Breville Stainless Steel

It was not that long ago that I was up late at night channel surfing. I happened to come across one of those infomercials about how great juicing was. I got too excited about it because they did a great job of selling on T.V. Then, I realized that I should do my research and not buy on impulse. Boy, am I glad I did. As it turns out not only would it have been a mistake to buy from an infomercial, which is something I never do. It would have been a bad idea to purchase the particular model that was being promoted. During my research I learned about juicer warranties, what features to look for and how much I should expect to pay for the privilege of juicing. I came across the Breville juicer.

The Warranty.
Don’t buy any juicer with less than a 1 year warranty. Makes sure the warranty covers the whole machine and not just the motor. If you don’t you may regret your purchase. Breville juicers comes with a full one year warranty. This makes it a good choice for your peace of mind.  If you come across those juicers out there with 90 day warranties run away.  They will be lucky to last 6 months. I’ve had my breville juice fountain elite for well over 2 years now.

The best combination in juicing features
The breville juice fountain has a lot of great features and few drawbacks.  First it does what it advertises. I have been able to  juice whole apples, and several uncut whole carrots with ease. The pulp comes out pretty dry and there isn’t that much of it too. Also, compared to many other juicers breville juice is pretty high quality for sure.  The one I opted for was breville juice fountain elite 800jexl with its high wattage and high horsepower. This thing is a power house. It eats up anything I throw at it, including hard veggies, and soft veggies like spinach. This is somewhat high end but has the versatility I was looking for.  I found this model to be more powerful then the breville bje200xl 700 watts juicer version.  But on the low end you could opt for the Breville juice fountain plus, or their newest power house, the Breville je95 850 watts juicer. Whatever you chose its best to get a juicer with a minimum of 600 watts and ½ horse power.  This is especially true if you want to juice everything and anything with exception to wheat grass. That’s the only real drawback for the breville line of juicer. 

What you will pay for the best value in juicing
Well for the entry level fair, $89 gets your through the door. From there you can spend as much as $300. Don’t fret because even the $89 model is at the top in quality, design and reliability when compared to any juicer selling at that price. I strongly recommend you buy yours online however, as getting a breville compact juicer at the department store will cost you 20% premium or more.  Oh, and if you are interested in juicing citrus like oranges and grapefruits, this is one of the few juicers that that can handle those as well.  The breville citrus juicer is a very decent one for a citrus power juicer even though it does a whole lot more.

Jack Lalane Juicer

Have you been sitting up late at night watching TV flipping channels and came across that juicer commercial too? I had wanted to get into juicing for some time. I’ve come across the “as seen on T.V.” Jack Lalane juicers a lot and every time am tempted to pick up the phone  and order it. And I don’t do ordering off of the TV. Never have and don’t expect to start now. However, they do a hell of a job selling the Jack lalanne power juicer. It is very tempting.         

I knew I wanted to get into juicing for sure and decided to research it. What I discovered, is that you do not have to buy the jack lalanne  power juicer pro on TV; I explored the quality of this machine, and if there is any truth to what they say in that ridiculous infomercial. Read on in order to find out the answer to these questions and more.

Where to buy: TV, Online or your local Department Store
First off, buying a Jack Lalaine Juicer direct from your TV would be a huge mistake for a couple reasons. They will try every trick in the book to up sell the crap out of you for add ons and upgrades, such as getting you to buy the Jack Lalanne power juicer elite, their stainless steel version.  I don’t know about you but I hate high pressure sales pitches. And besides, the prices they charge are way more then what you could pay online.

If you got to have one, then buying it online is your best bet. You can get this juicer for a lot less money than you would through buying it off the T.V. This is especially true if you are interested in the elite version. It will end up costing up to 30% more. Most department stores will charge you close to what you will pay buying it online. Though, sometimes they have sales.

Does this machine deliver?
First of if you are a basic beginner at juicing then this is not a bad machine to start with. It delivers fresh juice with minimal effort. However, it has some draw backs. First of the shredding basket is very difficult to remove for cleaning, requires a special tool to remove the screws (You should have to use a screw driver to clean your machine). What a pain in the ass. The size and shape of the machine is fairly large. This is not a super compact machine for a juicer. It’s middle of the road in that regard. The jack lalanne power juicer 250 watts, at least I am pretty sure that’s the wattage doesn’t make it a great machine for wheat grass or really soft produce. You will want to stick with harder solid veggies and fruits like, carrots and apples.

What the Infomercial Claims
The infomercial like any other makes a lot of questionable claims. One of which is that the jack lalaine juicer produces 30% more juice. This is a stretch. There is little to no evidence to back up this claim. This is true with any brand of juicer. Jack Lalane makes some significant claims that are not justified. There is no documentation that the juicer was tested in identical situation in comparison to other juicers. However, it does in the end do a fairly good job juicing. The claims about clean up are somewhat misleading. You could expect to spend 20 minutes or more cleaning this machine up after juicing.  This is mostly because the shredder/cutter basket is bolted to the machine. You’re not able to lift it out for easy cleaning. This is for their base model, I am not sure if this is the case for the elite version.

So, to sum it up, don’t spend a fortune buying this juicer from the T.V. or the department store. Save some money, and get it online. It’s a decent starting mostly hassle free juicer for the online price even with some of its draw backs, but not worth the price elsewhere.  One bonus you get is that the Jack Lalanne manual comes with an awesome book filled with Jack Lalanne recipes that are actually pretty good. This is really useful if you are new to juicing. I personally opted out in favor of another brand of juicer. I went with a Breville juicer.