Vertical Masticating Cold Press Juicer

THE NUMBER ONE THING YOU WANNA KNOW - BELIEVE ME - IS HOW EASY THIS MACHINE IS TO CLEAN.We bought ours from the amazon seller something Haas who is selling it somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 dollars less than all the other amazon sellers out there. It came in perfect condition on time and right out of the box ( after washing it ) I made some awesome juice.My wife and I have health issues - we believe stem from a genetic mutation called MTHFR and being in a toxic enviornment. In an effort to aid in our over all health efforts we decided to juice. Years ago I spent 700 dollars on a vita mix and I honestly wish I would have bought this instead. It comes with a mincing attachment - which is truly awesome - and can be used to make your own nut butters, deserts and baby food. Baby food! Yeah - so you can rest assured your baby is getting the very best quality nutrition and a great head start with raw, organic and nutritious foods with all the enzymes intact.My wife has had some post pregnancy depression - and fatigue - and within two days it was drastically reduced. I suffer from depression and fatigue - withing moments of drinking some juice I felt so much better. One thing many people don't know is that cooked food is seen as an invader by the immune system. It actually has to go and check out what's going on each time you eat cooked food. The body does not inately recognize cooked food as nourishment. So the more raw food you can ingest the better off and healthier you will be. I love me some grilled and grass fed organic meats - especially lamb - and I eat fairly healthy but eat cooked food about twice a day. Juicing is a very easy way to get more raw nutrients and enzymes ( of which most people are deeply in need of - helps the pancreas ) and it's also very tasty.I can't say much about the juicer but we watched many videos on youtube and did an exhaustive study of many many juicers including the Norwalk - Champion and a few others. One stainless steel model I may have bought was way out of our current price range. For ease of use - and having a reputation for being able to basically juice anything well - we chose the slowstar. I have to say it's great at the harder stuff - but not so great with softer fruits and leafy green veggies. There is a learning curve as with any appliance - and learning when and what to alternate helps get more out of those things that are more difficult to get all the juice from. Another aspect is the warranty - which is really coprehensive - my understanding is that the only parts not covered are those like the filter which will need to be switched out do to wear and tear. This is the equivelant of the tires on your care not being covered in a warranty.I have juiced apples, carrots, oranges, kiwi, bananna, cabbage, celery, bok choy, pear, tangerines, lettuce... ginger and turmeric root. I was impressed with the quality of the juice, the ease of use, and especially ease of clean up. I made three juices my first day. I could not get enough! I was so excited and felt so great I didn't wanna stop.A lot of my friends discouraged me with advice about the cost of organic produce. You do not want to juice conventional produce - ok - for one very good reason. Who wants concentrated pesticides in their juice? Not me. So organic produce is expensive. That's true but if you're smart you can find good deals at places like Costco. We literally bought at least half of our organic produce from Costco - including carrots, apples, and pears. We shopped around and found oranges for a dollar a lb and bought ten lbs. So it can be done.Listen - the RDA for most nutrients is laughably low. 60 mg of vitamin c? Smoking one cigerette will use 50mg! Not that I would but - vitamin c is crucial for great skin, immune health, detoxification, Krebs cycle - so over all energy. We need much more than a mere 60 mg per day. That is ridiculous. Supplements are expensive - often have fillers - ect. Who doesn't like fresh, unpasturized all natural food? When it tastes good - as freshly juiced orange, carrot and apple juice does - it's truly addictive in a good way. Beta Carotene - which is turned into vitamin A. You need that for good healthy lungs - immune health - and unlike synthetic vitamin A - you can't over dose on natural Beta Carotene. In todays nutrient deficient society juicing just makes good sense. It's tasty - it's healthy - great for the whole family - anti disease, and anti-cancer - anti-inflamatory if you focus on more green veggies and less sweet fruits.My family loves the Slowstar because it's easy to use, it's easy to clean, has a great warranty - I mean it takes me longer to cut up the produce than it does to juice or clean. You can spray out most of the pulp and it comes with an awesome cleaning brush with a sort of fish hook on one end and a hard bristly side on the other. Awesome. The main parts that take some effort are the screens and the receptical - and that's maybe five minutes for both. Not a big deal.If you have health issues - or wish to lose weight - or suffer from colds - have circulation issues - if you just want healthier skin - or just to know you're getting the best juice you can afford - I would recomend this juicer. It's easy to clean - the learning curve isn't bad - and the quality of the juice is enough motivation to keep me going back for seconds and sometimes thirds. If there was one thing I really don't like about this product it's the prevelance of plastic throughout the machine. It claims to be virtually BPA free - but most plastics that claim that have been found to be high in estrogenic BPS - which is actually worse for you than BPA... SMH. SO ... unless you can afford the NorWalk or that 1300 dollar stainless steel juicer - I would say this is probably the best all around juicer out there. You won't find a used one for sale anywhere - I mean I tried.So it's five am - and I'm signing off - feel free to hit me up with questions - I'd be happy to answer them. I don't work for anyone and have not been paid to write this review. I love health - and am a health enthusiast. I am 38 and often I'm asked if I am ten to twenty years younger. I believe a lot of the ailments of age are from not investing in health when younger. You don't not put money in a bank and then retire and expect to be financially sound. The same priciple works in the body - you get out what you put in. If you're not happy with your life - I suggest you make a change. Juicing is a good start. Sure it's a few hundred bucks - but that's not bad when you think of how much doctor visits cost. I believe in the future we will make food be our medicine and nutrition will be a much higher priority for the majority of people.

I bought this at the recommendation of John from Discount Juicers. Sorry John, I had an Amazon gift card. Before buying this I borrowed the ubiquitous Breville Juicer touted by Joe Cross for two weeks to see if I would like juicing. I don't like it, I love it. I never ate breakfast before and drank about three cups of coffee to get me to lunch. Since starting I have not had a cup of coffee and don't miss it. My energy is higher and more even throughout the day. Only lost about 5lbs but am not trying to lose weight too quickly. i still eat other foods but less of them. I can see myself not feeling starved if I went on a full blown juice cleanse. The Breville is a decent machine but is loud and not sure if it will last more than 5 years.ProsVery quiet compared to the Breville10 year warrantySlow juice is supposed to retain more of the nutrients. Not sure if that is really true.Juice looks like juice. Check a video on Youtube showing this unit juicing tomato's compared to the Breville.Does a better job on leafy greens which was my number one reason for getting this juicer.Quality of the plastic machine parts are good. Thicker plastic than on the Breville.It takes me about 5 minutes longer to make a double batch of juice with this vs the Breville. I may be slow but it takes me around 20-25 minutes to make a double batch of juice with clean up using the slowstar. 15-20 with the Breville. Cleanup is about the same. Prep is about the same because you can start juicing right away with the Slowstar and prep as you feed the hopper. The Breville is so fast you need to do all the prep in advance to keep feeding the machine.5 stars for the Slowstar except:1. It doesn't give that much more juice than the Breville. I tested using Joe's Mean Green juice and got 10% more juice than the Breville. From all the claims i was expecting 20-30%. Still significant. Over a 3 year period it should pay for itself in savings. There is still a lot of room for improvement from both types of juicers.2. The top half of the mesh in the screen has larger holes so the juice has more bits compared to the Breville. I thought I would like this because it means more fiber but it is a bit annoying. As John shows in his videos you can put an extra strainer under the juice but the strainer it comes with is too fine so clogs very quickly. I use a cheapo mesh basket that works great.3. The pitchers that come with it are worthless for pouring. Works for holding the pulp but that is it.I have not tried the attachment yet. Not sure I will as I don't make nut milks or nut butters. If I do I will update this review.