Greenstar Juicer GS-1000

I bought this juicer because juicing was recommended by my doctor for a dietary cleanse.  I was pleased with the reveiws especially in terms of how much juice was extracted from leafy vegetables like spinach and parsley.  I also expected to use it for my family to make fresh squeezed orange and pineapple juice for years after I finished my cleanse.

For nutritional juicing purposes, the juicer worked very well, at least at first.  I've made juice almost every morning for 2 months, and I do get a lot of juice out of my leafy vegetables and the pulp is dry. 

The major problem comes in juicing fruits.  Basically you can do about two apples or oranges before the whole thing jams up and you have to take it apart and clean out the filter before you can do any more.  If you then put through a carrot or celery or some other solid vegetable, that clears the fruit pulp and you can do more of whatever you want.  From a nutritional juicing perspective that is just fine as you don't want straight fruit juice anyway.  However, relating to my family's desire for fresh squeezed fruit juice, this machine is a total loss. 

I still use the juicer almost every day.  I like the juice and like feeling like I am getting lots of nutrition from it 

Comparison: A friend came over with her centrifugal juicer and we did a comparison, cutting each piece of fruit in half and putting half through each juicer.  We included carrots, but otherwise just fruit.  The quantity of the juice was identical, but the taste and color were very different.  I think the soft, juicy fruits were actually better in her juicer.  My greestar did more with the carrot and firmer fruits. 

Cleaning:  I don't find it too bad to clean, but it takes me about 10 minutes every time, even after I have discovered some tricks which do help.  The biggest issue is the filter which has to be scrubbed out and that takes at least a full minute by itself. 

Durability - this is the second huge disappointment with this machine.  When I buy a $400 appliance, I expect to measure its life in decades.  Unfortunatly, I doubt I will get pst months.  One part is already cracked.  The manufacurer is sending a replacement under warranty, but it doesn't give me confidence.  In addition, juice has started leaking out from both ends - the pulp come out dry, but juice leaks out with it, and juice travels back toward the motor and leaks out where the feeding assebly attaches to the motor which makes a mess on the counter.  This didn't happen when it was new, so I consider that a bad sign for durability too.  Will it just continue to get worse? 

If I had it to do over again, I would try a juicer at half the price of this one.  i'm very frustrated that it isn't what I expected it to be and it looks like it won't last as long as it should.