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245 of 246 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best juicer I've ever had, December 23, 2004
This review is from: Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, Chrome and Black (Kitchen)
I used to have an ACME centrifugal juicer. I thought I would never like any juicer better than the ACME because it made good juice and was very easy to clean. The only drawback to a centrifugal juicer is it won't extract much juice from leafy green vegetables and won't juice wheatgrass.
I got this Omega 8005 juicer because I wanted to be able to juice greens and wheat grass as well as root vegetables. I read on a forum that this new Omega juicer is the best there is for under $400. This Omega juicer is even easier to clean than the ACME, which is a big issue because in the long run you won't use a juicer if its a hassle to clean. And it squeezes all the juice out of anything I put in it. The pulp comes out very dry. It is super quiet too and the ACME was loud.
The Omega runs at a low rpm so it doesn't kill enzymes and stuff like that, so its supposed to make healthier juice than a Champion or centrifugal juicer.
Its a pleasure to use. I make juice every day now. I love getting all the nutrients that I need regularly. It helps my body recover from surfing everyday.
The juicer is very well built and very simple. It seems like it will last a long time and it has a very long warranty.
You can tell that I love this juicer, eh?
Edit: It's now 2009 and I've had this juicer almost five years. I still use it just about every day. I still love it. The juicing screen started to wear out a few months ago. I emailed Omega and they sent me a new one for free. They certainly stand by their 10 year warranty. I am comforted to know that if anything else should happen, I still have five more years of no questions asked replacement.
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245 of 249 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You Are What You Drink...er...Something Like That, October 7, 2006
This review is from: Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, Chrome and Black (Kitchen)
What I Think
I started thinking about juicing a couple of years ago. Over time I did a little reading on the internet but never thought passed the idea of juicing more than fruit (I'll get to why this important a little later). The cost was also a little more than scary - I always thought I could find a better way to spend $300 or $400 (the price of the "better" fruit juicers).
I'm not a health nut, but after a short hospital stay I decided I should take better care of myself. About a month ago I finally bought the Omega 8005 Juicer. Why did I choose this model? Review after review extolled its virtues and the closest competitor, the Green Star Juice Extractor, was more expensive.
This is one kitchen appliance that is well worth the expense.
Why Would You Buy This
If you are only concerned with juicing fruit this isn't the best model for you. It isn't so much cost, a good centrifugal juicer will cost about the same, or more. The issue lies in the straining screen. Pulpy fruits like nectarines clog the screen and you have to take the unit apart to clean it before you can continue juicing (I know this from experience). It can be done and in small quantities isn't that big a deal. But if you never plan to juice leafy vegetables or grasses I'd look elsewhere.
If you want to juice leafy vegetables or grasses, then you need something like a gear juicer. The Omega fits the bill and is actually less expensive than some fruit juicers. There is also the issue of heat. Some juicers can heat the vegetables because they juice at high-speeds - thus reducing the nutritional value. Here again the Omega fits the bill because it's gear mechanism turns a low rate and is actually less expensive than many other similar units. The Omega can also make nut butters, pasta, and whole host of other things; have I mentioned that the Omega is less expensive than many of its competitors ;).
More importantly, though, a glass of juice from the Omega contains more delicious vegetable nutrition than I have ever had in a single serving before.
Use/Convenience
I was a little concerned about having to chop up the vegetables and the reports of "lengthy" cleaning. Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Depending on how much you juice at one time it takes 30-40 minutes, from washing and cutting up the vegetables to finishing up cleaning the last piece of the juicing mechanism (not much more effort than cooking the darn things in my opinion - and I still do a lot of that for dinner).
If you can clean a blender, the Omega is just as easy. I always take apart my blender to clean it, so cleaning the Omega wasn't that big a deal - maybe 2 or 3 minutes longer.
Tips/Tricks
First and foremost, do some research. The internet is chock-full of recipes and tips. Here are a few I picked up either through research or experimentation:
1. Use bitter or pungent vegetables and fruits in moderation - unless you just love chewing on a hunk of ginger, then go for it. Roots like ginger add a nice zing, but can overpower anything else if not used sparingly. Limes add a surprising amount of flavor; I add one-quarter of a small lime - anymore is just too much for me.
2. Peel oranges and grapefruits, but leave the white "skin" just under the surface. The rinds can be very bitter to taste and apparently contain minute traces of toxins. Grapefruits fall into the "pungent" category for me. When mixing in other fruits I only use 1 grapefruit.
3. If you want to sweeten a drink, use an apple instead of sugar, even in vegetable juice. It works. Trust me.
4. Use pulpy fruit in moderation. This is mostly a cleaning issue with me. I find that I have to take apart the juicing mechanism and rinse it off for *each* piece of pulpy fruit and this gets a little cumbersome when trying to make juice in the morning.
5. It can take a surprising amount of vegetables to make 24 oz of juice. But on the flipside one glass sets you up for the recommended daily allowance for the next day or so.
6. Start your juicing regime slowly. I found out the hard way that it can have an...uh...interesting affect on your digestive tract if you go whole hog too quickly.
7. Experiment. Some mixes are better than others, but in all honestly I haven't found one I didn't at least like.
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148 of 149 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this juicer, August 10, 2005
This review is from: Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, Chrome and Black (Kitchen)
I never expected that a juicer could become my favorite kitchen appliance, but here it is! Omega performs beautifully. Here's what I've tested it with:
1) leafy greens (dill, cilantro, parsley, dandelion, kale, parsnip etc.): extracts lots of dark green juice; leaves very dry pulp. I haven't tested Omega with wheatgrass yet, but given its performance with other similar-texture greens it should do fine.
2) carrots, beets: approximately half of the volume comes out as juice; pulp is pretty dry.
3) berries (strawberries, raspberries etc.): most of the volume is juice, but pulp is rather wet. I had to finish off with carrots to push the soft pulp of the berries through the juicer. It may be a better idea to blend berries rather than juice them.
4) hard green apples, oranges: lots of juice, dry pulp.
5) yellow (softer) apples, grapes: lots of juice, dry pulp, but have to use something hard/fibery at the end (carrots or beets) to push the remaining pulp out.
6) almond butter, walnut butter: these came out somewhat dry/crumbly, not as smooth as peanut butter; had to add oil.
Additional features that I like:
1) very quiet, can't even compare to centrifugal models.
2) masticator rotates slowly, so the juice doesn't get heated, hence less nutrients are supposed to get destroyed.
3) Omega squeezes produce cells instead of crushing them at high speed; this preserves more of the larger molecules (amino acids, vitamins etc.) thus making the juice more nutricious.
4) Omega doesn't produce fine-crushed pulp requiring a fine mesh filter (as is the case with centrifugal models), so it's much easier to wash. There's no fine mesh to clean, which makes the difference between a juicer that ends up used once a year (as was the case with my old centrifugal juicer) and several times each day (as is the case with my Omega). It's also very satisfying to see that the bulk of the produce is turned into juice and is not lost in soggy pulp.
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