The original and the best. I've tried all these dicing gadgets. The Alligator is the sturdiest, the easiest to clean and the sharpest. I bought the original before it had a receptacle to catch the diced produce. Although it was very effective, I did end up with pieces of dice all over the place sometimes, so when others came out with 'catchers', I tried them. None were really satisfactory. Some have little combs to get the food out from between the grid rows--that is a huge pain. Alligator has a thin shield that fits down over the grid. All you have to do is lift it up, rinse it and replace it. One competitor version I tried broke while I was dicing strawberries for heaven's sake, and another just wasn't sharp enough to do the job without extreme force. Another advantage to the Alligator is that the square grid accommodates more than those with a round grid. I was delighted when Alligator came out with this model and I happily switched back.
You need to slice your produce first unless you're trying to get more of a julienne effect, and very hard produce like beets probably isn't suitable for this approach, but the resulting dice for most things is lovely and professional looking--like having your very own sous chef at your side doing the prep. A vegetable soup made using this gadget looks stunning--all the carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, etc., exactly the same size. One would think you'd been to culinary school. It also does nice work on herbs. I have the mini-dicer for garlic as well and also am very pleased with it. Great kitchen time saver.
I have only been using mine for 6 months but I've already gotten enough use out of it that if it broke tomorrow, I'd still be completely satisfied. This machine saves an incredible amount of time in preparing food. Cleanup is also super easy. (If you get anything mashed in between the blades, a fork will generally take everything out just fine, but I find it easier just to stick a cucumber into the machine and let the newly-diced cucumber push out the stuff that had been mashed in there. Works every time.)
I don't think the collector is all that necessary (I used it with the collector the first time and haven't used it once since), so if I buy another I'll definitely get the cheaper one without the collector. The trick to not having everything fly all over the place is to bring the blade down onto the vegetable only part way, so that the vegetable is gripped into place by the blade, then hold the dicer *upside down* over a collecting bowl. Then finish closing the blade and the pieces will all fall into the collecting bowl.
Incidentally I also have the mini Alligator, which I find I never use. This larger one I use constantly and would recommend to anyone. But save yourself the ten bucks and consider getting the one without the collector. You'll save on storage space that way, too!
Edit to add: Three years later, and I still use this often (while the mini alligator continues to collect dust in my cabinets). Additional comments:
Works best for cucumbers and apples. Besides the obvious use on salads or mixed into couscous, they end up the perfect size for dog treats, if you are training and need some healthy rewards.
Works for onions, BUT not really a time saver. Anyone handy with a knife can dice onions at least as fast as you can dice them with this machine. However, the onion cubes end up stunningly perfect in size, so although your onion dicing goes no faster, it all ends up much prettier, if that is important to you. You can stack 3 or 4 layers of onion slices (rings) atop each other and do them all at once, IF your rings are not too thick.
Works on bell peppers if (and only if) you peel the skin off first, which is harder than it sounds. Also, dicing mushes up the bell peppers to a slight degree. Not enough to make them MUSHY, but they do end up slightly mushier than they were before going through the machine.
Carrots don't work-way too hard. Tomatoes don't work-way too soft.
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My old Progressive food chopper finally started wearing out and the blades were bending from too much use so I thought I would try the Alligator because it had good reviews. It definitely does the job, but I do not find it as study as my old chopper. The collector is nice, but I wish it had a lid to store the chop items if you are not using them right away.
With both my old chopper and the Alligator, it is important to pre-slice your vegetables for an even, unified chop. I find, however, that even pre-slicing the onions, it is sometimes hard to get it to go through without leaving behind some residue. There are instances where you have to press pretty hard to get the onion to go through. I have used it for onions, peppers, carrots and garlic so far.
All in all, it is a nice slicer. Certainly a lot easier and more uniform than trying to chop by hand. My only recommendation is that all of these gadgets be washed by hand rather than the dishwasher because I believe the dishwasher dulls even the sharpest blades.
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The dicer works well enough. As noted in other reviews, it works best if you slam it down with your fist rather than trying to press it down. I keep thinking I'll have to buy another one soon, but so far it has held together. Two caveats: 1) Make sure the collection shield is in place before smashing it down; 2) Tell your (very sweet and dear) wife not to try to clean the grid by pressing her fingers on the sharp side.
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I used this tool for the first time last weekend. It does make perfect dices and it will take only one or 2 pieces of the whatever you're dicing unless it's very soft. But it's still faster than dicing it yourself. My soup looked great with all those perfectly diced onions, celery and carrots.
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I purchased this knife for my mom who has arthritis and ordered one for myself at the same time. I liked it so well I ordered one for my college age daughter. It's easy on the hands and performs well. Chopping and dicing is no longer such a chore!
