I love your posts!
Slaying dragons and tilting at windmills you say?
Oh Sancho, would you help me mount Rocinante? Time to go find some windmills and search for my lovely Dulcin . . , , er, I mean Luella.
Thanks
Last time I juiced up Rocinante it gave him a bad case of stomach distress. Unfortanutely, poor Sancho was riding directly behind when the distress hit and . . . well, you get the picture.
Champions are indestructible tanks and have probaly been around the longest and their design is virtually unchanged. I've owned one for at least 25 years and I bought it used then. When I went to buy a replacement part on their website I gave them the serial # they told me mine was built in 1959!! Still going strong and will last another 40 years.
Having said the above and having used one all these years they are very fast with hard veggies but they don't do well with anything soft and get very little juice from leafy greens. There is also the issue that because of their fast spinning rate they introduce heat and oxygen into the juice speeding up the oxydating process so the juice must be drunk immediately and it will not save for long. I have also owned centrifugals like the Acme and they too are quick but they don't do well with leafy greens either. These 2 types are probably the oldest outside of the very expensive presses like the Norwalk press. They are the best but as I said very expensive and take lots of work.
For the last 3 or 4 years I have owned an auger type Omega 2003 http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1657306#i which I bought used for half the new price. Bulletin boards at healthfood stores are usually good sources and there is always Craigs list. The auger types are the best modern juicers and in my opinion they make the best highest quality juice. Since they are slow they don't start the oxydation process as quickly and you can actually makes batches that you can refrigerate. They can even do wheat grass that neither the Champion nor the centrifugals can do. Their only drawback is that they are slower and you hafta cut your veggies comparatively small.
Jump to the latest technology The Omega Vert which is a new kind of auger type juicer with a wide opening and you don't hafta chop thing so small and they work relatively fast. From all the reviews, testimonials and YouTube demos it's the one that I am currently lusting after. Since they are new to the market I haven't found any used ones.
There is a lot of great information in this thread.
The bottom line to consider when purchasing a juicer IMO is this...
1. What are *you* going to juice? This is the single largest factor in deciding what to purchase.
Leafy greens, and grasses demand a good single auger, electric or manual.
2. Are you willing to cut things up if necessary?
Most juicers will require at least some cutting of vegetables and fruit... some more than others. This is the only drawback with the 8000 series omega that I own.
3. How much time are you willing to invest in prepping, juicing, and then cleaning.
Both my Omega 8000 and L'Equip Wide Mouth are fairly fast with the very obvious edge going to the Centrifugal L'Equip in all categories. I can prepare, juice and clean up the L'Equip in about 10 minutes; the Omega will take about 20 with the same produce due to the extra prep time, and slower juicing.
And if I am juicing something that jams the Omega 8000 (which I have learned what not to juice in it now, and don't) - forget it... what a clean up job :-\
4. How much room do you have on your counter for the juicer(s)?
Bottom line... The best juicer is the one you will use.
If I had a *bar* in my house (which was a popular add in many homes at one time), or the room for one that I could build, I would turn it into a juicing\juice bar - produce cooler\refrigerator, sinks - one for washing, one for cleaning with disposal if necessary (compost bin preferred), room for prepping the produce, and at least one juicer AND a vitamix or similar blender on the counter etc. :-)
grz-
My budget SHOULD have been under $200, but I broke the piggy bank and bought an Omega 330 HD which finally came in last week. I love it! Now I have to find some good juice recipies . . .