Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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129 of 130 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Impressively poorly designed, August 1, 2005
You'd think it would be hard to mess up when designing an item that just juices halved citrus fruit, but they did. And how! There are three annoying features about this machine that interact to provide a supremely annoying user experience.
The first annoying feature about this juicer is that the pour spout juts out a mere 1/4 inch from the side of the machine. Since the machine is rounded and somewhat urn-shaped (fatter on top than on the bottom), you have very little space to get a glass or measuring cup near the body of the machine in order to catch the juice. Keep in mind that some measuring glasses can be rather thick, and you can easily see that this might be a bit of a problem.
Now for the other two problems. I should note that this machine has a decent amount of torque, and can indeed ream out a citrus fruit rather efficiently, leaving nothing but rind. The problem is the three little rubber feet on the bottom cannot stand up to the machine's torque. Push a fruit down on the top and the entire machine jerks to the side, whereupon the spout flinches away from its tiny area of proper juice-dispensing, and juice meets counter. You have to exert a considerable amount of force when pushing down the fruit just to get the thing to stay put. I had to use both hands to do this (one holding the lemon down, one pushing against the side of the machine, leaving none for the measuring cup). It's not an insignificant amount of force; you really have to brace your arms on the thing to keep it still.
Thus comes the third problem, which is the auto-reverse mechanism. About the second or third time you push down on the fruit and activate the machine, it goes the other way (clockwise instead of counterclockwise) in order to get more pulp and juice out of the fruit. However, I haven't figured out how to tell which direction it's going to go next (it's not a simple first time this way, next time that way), so when it decides to change, the machine jerks in the opposite direction of where you were expecting it to go. This operates in opposition to the force you are exerting on the side of the machine trying to keep it from moving. Again, hilarity ensues.
So, all in all, I am NOT impressed with this juicer. Unfortunately, it was the only one at the store. Perhaps another company will see the opportunity here and dare to make a juicer that does not have such an impressively compounded collection of design flaws.
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64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
It's hard to keep the cup under the spout!, January 20, 2004
I used a friend's citrus juicer, and that got me excited enough to go out and buy one of my own. The store didn't have the model I was looking for, so I ended up with this one, because I didn't do enough research.It's "okay" at extracting juice from citrus fruits, but after about two oranges it clogs up, and it's necessary to clean out the pulp catcher. If you want to make more than 6-8 oz of juice at a time, it may be better to go with another model. The biggest problem I have with this juicer is that it turns--and sometimes spins--on the counter. Because it is important to keep the receptacle cup directly underneath the spout, this turning and spinning inevitably creates a mess, as the spout moves away from it's place over the cup. I find myself chasing the spout with the cup, or trying to hold onto the juicer to ensure that it stays in place. Because of it's aerodynamic design, though, it's hard to get a grip on it. Sometimes I feel like I need three hands--one for the juicer, one for the cup and one for the fruit. I found a solution to be to place the juicer on a towel on the counter, as this cuts down on slippage. I like my friend's juicer a lot better, because it has a receptacle built in to the juicer. The juice just falls to the bottom of the juicer into a pitcher that is built in, and even if the unit turns a bit, it doesn't matter. I saw a couple built like this on the Amazon site. For example, the Toastmaster 1109 Citrus Juicer has a built in pitcher to chatch the juice. I've decided to return this model, not because it's horrible, but because I know the other type of juicer is more convenient and less messy. I bought it because it matches my kitchen--not a very responsible reason. In it's defense, it is a cute little juicer, though! Still, looks are not enough--performance is the most important thing. So, back it goes!
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful Juicer Overcomes Minor Flaws, January 6, 2006
I purchased this juicer a week ago to replace my broken less-than-a-year-old Braun Citromatic Citrus Juicer. After reading the bad reviews, I was pleasantly surprised by the Cuisinart's performance. After juicing all the oranges from our tree for a total of 2 and a half gallons of juice, here are my conclusions:
The auto-reverse feature is a little sporadic, but I didn't need the machine to spin both ways-all the juice and pulp was removed on the first spin. The Cuisinart is much more powerful, and significantly quieter than the Braun version. The auto-reverse function was useful, however, for larger oranges. But for regular sized citrus, it isn't needed.
I prefer the `continuous flow' design instead of the machines with built in containers. The `built in' machines require disassembling the machine every time the container fills up. The pour spout on this Cuisinart machine is high enough to accommodate a 2-cup glass measuring cup. The Braun would only fit a small 1-cup. The `continuous flow' design is quick and clean.
The Cuisinart model does have a few small flaws. First, it does like to spin slightly on the counter. To stop this, I put a small piece of no-slip cabinet liner underneath. Now it doesn't move at all. I could very easily juice an orange with one hand and I never needed to hold the machine. The pulp catcher can clog up, but it took 8-10 oranges before I had to clean it out. Even then all I had to do was shake the pulp catcher over the sink, and it was good to go. This clogging just proves that the machine effectively strained out all the pulp. There was much less pulp in my juice than when I used the Braun Citromatic.
Overall, the juicer does very well on its main job: producing pulp free juice. Its flaws were, at most, minor.
I absolutely recommend this juicer.
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