My experience is limited to the Omega 1000 and 4000. Both are very good machines, but one of them has some distinct advantages.
As the other reviewers have noted, this machine is very solidly built & should easily outlast the 15 year warranty. In fact, it might outlive the 4000.
Why? Because the 4000 is so much more pleasant to use that you will use it more, because the operating principle is a little different.
Both machines have a chute that you feed fruits & vegatables into. At the bottom of the chute is a stainless steel disc/blade that grinds up the food into a pulp.
On the 1000 model, the pulp is thrown out by centrifugal force into a drum that is just like a washing machine drum it is perforated stainless that traps the pulp on the inside and allows the juice to strain out. Just like on a washing machine spin cycle, it is possible to get the contents out of balance so that the whole machine shakes & makes a real racket! This is very easy to do on the 1000 if you load apples or other foods with skins, because the skin will often stay intact so it has to go on one spot on the drum, throwing it out of balance like a pair of jeans. There are some "tricks" that help in this case, such as saving some carrots for this emergency. Many times feeding a carrot will stop the shaking.
Another consequence of the "spin-cycle" approach is that after you have feed a few pieces of fruit, the pulp in the drum can clog, trapping all the juice inside. This happens especially when you try to juice bananas, pineapple or strawberries. I am able to do strawberries & bananas with the 4000 as long as I alternate fruits. The bananas still goo up the insides, but a couple slices of apple get things flowing again. With the 1000, it was a lost cause.
The model 4000 works differently because the spinning drum is cone-shaped, which forces the pulp to ride up the sides of the drum for a brief period & then it flies out into a pulp ejector chute. This means the 4000 never gets the shakes like the 1000, and also the drum stays much cleaner, which allows you to keep juicing much longer. For example, this morning I juiced apples, carrots, celery and grapes in that order on both the 4000 and 1000. Although in both cases I got exactly 12.5 ounces of juice, the juice from the 1000 had no grape color and less grape flavor, because a thick layer of pulp had built up on the inside, which absorbed most of the grape juice.
The other advantage of the 4000 is that it when you turn it off, it stops in just a few seconds. On the 1000, it continues to spin for much longer because of the heavy food in the drum, dribbling all the while and sometimes walking across your countertop!
So I give 5 stars to the 4000, and only 4 stars to the 1000. The 1000 does have an optional citrus juicing attachment that is rather nice. If you can''t stand pulp, the 1000 also accepts some very inexpensive coffee-filter-like filters that virtually eliminate pulp from the apple-carrot-celery etc. types of juices and make cleanup easier. You really can''t use them with tomatoes, strawberries, etc., because it will clog instantly.
Cleanup is pretty easy on both, once you get the hang of it. The only tricky part is getting the pulp out of the strainer. I use a stainless scrubby pad gently on both sides, which seems to work well on both models.
The 1000 is better than I am describing, but loses a star for occasional vices.
This juicer has been great. It juices anything we throw at it. Very powerful motor. Very little vibration. Super high quality!
We''ve made all kinds of juices, but especially like vegetable (beets, carrots, etc.) and fruit (cherries, strawberries, etc.) mixes.
The only drawback I''ve found is that the basket that holds the pulp is a little hard to clean. It''s not as bad as it could be, but does require a bit of time to get all the pulp out. We''ve found that a vegetable (stiff bristled) brush makes this go a lot faster.
I didn''t rate it 5 stars because of that (somewhat hard to clean) and also that the capacity of juicing is smaller than what some people might need. I suspect you could get about 2, maybe 3 cups of juice before having to remove the pulp. If you wanted more you could just start over. I can imagine for some people (or commercial operations) this would be a drawback.
If I were to get another juicer, I''d definitely buy an Omega. The quality surpasses others I have seen.
Buy Omega 1000 Juicer Now
I''ve had my Omega 1000 juicer for about a year. I used it around 30 times when POOF! That was it, the motor burned out. Then I spent five minutes on the Web to discover that it''s a "1/3 horsepower" juicer. That''s a little less than 250 watts.
Other models like the L''Equip 110.5 Mini Pulp Ejector Juicer (rated better and less expensive than the Omega 1000) put out 600 watts. Even the Omega 8005 produces only 1/3 horsepower.
If you go to Bizrate.com, on the page where the 8005 is displayed, it posts a power rating of 1/3 hp. Yet if you click on the "" next to the "Power" heading, you''re told:
"Power: Determine the wattage rating on the juicer. If you''re juicing hard produce, the more watts, the better. A motor rating of 450 watts or greater is recommended."
Translated to hp, Bizrate.com recommends a bit more than 1/2 horsepower as the minimum acceptable hp. Shame on me for not spending the time to research this before buying.
I''m not abusive with mechanical devices. I was grinding a tough material, parsley. That''s supposed to be OK. I let up evertime the RPM''s slowed significantly, i.e., I was careful. Bizrate.com''s advice is right on the mark: 250 watts (1/3 hp) just isn''t enough. Don''t buy this or any sub-.5 hp juicer unless you''re juicing material that''s already soft.
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I bought this juice from my local health food store a couple of months ago. I should have done more research before buying it.
A few folks have commented about the off-balance spin cycle effect of this juicer. I thought that would just be a minor issue. I''ve since discovered that it''s anything but minor. When off balance, the whole juicer literally jumps around the counter, vibrating out of control. It''s more than just a big racket. When it happens, I can''t even get to the on/off switch, so I have to unplug it to get it to stop. By then I have a real mess on my hands. It''s downright scary when this happens. I am apparently not skilled enough to consistently feed this juicer with the right size or balance of fruits and vegetables. I''ve decided to quit using the juicer, just out of safety concerns.
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I had this unit since early 1999 and juice often. While it is true this machine doesn''t eject the pulp as you go, it''s more efficient at extracting juice. I typically can juice a large cucumber along with a large, entire stalk of celery, before there''s just too much in the unit, and it gets out of balance. When the unit gets heavily out of balance, it will vibrate rather loudly, but the solution is simple: turn it off, wait until it stops spinning, clean it out, and off you go. This vibration is what another reviewer ignorantly writes about, and said he had to send his unit back in. That''s simply not fair or well-informed feedback on this wonderful unit.
This is like the Maytag of juicers!
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If you have used these filters before then you know just how much hard water build-up can accumulate on them. If you haven''t used them before, then just take my word, you really don''t want all that mineral deposit in your coffee. Using these filters really does make my coffee taste so much better, and the price is very reasonable for the length of time I can continue to use these filters. I seriously recommend using these filters.
