We purchased this a few months ago and waited until we juiced a few hundred fruits to write a review. Here's what to expect and our thoughts on other reviews we read:
It totally works as advertised -- we've juiced limes, lemons, oranges and tried pressing non citrus fruits because, hey, why not? You get a high yield and if after juicing, you strain it to remove pulp and only slight amounts of pith, it's just totally solid.
The bottom line is we're big fans, but here are some considerations to see if it's right for you:
1) It's heavy -- about 15lb / .45kg, so keep this in mind for storage and access. We put ours on top of a fridge when we're not using it, so only one of us can take it down/put it away
2) It's very sturdy, but you're pulling the lever in a forward arc, so you still have to place a free hand firmly on the juicer to prevent it from tilting forward -- we use the rectangular shaped area at the top/back of the juicer. If you place it on your kitchen counter, and have to put your hand on the back to hold it steady, though, you're going to struggle handling this if you're shorter than 5'5" (approximating here, but hopefully this helps). And Zulay, if you're listening, consider how to add more weight/stability to the rear of the unit to address this in future models.
3) The lever is heavy and sturdy, so I understand people's concern for safety by leaving it in the upright position, but it is slightly balanced more than 90 degrees in the other direction, so my guess is, "if" it is falling forward, people are bumping into it more than gravity taking over. Be alert/careful, but we ourselves are not overly concerned by this.
4) Maybe this should have been ranked higher, but you do not have to be very strong to use it. It's heavy to move around, we definitely need to hold it steady, but don't mistake the feedback for needing to be a body builder to crush a fruit. The hinges and weight do all the work until the last 1-2 inches of pressing. It requires a little strength, but very non-athletic, non strong people should still be able to press through the fruit.
5) Cleanliness and Cleaning -- You don't need an apron per se, but small amounts of juice will spray out of the sides when pressing, so either slow it down to contain the juice, or prepare to wipe up with a quarter sheet of paper towel when you're done, and of course wipe down the exterior because the acidity will probably cut through the lacquer at some point. The press essentially has three main pieces to clean - the steel press, and the two base pieces (and upside cone-like piece and funnel). The latter two are simple to clean -- they drip of course, but you take them out, wash them off and boom, but the press is attached to the unit so it's a little harder to clean. It's only touching the outside of fruit, but still...
6) We've heard the paint is chipping on some units and landing in your juice. This sounds terrible but we're not seeing it. Our guess is it's either defective units or the acid from the citrus is causing chipping over time, but if you use a wet sponge...we'll have to see, but we're not terribly concerned about this.
Our hands are less cramped, we're juicing more limes faster, and here's a trick, we're filling ice cube trays with 1-oz pours of lime juice and freezing them so we can pull them out one margarita at a time and make the juice last longer.
Thanks Zulay, and good work on this one!
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