I bought this juicer to replace the junk that Cuisinart juicer I returned (see my review here)
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Cuisinart_CCJ-100_Juicer
This juicer is leagues above the Cuisinart, but not for heavy use. I have several Orange trees, and tend to juice bags of Oranges at a time and the motor finally died after 2 weeks of use (about 6 pitchers of Orange juice). I was very disappointed, as this is one of the best, well thought out juicers on the market. The strainer has multiple settings and the juicing cone has a built in "sweeper" to prevent pulp build-up in the strainer. The unit comes with 2 juicing cone sizes, one for Lemons/Limes and another for Oranges. I would like to see it come with a 3rd cone for larger Oranges and Grapefruits.
As opposed to the Cuisinart, this one stayed put on the countertop, didn't drip all over the place and was fairly quiet. The white plastic housing on this unit isn't something that I'd leave on my countertop, as opposed to the Stainless Steel Cuisinart, but I'll take functionality over form any day.
THE SELF-REVERSING FEATURE
This is a new item that almost all the juicers are coming with, and unfortunately, you can't turn it off. They just haven't figured out how to perfect this feature, so you get a lot of inconsistency in this action. Sometimes it reverses between Oranges, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it reverses in "mid-stream" and sometimes it doesn't. This is the weak point of most of the juicers I've tested, and I wish they would just leave it off (not to mention that it is a pointless feature to make the consumer feel like they're getting more juice out of the rind).
Although the motor on this one died last night, I'm returning it to Target ($20) and buying one on sale this week (1/6/08) at the local Fry's Food Store ($12) (a.k.a. Kroger).
Hopefully B&D will improve the motor, and I'd like to be able to separate the strainer from the adjustable strainer part, for better cleaning.
**UPDATE** 01/08/08
YES, you read it correctly, my 1st one broke, but that was after HEAVY use over a very short period of time. I'm done juicing for the season, have 10 gallons of OJ frozen and vacuum packed in 1/2 gallon bags, enough to last the rest of the year. So, I did buy another one, because I was so impressed with this unit. I know that it'll stand up to the rigors of normal daily use. I still recommend this unit.
