First off, let me admit to the fact that I've never owned any kind of juicer before, this one is the first.
We were given the Jack LaLanne Stainless Juicer as a gift from someone who already had one and loved it.I had modestly high hopes for it, not being a big powered-kitchen-gadget fan; but we also have been trying to improve our diets due and lose some weight, so the gift was rather timely to meet that end.I honestly knew nothing about this product until I pulled it out of the box at home.We'd gone to the local big-box store and bought a bunch of stuff to put in the machine and try it out:Kiwis, mangoes, carrots, tomatoes, apples, oranges, pears, ginger root, celery and pineapple.
The Good:
Out of the box I got the impression that this was a sturdy product.All of the parts are fairly simple, that means less stuff to break or clean to me.It assembled in a snap, I didn't even look at the directions (typical guy...I know).Upon firing up the machine, I was impressed with how quiet it was.A modest hum and vibration was all that I could hear.Fruit being put in the device emits a sound reminiscent of a very quiet band or table saw.By the time I've written this, all of the above products have passed through the juicer and released some juice without trouble, the "hard" bits were cut off or out (stems, mango pits, etc...) and the juicer had no difficulty turning any of them into pulp.Incidentally, one of my favorite things to put in the juicer so far is simply a couple of carrots and apples.Tastes good, but probably gives me an orange tongue... There is also a stopper on the drain spout that allows you to stop the flow of juice while you trade out whatever it is you are using to catch the juice.
Cleanup was no problem.Dumped the pulp bucket, cleaned the gunk out of the lid (some pulp sticks to the upper lid) with my hand and rinsed it off with soapy water.The blade was easy to clean, but the screen takes a little more effort, it is fairly delicate.I was able to clean it no problem with a lightweight scrubbing pad.The lower portion and base clean up easily as well.
What produce seems to do well:
Apples do very well.Lots of juice and the pulp is pretty dry.
Carrots: Same as apples.
Celery: Pretty good job here too.Careful though, celery has a pretty strong taste; it'll overpower a lot of other flavors.
Oranges: Pretty good.I've noticed that it doesn't seem to get as much juice out of these as it could, the pulp can be pretty wet sometimes.
Kiwis: Not so good.The kiwis are very pulpy and tend to block the undersized drain hole from the catch basin.They taste good though...
Pineapple:Lots of juice, not as much as you might think though.Due to the very fibrous nature of pineapple I found I had to stop the juicer after half a pineapple and clean the screen.The fibers were getting caught in it, unbalancing and blocking it.It tends to gum up the cutting blade as well.
Mango:Same as kiwis.Tastes good, but the pulp gums up the works.
Tomatoes:Great!Lots of juice, and with the re-addition of some of the pulp makes a great tomato soup.Again, due to the soft pulpy nature of tomatoes, it tends to plug things up.
Pears:If you pick the firmer varieties, they go through just like apples.
Ginger root:We'd had a glass of ginger/orange juice somewhere and wanted to re-create it, it was pretty good.Ginger doesn't have a high water content so you need to run it through first and then the wetter produce behind it to pull the ginger flavor out with it.Pretty strong flavor, don't need as much as you think. The Bad and Ugly:
There are several design issues that this juicer has that are serious drawbacks to me.The drain hole is one of the big ones, as well as the fit and finish of some of the parts.
The drain hole simply isn't large enough.It plugs up way too easily no matter what produce is run through the machine in any sufficient amount to create more than two or three tall glasses of juice.This results in juice leaking down the motorized base and making a pretty substantial mess, usually because you are halfway through running something through the machine and the juice has been backing up for a bit.I think it said somewhere in the directions that some of this is "normal", I gotta raise the BS flag...I call it bad design.The directions say not to run really ripe fruit through the machine (which could lead to leakage problems);well, what are you supposed to use, hard and sour unripe fruit?Even chasing something "pulpy" like kiwi through the machine with something hard like apple doesn't seem to clear the machine out at all.The inability to use ripe fruit seems to contradict the reason you'd want the juice to begin with.This is by far one of the more frustrating issues with this juicer, it should not get plugged up so easily.
A design issue is the catch basin and lid; the catch basin does not line up with the lid very well and can shift if you are juicing a lot of things consecutively, you'll wind up with pulp on your counter if you don't keep an eye on it.There is no solid mechanical connection between the two.The lid also has a couple of crannies in it that pulp seems to migrate towards that are difficult to clean by hand, those should be eliminated in a design update.
Another design issue:The Chrome Plated Plastic.Not all of the parts of the device that shines is "stainless [steel]".I checked the directions front to back as well as the warranty information, the juicer is "dishwasher safe" (except the base), so one could reasonably expect to throw the parts in the dishwasher and have no ill effects.WRONG.Do NOT use a high heat drying/washing cycle.This will cause the chrome plating to come off, and may also deform the thermoplastic (which is all of the plastic) parts as is what happened to a previous reviewer.Ours had the chrome plating begin to "rot" off after only the second wash.I called the Jack LaLanne juicer service phone number and they suggested I return it.I'd take it back, but I don't care about the chrome myself and the product works fine.If you've had this problem, take it back and get a replacement, they need to correct the washing instructions or fix the product design.
Another bad property of the product is that it mentions various vegetables or grasses that naturally have a low water content can be put in the juicer.Wheat grass and broccoli come to mind.I think that this is misleading; from my experience with the ginger root, these products do not have enough liquid content to produce a significant amount of juice and will need to be "chased" in the machine with something that has a higher liquid content to extract any material.This is bad information given to the consumer if they think they can get a glass of "straight" wheat grass juice.In summary:3 to 3 1/2 stars.What the machine is capable of doing, it does well.It does not do everything it should do (as advertised) and has some unfortunate limitations and design issues.When it works, it does a really good job, but I wouldn't want to be limited to apples, carrots, tomatoes, hard pears and celery if I had actually paid for this product.I would give this a very cautious "buy it" recommendation, but just know what you are getting into and see if there's something that might do a better job for you.If they update the design, then this juicer may be a better product.
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Jack Lalanne's JLSS Power Juicer Deluxe Stainless-Steel Electric JuicerProduct Description: A welcome addition to any healthy kitchen, this fruit-and-vegetable electric juicer produces fresh juice quickly and easily. Simply place a glass or small pitcher under the spout; insert whole apples, pears, cucumbers, or other produce into the extra-large round chute; then gently and slowly press down on the food pusher. The unit's powerful 3,600 RPM induction motor and surgical-quality stainless-steel blade deliver delicious, all-natural juice in seconds--a nice alternative to store-bought varieties that often come laden with artificial sugar and preservatives. The unit's patented extraction technology protects vital nutrients and living enzymes, plus provides up to 30-percent more juice than other juicers. Pulp gets spun towards the back of the unit, collecting in an extra-large, detachable pulp catcher for easy disposal or composting, or, better yet, for flavoring cookies, soups, salsa, cakes, and more. Other highlights include whisper-quiet operation, a unique non-drip spout, and dishwasher-safe parts for quick cleanup. Attractively housed in stainless steel with black accents, the electric juicer measures 16 by 12 by 15-1/2 inches and carries a limited lifetime motor warranty.
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This will have to be short and sweet due to limited time but I had to offer my opinion.
