I juice at least once a day as I primarily eat raw foods.
My Jack LaLane juicer finally wore out after 2.5 years of daily use. I was tempted to buy another but I liked the way everything including the pulp catcher is all in one unit. So glad I got the Breville.
This thing is POWERFUL, especially compared to "Jack LaLanne". It is so powerful I usually don't even use the pusher except to cover the top so your ceiling doesn't get covered with stuff. Other reviewers have mentioned that tendency. What wasn't mentioned is that the reason it does that is because the motor is so beefy that stuff will shoot straight up.
When juicing soft stuff I immediately cover the top with my hand.
The design of this thing is absolutely first rate. Even down to the plug, which has a moulded loop so that it is easy to unplug and plug in! No tool is required to remove the basket, as in most other juicers. Breville uses a combo of ingenious design and magnets to hold it in place!
Ease of use and fit and finish is perfect.
Clean up is really a 2 minute operation and I don't even own a dishwasher. It will stain eventually, as every juicer I have ever owned does. Carrot juice would make a great dye :-)
The pulp on this juicer is a bit wetter than the Jack LaLanne. The "Jack" had a much larger basket and a much slower rotation. I believe that may account for it. But it isn't much wetter just very slightly.
This juicer makes much smaller pieces of pulp though and my experience so far has been that it gets just as much juice from a pound of carrots.
Bottom line I can't imagine anyone not loving this unit.
UPDATE 3/26/2011 This thing is still going strong 3.5 years later. Folks I buy carrots by the 25 pound bag so I am HARD on juicers. And not one part has needed replacement!
This is my third juicing machine. My first was a Champion which served without problems for years. On the plus side it was powerful and durable. On the down side it was rather noisy, vibrated a lot and left a lot of juice in the pulp and was hard to clean. My second juicer was the omega screw machine which I still have. I bought it because it also did wheat grass. On the plus side it is quiet and juices anything, makes nut butter and extracts a lot of juice leaving very dry pulp. On the down side it is slow and worst of all the feed tube is really small. You have to do a lot of cutting to get things small enough to get into the feed tube. I pretty much only use it for wheatgrass now. The Breville is the best juicer I have had. It is an example of good product design in that it is simple, practical and attractive. It is powerful, has a feed tube large enough to take large whole carrots, beets and small apples. It is quiet, comes apart easy and cleans up quickly. The capture pitcher which nests into the machine has a nice cover so you can store the juice for later. If making juice is a hassle you're going to put off doing it. This juicer makes juicing easy and not a hassle.
Buy Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain 700-Watt Juice Extractor Now
Update Apr 2013 Still juicing! I make about a quart of green juice a day. The shredding disc and steel mesh were showing signs of staining and minor clogging. The residue wouldn't come off with hand-washing, so I decided to try some serious cleansing using a spray-on oven cleaner. Bingo! All the residue came off easily, opening all the clogged mesh holes and rejuvenating the shredding disc. None of the original parts have broken or cracked. I remain very satisfied with this juicer.
Update Dec 2012 The Breville Compact Juice Fountain works like new after 11 months of daily use! There have been no issues with the motor. The plastic parts have held up well but are veggie-stained. The shredding disc isn't as sharp as it was on Day 1, but it still works great. When the time comes, Breville sells replacement parts online.
Update June 2012 Still using the Breville twice daily and it continues to work well. No broken parts.
Original Review: Prior to purchasing the Breville Compact Juice Fountain, I researched other models and selected the Breville for its features and excellent customer reviews. I've been using the juicer daily since Jan 18, 2012 and continue to be satisfied with the unit. As with any centrifugal juicer, the pulp may not be "bone dry" due to the nature of the juicing process. But I'm not a purist, and any increase in my fruit & veggie intake is an improvement!
PROS of this unit
* The motor is powerful. The toughest veggie I've juiced is a quarter head of purple cabbage, no problem. Whole kale leaves, celery, carrots, broccoli, beets...juiced regularly without any trouble. I haven't tried juicing a sweet potato yet.
*Quick and easy to clean because there are only 4 parts: the food pusher, feed chute / pulp collection lid, pulp collection container and steel micro mesh filter. See in the video how effortless the Compact Juice Fountain is to assemble. I prefer this model to my friend's juicer that has the side-mounted pulp basket.
* Juice spout fits nicely into the opening of the pitcher lid. Juice doesn't splash all over the counter.
* Compact size makes it easy to leave on the counter to encourage frequent, if not daily, use. The pulp collection container measures 9 inches in diameter.
* Froth separator lid works well to separate the froth from the juice when pouring into a glass. Save the froth! It will liquify into more juice.
* There's a handy cord wrap in the base of the unit.
* Juicer cover, pulp container, filter basket and pitcher are listed as dishwasher safe. I prefer to hand-wash! Note that the inside of the juice collector (under the mesh filter basket) needs to be scrubbed well to prevent build-up.
CONS of this unit
* One speed means you cannot slow the shredder basket down for tough or leafy greens. I compensate by packing the chute with green and feeding it s-l-o-w-l-y.
* Small slices of fruit or veggies end up unshredded in the pulp container because there is a small gap between the bottom of the food chute and the shredding blades of the filter basket. The slices are thin enough (1/16 to 1/8") to fit through the gap. See the video for actual pulp results.
* The juice dispensing hole is hard to clean and gets a build-up. A small bottle brush gets some of it out.
TIPS for juicing and cleaning
* Rinse or clean the juicer immediately after juicing. Dried pulp is hard to clean off the mesh filter basket.
* Juice slowly for better results.
* Juice leafy greens first, then juicier fruits will wash the healthy green into the pitcher.
* Stack spinach into compact piles, and pack into the chute. This way whole baby leaves won't end up in the pulp container. Fill the chute and allow the juicer to slowly shred the greens. Add broccoli, grapes, brussels sprouts, etc. to the food chute while there is still some spinach at the bottom...no more broccoli florets all over the kitchen =)
* Nest and roll big leaves like kale and collards. You can even tuck a small piece of ginger inside for more efficient juicing.
Hope this helps you make an informed decision about which juicer best fits your needs. Happy Juicing!
Read Best Reviews of Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain 700-Watt Juice Extractor Here
OK, there are a million pro juicers here who can tell you all the reasons this type of juicer is best, another million who can tell you why a SLOW juicer like the Champion Brand are best if you want leafy greens juiced. My only experience until this week was with an OLD 15 year old juicer we paid about $70.00 for that took about a grocery CART full of fruits & veggies just to get a 12 oz. glass 1/2 full!
As a result, we used it one time and set it out in the garage until I finally sold it for $20.00 last month. But I saw a Jack La Lane infomercial and came to trusty old Amazon.com to see about trying again since these NEW juicers get more juice (or DO they?). I start reading and see so many more people liking this particular brand over Jacks model so then go to YouTube sniffing around. I take A MONTH DECIDING and bought this juicer from Amazon directly. Used it for just 2 days so I have no way to tell you about how it is best or worse, how it is changing my life, or anything earth shattering.
But I DO have something I CAN tell you. I don't even want a beer anymore. And I like beer. A LOT!!!! I haven't even tried any of the GREAT selection of included recipes that came included with the juicer. I just tossed in about 4 carrots, 1 small pear, 2 pieces of celery, 2 small red apples and it made over 16 ounces of juice! Blows my old mind (short trip). The weirdest thing of all to me at 60 years of age is I HATE carrots. HATE them. ANY form, hate them. Now, I can't get enough. And even weirder, I wasn't able to even eat any breakfast as I was too full. I don't remember anyone saying juice would fill me up. Usually if I had a V8 it just made me want a beer to go WITH it.
So all the expert juicers can decide which brand is best, which style is best. For my recreational use and for my being able to EASILY take it apart and fully clean in 10 minutes (and I am disabled, no, NOT from the beer!), I do a very rare thing. I give this a 5 star rating. As my experience with it grows, I will update this review as required as to reliability, stamina etc. My last and only prior juicer was such a nightmare to clean AND use, got NO juice, it makes this nothing less than shocking. To have so much juice, so much GREAT flavor, almost fun to operate and clean, who knows.....I may just end up skinny & healthy. But then after today's tomato. celery & zucchini with onion experiment, I can see myself wondering what a little Vodka might do for a little added flavor? Probably lucky for me that the only alcohol I ever liked was beer......
If I get into this in a big way and discover I like leafy green stuff juiced, and find this will NOT do that well, I will find someway to go the BIG bucks for a slow turning juicer that does that type juicing best. Heck, maybe I can recycle all my old beer cans to pay for it? Can't believe it took me 60 years to find a HEALTHY way to get juiced.
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2 week update. After using this twice a day some days, once per day everyday for over a week I have problems. One, we have now ruined MORE than the cost of our juicer is clothing stains from flying juice and "pieces" no matter how careful we are. It also has the dreaded "pulp trapped inside the seam between the clear part and the grey plastic" problem. I have tried to no end to contact the manufacturer. On hold with voice mail for over 1 HOUR, then instructed to leave my phone number to have them call me back=NEVER did. Sent email=NO response. Will SADLY now request a return from Amazon on this product I first loved but now is a problem as well as a health risk. I will also buy a juicer with a warranty LONGER than just ONE year. I tried to revise my 5 star rating but Amazon does NOT allow me to do this. I would drop it to 2 stars IF I knew it was not a serious health risk due to the hassle with NO customer service in my case. If I knew for sure it IS a serious health risk, I would drop it to NO stars. But then Amazon will not let me do this either.....
1/23/2009 UPDATE:
This juicer has been returned and I have now owned the new Omega 8006 for a few weeks. Did a FULL review at Epinions of it. What an amazing difference.
1 YEAR 2 week later update:
The Omega Model 8006 is still being used as well as a L Equip XL Wide Mouth Mini Juicer. Still lost over 50 pounds, STILL haven't had or even wanted a beer in over a year. And both of these models are easy to clean and trap no unhealthy food particulate in any crevices etc. Tried & true good solid juicers being used daily.
Mike
2 Year Update: Just sold the L Equip. Probably (well "maybe") going to sell our Omega Juicer as well. Been using a Vitamix 5200 the past few months also. I know it isn't "real" juicing since I also eat the entire product. But for quick & easy, saving 70% on the fruits & veggies, making soups etc? I just got lazy I guess? But to get an idea, go create my meal, clean up & be sitting at the table in 5 minutes? What would ANY lazy old goat like me do? Oh, and for what it's worth, it is now over 2 years without a single beer.....
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Update after almost 4 years.
Never sold this juicer. Even though out Vitamix is a daily workhorse there are still times we use this for juice with NO pulp. As rare as that is, we just find it indispensable for when the mood strikes....For serious juicers, I have found a website that offers the BEST info anywhere. Even though I buy from Amazon (on a daily basis for ALL my needs) I get my best guidance on the latest products from
John Kohler who owns that company also has a Youtube site and recently showed an all new Omega Blender he feels will be a Vitamix killer? Well maybe not.... Hope all this has helped. Vitamix just announced yet an all new model that will not require hearing protection like my 5200 does too. And the beat goes on!
Mike
Want Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain 700-Watt Juice Extractor Discount?
This was the best appliance purchase I have ever made! This juicer is very sharp looking. Looks great in any kitchen. It is compact but kinda tall. The best part is it's ability to juice in a second. Very powerful motor. It fact probably more powerful than I needed but it doesnt hurt to have the best. I bought this juicer so I can make fresh juice for my toddlers, myself and husband every day. Now my girls get fresh apple, pear, carrot, grape and strawberry juice. I absolutely love cucumber and apple juice. Cucumber juice is so refreshing and I could drink a ton a day. My husband loves the bloody mary juice. A tomato, celery and onion and then a dash of hot sauce. We can get 4 times as much fruits and veggies in a day by juicing then by eating alone. I dont want to sit around and eat 8 carrots or celery sticks but I can easily drink that in a day. I cant stand eating melons but I drink them with an apple in this juicer. I dont even have to chop up most of my veggies and fruit. The entry hole is so big, an apple, cucumber, tomato etc. fits great. As long as you buy your fruit organic you can dont have to peel most of your fruits and veggies. Get a good juicing book and it will tell you what fruits and veggies you can juice whole. The ultimate is the easy clean up with this juicer. It tastes less than a minute to clean the entire thing. Yes, the pieces are plastic, except for the base of the motor, but can you imagine how heavy this thing would be if it were glass?? And I have dropped it a few times in the sink and I would have broken the pieces if it were glass. I am now going to start a composting bin for all the scraps from my juicer. That is one of the benefits of juicing too. You can use the leftovers for compost or depending on the fruit or veggie can use for a loaf or bread. Like carrot, apple or zuccini pulp can be used to bake tasty loafs. I am just an average Mom who bought this juicer. For all the other Moms out there.........buy this!
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These are NOT the german henckles they are made in Japan and don't even compare to the german or even spain henckles. I am returning this product as i don't find it worth even the $49. I certainly don't know any stores that would sell this for the $247 or whatever they said the "retail" price was. The block was also dissapointing, it looked plastic. This makes me nervous to buy other amazon products that are at "sharp" discounts in the kitchen section...
