by Arien
(Des Moines Iowa)
After having an inexpensive centrifugal juicer, the juiceman jr, for over two years I decided it was time to join the real juicer's club.
The juiceman was ok but I wanted to get a real juicer because the masticating process is so much less damaging than centrifugal juicers. I've decided to go pretty heavy into raw food and I want all my enzymes intact.
Sooo, I saved up for quite a while, and looked around to see what kind of juicer I should get by reading a lot of juicer reviews on amazon, consumer reports and raw food websites. I thought really hard between the Greenstar Elite and the Omega 8006. They both had really good reviews. In the end I chose the Omega 8006 because it is said to be easier to clean up after juicing, and because it costs so much less than the Greenstar Elite.
I got mine on amazon when a seller had a special. I was able to pick it up for $249 saving me a cool fifty bucks. I received it about a month ago and have been juicing two to three times a day every day since then, and I have to say I absolutely love it so far.
It does all of the leafy greens that my juiceman jr couldn't touch. I do spinach, kale, wheatgrass and parsley in it along with the typical veggies like carrots and beets. The pulp is very dry for these.
The fruits on other other hand tend to be more pulpy. Not in the leftover pulp, but as in the juice itself is really thick. I guess this is better because it means its extracting as much as possible, but I've been using the strainer that came with my Omega when I do fruit because I don't like the heavy pulp experience.
All in all, even though its only been a month I can say I'm pleased so far. If you want to juice a lot of fruit, the pulp may be a factor, but for me since I'm into the greens its not such a big deal.
I sold my juiceman jr on craigslist for $25 so it's really like it only cost me $225. When I factor in how much I'm going to save in produce I figure it will have paid for itself in six months.
If you're serious about raw food, the Omega is an excellent choice. I can't compare it to the more expensive Greenstar because I haven't had a chance to use it, I've just read juicer reviews about it so far. I'm waiting for a friend of mine who is planning on buying it so we can do a juice-off competition at our raw food potluck and see which one really gets more juice.
Peace out,
Arien
p.s. I like your site. It's down to earth. Why don't you put up some more stuff about raw foods?