EDITED 2014 - This is a review of the original 3 blade version of this slicer which I far prefer to the newer four blade model. If you are deciding between the two I think there is no comparison. While the newer version looks slicker and is more self contained, it just doesn't handle the veggies near as well as this one does. I've reviewed the other machine if you want to have a look and see my issues with it. But this 3 blade version is phenomenal and a staple in my kitchen. Easily one of the best gadgets ever made in my opinion. Read on.....

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I had to interrupt my cooking to write this review. Believe me, I am not easily moved to write product reviews. This would be my second here on amazon (since the writing of this review three years ago I have added many more product reviews here on amazon).
But, this little turning slicer is amazing. Simply amazing. It makes quick work of everything I throw at it and to date that would include:
radishes
carrots
cucumbers
onions (they work a little differently from the other vegetables)
kohlrabi (makes a fabulous, refreshing salad)
zucchini (I can never remember how many "Ns" are in that vegetable)
apples and,
sweet potatoes
I may even have done a celeriac but I can't recall for sure.
This device never balks.

And it is a pleasure to clean.

I had to give up pasta a few months back and I found myself missing the act of twirling long strands of food on a fork. It was then that I searched for a spiral slicer, not sure if one existed that could meet my fork twirling needs. I bought this little gem because I figured it was inexpensive enough that if I didn't like it all that much, it wouldn't be too much of a hardship.
Honestly, for what this does I would easily pay twice or three times the price.
As I write this I am in the middle of spiralling cucumbers for the old family cucumber salad recipe. Many of the strands that come out of this thing get close to 2 feet long. Food prep doesn't get much more fun than that. The First four (large) cucumbers took all of 4 minutes to break down into perfect, long, spirally strands. I have four more to go when I finish this review.

Okay, some of the reviewers here have complained that you lose about 3/8ths from the center of anything you are spiraling, and this is indeed true. In the case of cucumbers, that means that the device is essentially getting rid of those pesky seeds for you but in the case of a carrot, you lose a bit of viable vegetable. Do I mind this? NO, who cares. Use that center 3/8ths carrot piece for something else, or snack on it while you shred the rest of your veggies. Its not as if the center 3/8ths isn't usable, it just isn't made into long spirally strands. So, it wouldn't make sense to try to shred baby carrots or asparagus because they aren't much larger than 3/8ths of an inch so there wouldn't be much to spiral.

I can't speak to the durability of this slicer because, alas, I've only owned it for two months as of this writing. So far so good however and it does seem durable. It is well designed. The extra blades snap into a holder in the middle of the slicer so you aren't likely to lose them nor are you likely to cut yourself on them inadvertantly. Though lightweight, the whole unit feels fairly sturdy and I can't imagine needing to replace it for a long long time. The whole thing suctions onto your work surface which makes it very manageable. I've started using it in preparations where hitherto I've used a mandolin slicer. This spiral slicer doesn't make it easy to cut off fingertips the way you can with a mandolin.

On a final note before I get back to the cucumber salad.... I do not like kitchen devices that make a job longer than it needs to be and that includes gadgets that take forever to clean or have sharp edges to wash and be careful of. You could hurt yourself with this thing but honestly you would have to try pretty hard to do that. it doesn't want to hurt you and the company seem to have thought of everything so that it would only really injure someone determined to draw blood. it is not a child's toy however and so it requires the same respect you would give any other item with sharp blades.

There is one minor quibble I have with the device and hope that the company reads this and deals with it in a future incarnation of the product... when the spirals come out it is a little bit difficult to manage where they will end up. It would be nice if they design a catch basin type thing for the strands as they fall from the blades. This is a minor quibble because you really can catch all the strands if you're careful but I just don't want to have to be careful all the time.

Okay, that's it, back to my cucumber salad.

EDITED July 2013 -- THOUGHTS AFTER 3 YEARS OF OWNERSHIP:

I still absolutely love this thing. It continues to work flawlessly and fairly effortlessly, breaking down all kinds of vegetables. Admittedly my favorites are cucumbers and zucchini but I have spiralized many others as noted above. In all this time it hasn't stained (as many of these gadgets do) and the blades don't seem to have lost any of their effectiveness. I admit that cleaning it, while still relatively easy, is not child's play. Still, it doesn't take long.

I used to put my zucchini noodles in a vegetable basket on the grill with some spiralized onions and coated with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and they were a crowd pleaser every time. But it has been brutally hot and humid here so I thought I would go for something a little more refreshing. I served the noodles raw (using the smallest blade) and coated them with a homemade "guacamole" sauce. This was another crowd pleaser and rivals the cucumber salad.

3 years later and I can't sing the praises of this thing highly enough. I just really don't understand the naysayers.... particularly the folks who complain about the wasted vegetable "core" Get creative and find something to do with it. Challenge yourself!

Most of all I am impressed by how well this thing has held up.

UPDATE AUGUST 2013....

There seems to be much debate about whether this little unit suctions effectively to the work surface. For me, it does. I have a polished granite countertop. I am going to guess that this suctions much less well (if at all) to some lightly textured formicas. That may well be where the debate stems from.

RECIPES....

UPDATE:
A BLOG AT LAST! I am just starting to blog my recipes. The first four have been posted but am hoping to get many more up and running.....
okay. here's the blog address spelled out.... my website is s n o o t y d o g - dot - c o m. There is a link at the top of the page for my blog. Let me know if you find it useful

Just no effective...I don't know where those great reviews are coming from unless those folks are only using zucchini. Tried for quite a while to spiralize a carrot and all I got were little c-shaped chunks, unattractive and not what I wanted. Watched a youtube video and the seasoned user doing the video got the same sort of chunks using a sweet potato but seemed to want me to think that was the desired results...nope, want spirals. The suction cups do not stay attached to the counter by a long shot. I already have a mandolin to slice things thing so this is just not a useful addition if it's not going to spiralize. Was really hoping to like it.

I love this! It is perfect for cucumber salads, spiraled zucchini and carrots. I eat one entire cucumber a day because of this little machine. I will state however, BE CAREFUL WITH THE BLADES! I was sloppy and pulled up too roughly to remove the blade attachment and ended up in the ER with 6 stitches (spiraled pinky anyone?) lol. The box warns you repeatedly to be careful so please heed their advice and dry your hands before you remove the blade attachment.

After just one year of VERY light use (zucchinis only, it couldn't handle a sweet potato), the handle of my spiral slicer broke off into five plastic pieces. I wasn't even in the kitchen at the time. There it was sitting on the kitchen counter, we heard something breaking and I walk into the handle on the counter wtih the connector in multiple pieces. Not only could this item barely handle a zucchini but it could NEVER a sweet potato. This item was NOT worth the $26 I paid for it. I don't know why everyone loves it.

In the past year, I’ve basically tried out every type of slicing / julienning / spiralizing tool I could get my paws on.

Of them all, this type of spiralizer is among the fastest to use (outside of using your food processor blade). I like that this spiralizer has four suction cups on the bottle of the unit so that it sticks to your counter and holds it in place while you crank the handle. It does waste the middle core part of the vegetable, but wastes less than some other tools (like the pencil sharpener style spiral tool). Given the crank and handle placement, this tool seems to be designed for right hand use, because the handle is on the wrong side when you use the crank on the left hand, but it’s not a big deal because the unit holds in place with the 4 suction cups so you can one hand crank. To remove suction, you just pull gentle on the little tabs.

I cleaning to be fairly easy. Vegetables get stuck in the blades but rinse out pretty well. I also like that there is a place to tuck your other blades in when not in use and that there is a cleaning brush. I’ve used my unit for a few months and I haven’t noticed the blade too much, but I’ve been mostly cutting softer vegetables like zucchini and cucumber. On that note, it helps a lot with wastage if you try to find straight vegetables that aren't too crooked and try to centre the vegetable as much as possible before starting to crank the handle

The down side of this unit is that it’s pretty bulky compared to other tools. As a result, I don’t use it as much as I otherwise would because it gets stored on the top shelf of my cabinets.

Comparison against other tools -

The mandoline and benriner seem to be the most dangerous to use. I’ve sliced my finger quite a few times on the benriner due to slippage. I bought metal mesh gloves to use with my benriner and I would definitely recommend doing the same with mandolines. The hand guard is a must-use if you don’t have one, or else I’d grip as high up the vegetable as you can. I like that the units fold flat and also that you can slice up more of your veggies (if you’re careful.) Also you don’t get the same shapes (obviously) with a mandoline / benriner as you do with a spiralizer.

Spiral sharpeners the easiest to use. You stick your vegetables in, twist like you’re sharpening a pencil and out comes noodles. It only has two types of slicers though so it’s not as versatile as the mandolin or this spiralizer and cleanup is a bit of a pain as the food gets caught in the middle.

Julienne peelers are the most labour intensive but handiest for irregular shapes.

Overall I think this is a great tool at a decent price. I waited to buy this on sale which it seems to go on a few times a year.

One of my current favourite zucchini noodle recipes :

3 roasted peppers
2 roasted bulbs of garlic
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Goat cheese to taste
Half and half to taste

Blend that all and serve on top of your zucchini noodles.