Customer Reviews

Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer, Black and Chrome

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have rated the 8006 at five stars because of its efficiency, ease of use and quality of materials. The newly designed auger is a translucent black material that GE calls ULTEM. The warranty has been increase from 10 years to 15 years. The juicer probably functions the same as the model 8005 and 8002 so all of the previous reviews apply to the 8006. The power switch is located at the lower back of the juicer and allows the auger to be reversed if something would become lodged in the mastication extraction tube. The Omega auger is patented and has a two stage screen for greater juice output compared to other brands. For example, five medium sized HoneyCrisp apples produced a full quart of wonderful clear pulp-free juice. The apple juice does not turn brown nearly as fast as the juice from centrifugal type juicers due to the lower oxidation from the 80 rpm auger. There is very little foam, and the included screen can be used to filter the final product, if desired. The Omega 8006 does a great job with carrots but with this juicer as with any juicer, the smaller the items, the greater the juice extraction efficiency. I need to point out that the feed tube is only about 1.5" in diameter. There lies the problem with large tube centrifugal juicers. They waste about 20% of the juice and this is significant when you count the price of organic produce. I use a little cutting board to slice items while the juicer pulls them in almost by itself. It works very well. I juice greens including wheat grass and parsley, which can adhere to the spinning basket of a centrifugal juicer and cause the basket to be out of balance. This happened to me with a JuiceLady JL-500 and it cracked the top of the juicer before I could turn it off. If you do not want to cut the produce into smaller pieces then this is not the juicer for you. I enjoy using the 8006 and I have yet to see a bad review of an Omega single auger juicer. Of all the juicers made, this is definitely in the top ten and some websites rate it as No. 1. I can recommend this Omega juicer with no reservations. Enjoy!

I had the opportunity to experience juicing on a loaned Jack Lalanne's JLSS Power Juicer Deluxe Electric Juicer, Stainless/Black. After juicing every day with it for over three weeks I realized I really was into juicing and it was not some new Gadget phase I was going through. So I did a ton of research and chose the Omega 8006.

The first thing I can tell you is this is not as noisy as the centrifuge juicer I tried (Jack L juicer). The sound is similar to an old hand mixer on low speed.

The second thing clean up took less time and was easier. Mainly the parts are smaller so they're easier to clean thoroughly. There are no awkward nooks & crannies where food can get stuck. The Omega 8600 clean up involves four main parts. The (1) shoot the food comes down, (2) blade is really a big plastic drill-bit looking thing, (3) the part which determines is the stuff you are grinding going to come out in juice form or a more solid form (such as pasta or banana yogurt!), (4) and finally the collector bins - either or both depending upon what you are doing. It takes more time for me to get the hot water going than the length of time it takes to do the clean up for the Omega 8600.

Preparation is a bigger deal than with other juicers because the opening is much smaller. Some carrots for example had to be cut in 4ths to get it down the shoot. As one reviewer said with another Omega model, it gives you time to think about what you are preparing. The liquid output appears bolder/brighter and without foam compared to the centrifuge juicer.

It's funny, I do notice I pause before preparing my juice to ponder would this be just as good for me if I were to sit and eat the orange, apple and carrots versus putting them into this machine and blend them. What enhances my experience with juicing is the other ingredients such as adding that bit of ginger - yum! When I was using the centrifuge, I thought more about if I had time to do the clean-up after.

The machine itself is sturdy. Having it in a place where you can add the ingredients easily rather than having it stuffed under the cabinet will enhance your access and ease of use.

I am VERY happy with the Omega 8600. It was difficult to wait the 3 weeks - I'm typically a want it now buyer. Mine showed up a few days earlier. I filled my time in cleaning out my refrigerator in preparing to integrate juicing in my diet.

See uploaded picture of my juicing station.

Finally one bit of advice.. No matter what kind of Juicer you acquire - CLEAN UP right after you juice, drink after - clean first! This prevents anything from WELDING to any parts later. Happy Juicing!

HERE IS MY UPDATED REVIEW:
I promised an updated review here once my official verdict was in on this juicer, so here it is. Please see my original review, still retained here below.

I still will say that this juicer makes great carrot juice, no doubt about it. However I have found it to leave wheatgrass juice pulp more wet than I had expected it to based on other reviews.

Omega did, without any complaints, send me my replacement parts to determine if my auger was defective. The only problem here was that it took them... now let me think... I believe it was four separate shipments to actually get the order correct. And then in addition to that they said they were going to send me a mail tag to send the incorrect parts they sent me back for free, however, they never did, so I have parts to their other juicers that I would not use in this new model as well. Overall if I were rating their customer service / support, I would give a few separate ratings:
- Over the phone customer support in terms of speed at which they get you your replacement parts under warranty: 5 / 5 stars
- The probability that your warranty replacement order will be correct when you receive the package: 1 / 5 stars
- The probability that you will be taken care of if you email the company instead of calling them: 0 / 5 stars
These ratings are REAL numbers based on my experience.

Regarding the chipping auger, I have had better success now with the replacement auger. The erosion of the auger doesn't appear to be nearly as bad at all. However with that said, I believe that by the very nature of how this machine works, the plastic on metal action - and especially so when grinding foods using the blank plate - there will nearly always be some erosion of the auger, in particular for the first few times of use until I guess I could say the auger makes a "good fit" with your juicing or grinding plates.

The replacement auger I was sent had a chip out of it brand new. Then they sent me another one and it also had a noticeable chip out of it but in an inconspicuous place that would not harm the juicing process, so I left it alone at that point. These are just defects, I think, from the molding/manufacturing process.

Overall, yes this makes a great juice, and I've also used it to grind up almonds and dates and cashews and such things to make really great tasting nut bars. This machine does a pretty good job overall but as you can see you really play back and forth with what level of quality you are expecting from the machine itself in various tasks vs. the customer support as well. I have never tried the green star juicer because of the higher price but I suspect that would be the next step up from this one, with possibly a drier pulp - however i have never tried that juicer.

I believe that overall if at all possible you should try to find a way to use a juicer for a little while before you buy it, if you can locally in your area from a friend, etc. It would really help in your buying decision as to whether you really want to juice in the first place, and then which juicer is right for you. For now I have decided to sell my juicer and just stick with my vita-mix blender which I really love. I know it is definitely not a juicer, but I feel like I would have just rather bought a grain mill or something with my money instead of this juicer. If you are really in to juicing and know the ins and outs of what you want out of it then maybe this machine or a better one is for you, because it does perform, but I just can't handle all of the extra things that I found issue with that "came along with the juicer" as described above and below.

I hope this helps someone. I suspect there are higher quality juicers out there for critics like myself, but I am not prepared to spend more money now to find out, and I don't know anyone that has a green star. I think that for now at least, juicing is just not for me.

HERE IS MY PRIOR REVIEW:
I purchased this juicer and it arrived in the mail yesterday. I purchased because of the other great reviews out there for it being a great juicer all-around for pretty much everything, along with the great price. It seemed like the perfect package.

Let there be no doubt, this really does produce a great quality juice. I am a little nervous, however, about one thing. I washed all the parts for the first time and then I proceeded to make carrot juice with some greens in it, and then also tried some frozen bananas and strawberries to make a sorbet. Both recipes were very successful, and, the cleanup was also very easy. Although I should mention I had to partially thaw the strawberries as they were just too hard for the juicer to initially accept them.

My concern is that after cleaning and drying the auger, I noticed that even after only the very first use of the machine the auger has scratch marks on it - some of them noticeably deep. The scratch marks are from places where the auger comes in to contact with metal that is on the inside of the juicing screen. Also when I hold just the auger and the juicing screen in my hand and turn the auger inside of it, you can hear and feel how the auger seems to catch on something during the rotation.

I am currently giving this juicer a rating of three stars because although I have found it to produce an excellent quality juice for carrots and greens alike, the fact that plastic (or whatever the auger is made of) is slowly being added to my juice and the pulp makes me wonder if that is healthy!

I would greatly appreciate anyone's comments on this as I should also note that I am new to juicing, however, I have thoroughly examined the machine and how to assemble it and don't believe I've done anything which would have contributed to such easy scratching of the auger.

I have emailed Omega to ask about this concern but have not heard back so far (it's been 1 day since the email was sent so I'm giving them more time). I imagine they must be busy right now with the high demand for this new juicer.

It is my hope that I will be able to eventually up the rating from 3 to 5 stars, however, how could I with plastic chipping in to my food? I leave the rating at three stars because it really does make excellent juice, but at what cost (plastic in the food)?

I will start with, this CAN be a great juicer. I purchased this juicer and accidentally started it before putting anything in it and noticed an intermittent grinding sound correlated to the auger turning. I let it run a few seconds and took it apart to find ground up plastic from the auger in the screen. After some detective work, I noticed that the leading edge of the screen (the edge towards the body) was raised above the plastic so that every time the auger rode up the edge, it ground off a bit more.

I called Omega and they were very quick to send out both the auger and screen. The only problem is that the new screen has the same problem. I emailed them again and told them about the second screen, and I have yet to hear back from them after a week. Since they didn't ask for my old one back, I took my Dremel tool to the screen and rounded off the sharp edges until my fingernail no longer caught when rubbing across it. Now I can run it dry with no apparent plastic getting worn off.

This is a very bad manufacturing control problem that I hope they fix quickly. Frankly, they should stop shipping these until they get this issue fixed. IF they fix this I would give it 5 stars gladly.

All that said and done, I love my juicer now, it is quick to make all kinds of juice and just as quick to clean up. I have had several other juicers, one cost almost twice this one, and this is by far the best once the screen was modified. The pulp comes out very dry compared to any other juicer I have owned or used so I am getting more for my organic dollars these days!

***Review Update (21/11/10):
I've been using this juicer everyday for over one year now, and it's still running strong. I have no idea how some other reviewer said they had their auger chipping. All of my omega 8006's parts are still in new quality after over a year of juicing daily. This auger is the strongest material I've ever seen in a juicer. You would have to juice bricks to see that chip, and I've juiced tons of the hardest vegetables without any problems with my auger.

I've done many cleansing and juice fasting programs with my omega 8006, and it's been a life saver. It has literally been a life saver when I was extremely sick with pneumonia and had to go through surgery. I couldn't eat, but thankfully I had my family juice me fresh fruit and vegetable juices canned in jars to the hospital. To be honest I don't think they would have juiced me so many cans of juice if I had my older juicer, which took forever to clean.
I also remember a time when I had all 4 wisdom tooth removed and I couldn't eat. I felt extremely weak and tired, but thank god my omega juicer is so easy to juice and clean, even in that state I made my own juices.

Now for a real review of the juicer: I believe a juicer is one of the single most valuable investment one can make in their lives. With a 15 year warranty, and with such a low price compared to the super expensive "high end" juicers that take an hour to juice and clean, I would definitely buy this again a hundred times over. The time it takes to juice and clean varies with what you are juicing, but for me it is approximately 2-10 minutes. Every morning I start my day with an orange and apple juice with some superfood. The juicing process of my morning juice is so fast and easy, it takes about 2 minutes. I can clean and put my juicer back together in under 30 seconds. Try to do this with your $1000 juicer that juices slightly better quality greens.
This juicer really shines on leafy greens like kale, wheatgrass, and spinach. It also is great with carrots and beet roots. It can juice anything, but it seems to have some trouble with certain soft fruits. Though things like oranges will juice extremely well leaving a dry pulp.
I really am still impressed at the taste and quality of my juice from this juicer. At 80 RPM's, it really saves all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes of the fruit and vegetables, and you can really see the color shine in the juice.

I think the only reason I use this juicer daily is because the process is extremely fast. I never have a day when I am too tired to juice in the morning. I have more energy and vibrant health than ever before. I am extremely satisfied with my juicer and recommend this to everyone who is health conscious and is looking for a very good quality and efficient juicer.

(*Old Review):
I've been juicing daily for a while now, but unfortunately I could only afford a centrifugal juicer. My juicer was the Waring Pro, which made decent juice for the cheap price of the juicer. Though the pulp was almost always wet, and greens would always come out as chunks. Still, some juice is always better than no juice.
I just recently received my Omega 8006, and WOW I was so glad to have done my research. It really is good as they say. The pulp is bone dry, extracts quality juice, quiet, and low rpms which saves most of the enzymes of the fruits and vegetables. The centrifugal I had ran at probably 8000 RPM's which literally kills most of the enzymes of the produce.
Another thing I noticed was the color and taste of the juice when juicing from the omega. I did not know orange juice is supposed to have so many flavours. From the centrifugal it just tasted like sugar water. Wow it was amazing when I tasted my first orange juice. The color was darker and brighter and it just tasted SO GOOD!
Last thing is about clean up, I can literally take it apart, clean it, and put it back within the minute. Extremely fast clean up, nothing messy about it.
This is definitely worth the money for 15 years of warranty

I purchased this same model in white, the J8004, from another vendor listed on the Omega website, even after reading the few negative reviews here which pointed out that bits of the auger were being chipped and shaved by the juicing screen during operation. I figured that this could simply be solved by allowing the unit to run dry for a time, and eventually a good "fit" would be made.

Indeed, after allowing the unit to run for 5 minutes, the inside of the juicing screen was covered in a plastic dust that had been shaved off by metal inside the juicing screen. In terms of size of the particles, some of what I saw was like pepper, while most was very fine, like confectioner's sugar. There are irregular chips around the tip of the auger, but I haven't seen "large" pieces. I have done about 8 or 9 five-minute sessions of dry runs, and while the dust produced decreased from the first run, every session has produced visible plastic shavings.

I called Omega about this. The representative said the problem is that the machine can't be run dry because of the tight fit between the auger and the juicing screen, and that the pulp waste pushed out of the front end would take the plastic shavings with it.

I'm not satisfied with that response from Omega. While I'm certain some of the shavings would be eliminated that way, I'm not convinced that all the plastic shavings are picked up by pulp exiting the juicer.

Consider that even though the pulp may carry some of the plastic out, juice on the auger will pick up some of the plastic shavings too, and drain through the juicing screen instead of being pushed out the front. Already, other negative reviews here have stated that plastic shavings were in the juice. In addition, consider that different users will have varying usage habits--some may allow the juicer to run a few seconds between pieces of food being juiced, and that lag time will increase the chance of plastic shavings spreading over the auger and getting washed down into the juice bowl. However, there is no warning to that effect in the product manual.

The nail in the coffin, though, is the evidence of the blank screen--which is used instead of the juicing screen for making pasta, grinding coffee, spices, and nuts for nut butter. I ran the machine dry with the blank screen, as well, and still ended up with plastic dust on the auger and inside the blank screen--not quite as much as with the juicing screen, but still quite noticeable. The difference between the blank screen and the juicing screen is that the blank is designed to homogenize the contents--the only exit is through the front and into the bowl where you catch your final product. So here, the plastic shreds & dust get mixed into your peanut butter, baby food, pasta, or whatever else, without any question.

I think many, if not most people purchasing this product are choosing it in no small part due to the increased retention of nutrients that the slow rpm auger allows. How disappointing it is, to find that this, or any product sold as a nutritional solution, ends up tainting what we consume with petrochemicals--or anything we did not consent to!

You might, as I did, have the idea of filtering the juice through a coffee filter. I bought unbleached filters and stacked two filters on top of the mesh screen fitted on top of the juice bowl, but almost no juice passed through--so I reduced to one filter. Even after pulling out some pulp from just one filter, the juice (carrot) did not pass through, so I abandoned that attempted solution. Even if the juice did filter through, it wouldn't necessarily stop many of the fine pieces of plastic dust scraped from the auger.

I gave this two stars because of the potential it has. The carrot juice I made looked great and I was impressed with the output and ease of cleanup. If I weren't afraid of using it, this would easily be 4, probably even 5 stars. But lacking confidence in the safety of it makes me hate it, a bit. I'd definitely skip the J8003, J8004, J8005, and J8006. Only small differences separate them.

Just purchased this last week for $[...] from Amazon based on reviews here. I have used it once to juice carrots. The juicing aspect is excellent. The pulp was much drier than that produced by a centrifugal Omega juicer I had a few years ago. I also used the carrot pulp to make a carrot cake and it also turned out great. In terms of handling, I don't feel very confident about the parts that extend out like a nose on the juicer. It is plastic and bends slightly downwards when you place the carrots into the funnel and press down to get the auger to process the carrots. Makes me wonder how much longer it can take the pressure before it breaks. But the company does warrant its product for 15 years. The cleaning is much easier than my old centrifugal and requires only to take apart the few pieces in the nose.

Now my real concern with this product - After only one juicing I took the nose apart for cleaning and noticed that the auger has scratch marks on it and also looks like some minute but visible particles are missing. The auger is made by GE using a plastic resin which it has trademarked as ULTEM. Here's what GE says about Ultem : "GE's Ultem resin is an amorphous thermoplastic polyetherimide
offering outstanding high heat resistance, high strength, modulus and broad chemical resistance". Here is the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet on Ultem): [...]. The particles of the auger likely ended up in the juice and the pulp, both of which I ingested. Now I am all for juicing health but don't want to pay the price of eating GE plastics along the way. Other reviewers have also stated the same problem. I am starting to think this is not an auger defect but rather the reality of the plastic auger grinding against the inner sides of the juicer nose. I am really tempted to just return this item.

Post Note, 11/14/09: I've now used the machine for a few days now and I don't see any additional scrapings on the auger beyond what I saw on the first day. I like this product enough to keep and look forward to putting it to use for nuts and leaf veggies also.

I have been using the Omega J8006 for just about a month now and am loving it. It took me 3-4 months before I broke down and bought it because I wanted it so that I could begin making fresh wheatgrass shots at home, but I was concerned that I wouldn't follow through and didn't want to "waste" over $300 on a juicer that didn't get used; I finally took the plunge with the price dropped to $249 one weekend. I'm happy to say that I've only missed a couple of days of juicing in the past month because of time management (up too late and had to be to work too early) and have no regrets about spending the money.

I am extremely pleased with the Omega J8006's performance with wheatgrass juicing. At a local nursery I can buy a tray of wheatgrass for about $10. One tray produces about 5 two-ounce shots. Here in Key West, a one-ounce shot costs $2, so I'm now able to juice at half the cost. Even better, now on my days off, if I don't have any errands to run, I can still get my shot of wheatgrass becuase everything I need is right at home. Also helpful were the Recipe suggestions that were included in the manual - the addition of a small piece of celery makes the wheatgrass shot even more palatable (fresh wheatgrass can be STRONG). And yes, there are times that the pulp is a little wetter than I like and I will run it back through the juicer to extract the full amount of juice.

Now admittedly, I've never used any other juicer for wheatgrass, so I can't really compare its performance in this regards to other home juicing systems. However, this weekend my roommate and I had a "juicing competition" between my Omega and his Jack LaLane juicer. We were given about a dozen ripe peaches, which were far too many to eat. First off, I used about 4 peaches and he used 8 in order to produce about the same amount of juice. Second, to call his product juice is being very generous; it was more of a frothy puree than a juice and he had to skim the puree off the top after it finally separated 30 minutes later. The Omega produced a beautiful juice that was all liquid. Finally, when it came to clean-up, hands down the Omega was SOOOOOO much easier. I had to disassemble both juicers (he couldn't figure out how to take his apart). The size of all the parts from the Jack LaLane juicer took over both sides of the sink and there was juice (puree) on the unit itself once it was taken apart. As fot the Omega, clean-up is so quick and easy I don't even consider it a chore. I know that my Omega will continue to get used on a daily basis. I will be extremely surprised if the Jack LaLane juicer gets used again.

This is a solid machine, sturdy without being too heavy. I did notice a review which questioned the warranty length. It is a bit confusing. The manual that comes with it says 10 years, but the box clearly says 15 years. If you're truly concerned about the warranty length, keep your box as the manufacturer will have to comply with the longer of the two warranties (especially as the box is what is clearly advertised and observed).

So far I have only used my Omega for juicing, but am looking forward to trying out its other features, especially for making homemade pasta and grinding nuts and coffee beans. All in all, this is a great machine and I have no regrets with my purchase (I'm not sure my roommate can say the same about his juicer).

Since I got this juicer, I've used it daily.

First and foremost, if you've never juiced, you're in for a dramatic change. Since I started juicing, my energy level has increased dramatically. The benefits of juicing have shocked and amazed me.

Secondly, if you're going to juice, get this style, the masticating juicer rather than the centrifugal style. Yes, it is slower, but it's also more efficient and less damaging to the juice. You will get more juice out of your produce. Importantly, you will also be able to juice greens such as kale, lettuce, herbs and so on.

This particular juicer is rock solid. I'm very impressed with it. The motor is very powerful and grinds up whatever you throw at it. It has a monster warranty. And what I like most is that it's extremely easy to clean. I keep it next to my sink, since I use it multiple times a day, and I can have this thing cleaned and re-assembled in a little over a minute.

Having owned a reasonable mid-priced centrifugal juicer for a while I grew tired of the cleanup and also of the fact that I felt like the pulp wasn't dry meaning juice wasn't being extracted as good as I hoped, and I also grew tired of the fact that it wasn't good at juicing greens.

So I wised up and purchased a Omega 8006 masticating juicer. First off, this juicer is EXCELLENT. The cleanup is ridiculously easy, the pulp is ejected into a seperate cup which could then be put into the machine again if you want to try and squeeze more juice out of it etc.

Now, unlike a centrifugal juicer, a masticating juicer does juice slowly since the auger kneeds and chews the fruits/vegetables/whatever you are juicing squeezing every last drop of juice out. With a centrifugal juicer you can just throw whatever you want in and let it destroy it. With the Omega Juicer you need to take a little bit of time and cut things down, which isn't a problem since it does give you time to really think about what you're doing.

I would recommend this juicer to people that want to juice more greens and vegetables, and also fruits to an extent, and also recommend it to people who are turned off by bulky juicers that require a lot of clean up.