the present as a gift for our wedding and my wife, being Thai, used it liberally to make spicy papaya salad (som tum). The blades stayed sharp, the depth planer worked well, and we made french fries as well and it worked beautifully. One sad day came however when the depth adjuster fell apart and the slicer would no longer hold its depth. We looked into getting a replacement...

... until I noticed on the box that there's a lifetime warranty and replacement policy. We emailed OXO on December 24th, and on December 26th emailed an email that they were willing to replace our slicer with a new one. We received the replacement yesterday- brand new and ready to fresh vegetables into small uniform pieces!

This is my first review, but I feel like I should publicize a good deed when it's done, especially from a corporation. Thanks OXO, from a frequent buyer.

As others have said this was the top rated V slicer from Americas Test Kitchen and they were right once again. Yes the blades are a little fiddly and the guard doesn't grip the food perfectly every time (hence only 4 stars). Three things to do, when you order this, get yourself a cut resistant glove, toss the guard, and BE CAREFUL. This isn't meant for the pro chef who will be using the tool every day. If you want that spend the $200+ on an all stainless monster that will sit out on your counter 24-7. If you are someone who wants a very serviceable tool at a decent price this is the best choice for you.

** UPDATE 02-16-2011 ** I noticed an additional item in the picture of the slicer. It's part of the accessory "Cubing Set" from Oxo (P/N 1136800), and is not included with the original purchase. It's designed to make larger cuts, is available from Oxo.com (not sure about Amazon) for $9.99 plus shipping. I've ordered one and will review it later.

Received my Oxo mandoline slicer yesterday and immediately tried it out. . . on one of the toughest vegetables to slice: a tomato.

PROS:
Some people's reviews have complained that the slicer was "sticky." That's caused by the dry plastic food guide. Dip the tip of your finger in olive or cooking oil and spread a very light film of oil on the ramp where the food to be cut slides down toward the cutting blade. Voila! No sticking or jerkiness.

As to the result with the (very ripe) tomato? Excellent cuts!

Also tried the crinkle blade on an unpeeled cucumber. Again, excellent results.

Haven't yet tried the other blades but, from the previous cuts, I assume the results will be the same.

Nor have I tried to use the food holder (used to protect your hand). But it seems well designed and should work okay.

After having tried two different economy slicers from Wal-Mart, and throwing them in the trash, I was worried about the results from this product. I shouldn't have worried. It's quite satisfactory.

Cleanup's not a problem; hot water and a spritz of liquid soap (as long as the food's not dried on it anywhere). Just be careful of the blade. And it's easier to use--and cleanup your work area after--if you put the mandoline on a sturdy cutting board while you work.

CONS
Blade changing is somewhat of a challenge. . . You'll need the instruction manual the first couple of tries. If you've misplaced yours, you can get one at: fantes(dot)com/slicers-mandolins.html

First a note on the stock picture - it is misleading - it shows the cubing set (that oval with the extra 2 blades), but the mandoline that Amazon ships doesn't iclude the cubing set (I think in general Oxo packs it withot the cubing set, so I don't why this is the stock picture)

The pros: It has a nice design.
Unlike other reviewers, I found it easy to change the blades, and assemble and disassemble the whole thing. The blades store within the mandoline, so you don't have loose sharp things in your gadget drawer.
Most of the mandoline (except for the blades) can be washed in the dishwasher.
Although it is plastic, it is sturdy. The base doesn't slip, and the handle at the end of the mandoline feels sturdy and comfortable.
It is really nice to have the 3 width adjustments.

The cons:
A very small "sweet spot" to safely and comfortably slice the vegetables. Maybe I chose the wrong vegetables. Here are the results:
*Cucumber - Beautiful thin, medium and thick slices, but with limitations. At its full length, the cucumber was too long and narrow to use the food holder. Every time I tried to set it on the holder, the cucumber would get loose and/or the whole thing would collapse - so I had to do the first 1/2 of the slicing without the food holder - fearing for the integrity of my fingers. At some point, I could put a shorter piece of the cucumber and successfully slice about 2-3 inches - which went really fast and the slices were beautiful. Then it came to the end of the vegetable, and it was impossible to slice the last 1/2 inch or so (because the holder only goes so far, and it is hard not push the wires that hold the vegetable in place just so, before they start scratching on the body of the mandoline).

*Onion - Nice medium slices, but again the last 1/2 inch or so couldn't be done with the mandoline. I couldn't do thin slices - but that may be not being familiar with the mandoline. I find the onion easy to slice with a knife, so unless you have a bucket full of onions, not much time saved.

* Bell Peppers - by the time you cut them to clean and take out the seeds, and then not being able to slice the last 1/2 inch or so, again the overhead was too much over just slicing it with a knife. I could only slice them successfully at the medium and thick setting.

* Tomatoes - maybe I was using a tomato that was too ripe. The mandoline made a royal mess with very ripe, and somewhat ripe tomatoes. Maybe it works well with green or barely ripe ones.

So maybe it was bad luck, and if we were a big french fry eating family I would have loved the mandoline.

I didn't hate it, but we don't have that much storage space, and I didn't feel that the trade-off between the amount of space it takes, and how useful it was for our style of cooking deserved keeping it.

We'll be putting that money into a good set of knives, and maybe a hand-held or compact mandoline.

A Nicely designed, middleweight Mandoline. Positive marks for the V blade and the on-board storage features .. HOWEVER, the photo shown, displays the optional #11366800 cubing set to the left of the mandoline, without clarifying that it is NOT included. NEGATIVE marks for what could be interpreted as deceptive marketing.

This device is fairly intuitive but is rather fiddly (ie it has too many parts, comes apart in odd places, and has things that move that might be better off not moving). It did radishes fine with the julienne setting but carrots didn't work. I felt I had to put too much pressure on the carrots to get them through the blades and the finger guard handle kept loosing it's grip on them. The handle has four metal rods (like bbq skewers but not sharp) and a plastic disc with tiny teeth that moves up and down on the rods in synch with top of the handle (if you look closely at the picture you will see a circle on the handle, that's the part that lifts up). The tiny teeth really don't help hold on to stuff if you can't stab it with the metal rods. All in all it didn't work as smoothly as I wanted it too and I didn't like the handle (and there's no way I'm using it WITHOUT the handle, I've already been to the ER once because of doing that with another slicer!)