We owned a refurbished Waring JEX328 juicer for about two years and my wife used it to make juice for our children and me almost every day. It held up fairly well and we paid almost nothing for it at the time (around 30 bucks, I think), but it finally cratered a couple of weeks ago. We debated for a while whether or not to replace it with this Breville model or the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro. We finally decided on this one because it had so many five star ratings and because it is an appliance we use so often, thus we thought it made sense to get the best one we could find, even with its steeper price. While I can't compare it to the Hamilton Beach model, I can compare it to the Waring model, and it beats the Waring model hands down.
As soon as you unpack the Breville you know you have a top quality piece of equipment. It does an outstanding job at juice extraction (the pulp is dryer than what the Waring produced, and the Waring actually did pretty well) and the clean-up is far easier. When cleaning the Waring, you had pulp caked up within the machine itself and it was a pain to clean it out, partially becaused it had a higher moisture content but also simply because of all of the nooks and crannies in this catchment section of the juicer. Although this section detached, it was still difficult to clean nonetheless . The Breville puts the pulp in a separate container off to the side, and as others have mentioned, if you line it with a plastic bag there is nothing to it. The only "pain" is cleaing the filter device, which is going to be difficult with any juicer you buy. The brush they provide does make this a little easier, however.
Now for the biggest difference: the noise produced when the machine is turned on. With the Waring, you had to pause the television, stop talking, cover your ears, and hope the neighbors didn't phone the cops on you for disturbing the peace. The Breville is FAR quieter. Don't get me wrong, it is not "whisper quiet" or anything like that, but it probably makes one third of the noise the Waring did.
Is it worth the higher price as compared to the Waring or Hamilton Beach? Hard to say. Like I mentioned, we got the Waring for practically nothing and it was a good introductory machine for us for juicing, but SO LOUD!
I can't really find any flaws with the Breville at all (we have run it for about a week now). Considering, however, that it costs almost three times what you can get the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro for (I would chose this one over the Waring purely from my experience with it and from reading the reviews for the Hamilton), whether or not you want to go with this "ultra juicer" version boils down to sheer personal preference. How often you will run it and what variety of recipies you might want to put through it should probably be your driving factors, along side the price difference, of course. The main differences I found with the Breville as compared to the Hamilton were a slightly higher wattage (900 versus 800) and the variable speeds instead of only one, single speed. From our perspective, though, we have had no regrets in spending the extra cash for this top model.
EDIT 08/05/08: Just thought I would mention that since this review we bought the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro as a gift for my wife's mother, so we had a chance to directly compare it to the Breville. It did a good job, but it was louder and not nearly as solidly built as the Breville. After this comparision, we are even more satisfied with our decision to spend a bit extra and get this model. The varible speed on the Breville is something you will definitely miss should you go back to a model that does not have this feature. Hope this helps!
First of all, a distinction needs to be made on exactly what type of juicer the Breville is, only then will these reviews be helpful. The Breville belongs to a class of juicers called centrifugal juicers. These work by forcing the juicing item onto centrally located spinning blades that essentially finely grates it and then the contents are thrown outward onto a spinning screen (spinning at a thousand or more revolutions per minute)... this forces the juice through the screen while the pulp gets held back and eventually slides up the angled screen and gets thrown over the top and into a holding bin... and thus the juice is separated from the pulp. The other types of juicers are the masticating juicer, where the item is literally crushed in an auger (a big screw) and compressed so that the juice flows through a small screen in the bottom while the pulp is pushed forward where it gets ejected at the far end... and the other type is the citrus juicer which is basically an electrically powered reamer used to semi-manually ream-out citrus fruits quickly. And finally there is the common kitchen blender.
Each type of juicer has it advantages and disadvantages... to be able to juice ALL types of vegetables and fruits well and efficiently you will actually need all four types of juicers. In reverse order...
Kitchen Blender: for very soft or delicate and highly pulpy fruits (raspberries, bananas, blueberries)
Citrus Juicer: for the ultimate in convenience, speed, ease and an excellent amount of juice extraction for all citrus fruits
Masticating Juicer: virtually the only type of juicer for leafy greens (however it will also perform well with any items that are not too soft and pulpy, as the small screen plugs up too easily), however be warned, the juice extraction process is going to be very, VERY SLOW!
Centrifugal Juicer: very, VERY fast extraction rate and the large screen makes the juicing of pulpy fruit easy and fast. However extremely pulpy (ie bananas) and very soft fruits would do much better by foregoing the juice/pulp separation process and simply tossing them into a blender.
Now about the Breville specifically: For me its about the best centrifugal juicer out there. Motor is very powerful and the variable speed feature makes it more useful over a wider range of fruits/veggies, however really soft fruits such as raspberries, strawberries etc. and some small fruits like blueberries do not do well in this juicer at any speed as even the slowest speed is so violent that they too quickly slide over the top of the screen before much juice can be extracted from them. Expect then for the pulp of many soft fruits and vegetables (such as tomatoes) to still contain some juice after processing. I would actually suggest using a blender for the berries and then adding it to the extracted juices separately... its both more economical and healthier for you that way. Leafy greens (including wheatgrass) are another problem item for any centrifugal juicer... they will not juice properly so don't even bother trying... leafy greens is what the masticating juicers truly excel at. Finally, though citrus fruits will juice in the Breville, you will soon get tired of peeling them as you canNOT juice them with the peel still on because the citrus oils extracted from the peels don't taste very good at all. Once you've purchased a good citrus juicer you'll understand why this really is the only way to juice any citrus fruits. The Breville is great for whole kiwi, apples, carrots, celery, broccoli stalks, asparagus, radishes, beets, kohlrabi, cabbage heads (outer leaves removed and head sliced to under 3"), cucumbers, squash, grapes, mangoes, peaches, and plums (with pits/seed removed of course), pears, all melons, papaya, etc... even tomatoes and strawberries (though don't expect the pulp to be very dry)... and there is no need to peel many of these items before processing (just the melons), you just drop them in the large 3" chute. The juicing process is really fast and the clean-up is a snap... you just rinse out 3 parts and brush the screen. The fit/finish, materials used and quality in general are all excellent and the design intelligent.
The downsides of the Breville are: even at the slowest speed it is still quite fast and soft fruits/vegetables can literally be thrown back out through that large 3" diameter feed chute if you are not fast enough to cover with the plunger or your hand... yes, it can get real messy, like as in throwing bits of food/juice up and out onto kitchen walls, etc. so there is a bit of a learning curve when juicing the soft items. We've owned this Breville for the last 3 months and have used it everyday... the blades have dulled a little since it was new, which is to be expected but still all-in-all remain plenty sharp enough to get the job done... and the lower clear plastic bowl has slightly discolored from all the carrots but again it is to be expected and is only very, very slight.
Bottomline here... we have been very please with this Breville and can highly recommend it for juicing most fruits and vegetables with the notable exceptions being leafy greens (get a masticating juicer just for juicing those items) and citrus fruit (a citrus juicer would be far more convenient) and finally don't be expecting soft items to be 100% fully extracted.
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Buy Breville BJE510XL Juice Fountain Multi-Speed 900-Watt Juicer Now
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)The Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor is the third juicer I've owned, and is definitely my favorite. My cheap and easy-to-use Juiceman's motor burnt out after a year, at which point it would have been more expensive to repair than replace. My Champion still works after 15 years and is not difficult to clean, but is messy to use, leaving drips all over the countertop or whatever I line it with. I've also tried the Green Star and Green Power Juicers, which make perfect juice with dry pulp, but take a long time to clean and assemble. The Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900 is the second-down from the top of the line of the four Breville juicers (only the Elite is better), but after a month of use of about every-other-day use, I find no need to upgrade.
Here's why I like this juicer so much for my typical juice of carrot, kale, celery and apple and/or pear:
*Easy to set-up: It takes only seconds to set up this juicer. The juicer itself has only 3 pieces to snap into place, plus there's the acrylic pitcher, pulp basket, and pusher. The pieces fit perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle, which brings me to the second reason I like it:
*Not messy: The juice ends up in the pitcher, the pulp goes to the pulp basket, plus some residual of each ends up in the juicer to be cleaned. My Champion Juicer OTOH required me to find containers around the house that would fit, and still some would drip out. I would have to place a baking sheet or towel under it to contain the mess.
*Quick vegetable and fruit prep: I can fit several carrots at once into the 3" diameter shoot, plus whole pears and/or apples. I don't have to do as much cutting ahead of time as I did with other juicers with a narrower shoot. You must be careful though to use the pusher and not your hand.
*Quick clean up: Those 6 pieces mentioned above are all I have to clean. I can clean my juicer in just a few minutes, once I figured out a good way to clean the filtration basket--by far the most challenging part to clean. This basket was frustrating to clean at first, particularly since my juicer did not come with the brush it was supposed to (and customer service did not respond to my request to obtain a brush). I tried various brushes, but what works best is an all purpose nylon scouring pad from Trader Joe's which comes in packages of 4 for $2.59. The secret to quick clean up is to begin cleaning as soon as you've finished juicing, although you do have a few minutes to drink your juice first. Rinse off the filtration basket and vigorously scrub half of each of the three sections at a time with the nylon scrubber, rinsing each half section before moving on to the next. This should remove 90 to 90% of the pulp debris. Repeat or spot clean to remove the rest. I can clean the whole basket in less than a minute. The other parts are quick and straightforward to clean, although you have to be careful to clean under the rim of the acrylic part that the basket sits in.
*Helpful design features: The juicer has a smaller footprint than the Champion and Greenstar Juicers; a sleek, modern look that looks good in kitchens; pieces that fit together well (as mentioned), and even the plug is in the shape of a ring so one can easily pull it out of the socket without yanking on the cord.
*Doesn't stain. Although it has some acrylic parts, so far, with immediate cleaning after use, there have been no stains.
A few compromises. No juicer is perfect. This juicer is average in several areas. You can have a juicer that is above average in these areas (Green Star and Green Power), but you will be spending a lot more time in assembly, disassembly and cleaning. Having used the Green Star and Green Power, I would rather have the quick and easy juicer and sacrifice a small amount of yield.
*Noise This juicer is as loud as your average kitchen appliance like a food processor or blender. The Green Star or Green Power are whisper quiet. It is not as loud as my Blendtec blender which requires me to wear ear phones.
*Yield The pulp in this Breville is neither very wet nor very dry--it's average. For sawdust-dry pulp and more yield, the Green Star, Green Power and the $2,000 difficult-to-clean Norwalk exceed the Breville.
*Versatility The Breville is strictly a juicer. If you're a raw foodist who is interested in making frozen banana "ice cream" and "not tuna" pate', you might prefer the Champion, Green Star or Green Power. However, I have found you can make these items in the food processor, so I'd rather have the dedicated easy juicer. Banana "ice cream" takes about 5 minutes in the food processor, as opposed to about 30 seconds in the Champion juicer.
The bottom line is that the right juicer for you is the one that can get used. With quick and easy food prep, assembly, disassembly, and cleaning, at my house, this IS the juicer that gets used.
Read Best Reviews of Breville BJE510XL Juice Fountain Multi-Speed 900-Watt Juicer Here
This juicer has a wide spout and powerful motor that makes it easy to juice. You can vary the motor speed so that softer fruits and vegetables juice more efficiently. And, hard vegetables such as carrots can juice several at a time easily (with less force than many other juicers).
However, there is a design flaw in this juicer that basically makes it more fragile than you would expect from its powerful motor.
Basically, and this is easy to do, the motor can be overloaded easily. This wouldn't be a problem if the juicer had a circuit breaker with a reset switch. If you overload the motor an internal fuse blows and you have to return the juicer to Breville to be repaired. There actually is a ciruit breaker type switch in the unit, which is reset by turning the on/off switch off and then on. But the fuse blows out very easily, in effect overriding the reset function.
How can you overload the motor? There are several ways. The manual says not to run the motor on high for more than a minute. You can force hard vegetables into the juicer slowing or stalling the motor. This is easy to do because the spout is so wide you could put a large piece of vegetable in all at once, perhaps without cutting (e.g. beets). The pulp output can become jammed up and you might not notice. This will strain the motor. The pulp output can jam up near the cutting wheel without the pulp container filling up. The cutting wheel screen unit can become clogged up. Low voltage at your home also can strain the motor.
I had them fix the unit and will just have to treat it very gently. Listen to the motor for a change in speed.
Note: I've had a less powerful Champion Juicer for over 25 years with no overload problem because it has a mechanical overload switch in it that protects the motor.
I have added more information in a comment I made as of 2-19-12.
Want Breville BJE510XL Juice Fountain Multi-Speed 900-Watt Juicer Discount?
Breville BJE510 was nominated Australian Design Award and it deserves it indeed.
Built very well with outstanding attention to detail, solid stainless steel feed chute, thick and mirror finished acrylic parts that do not have difficult to wash nooks. Juicing carrots left no stains and washing with paper towel and few drops of mild detergent took about 3 minutes for acrylic parts and 5 minutes for the basket with help of soft brush. Locking bar is solid metal with safety motor will not start if bar is not raised to lock position to prevent any accidental startup. Speed dial has solid feel and digital info display is very cool looking. After choosing speed the power requirement is automatically adjusting according to load. Unit is slightly heavy yet within a reason. Cutter assembly has simple yet solid lock and is easy to remove no more pulling apart stuck cutter basket and motor base wondering when you are finally going to break it. Pulp from veggies comes out with little moisture and not dripping wet, so efficiency appears to be quite good. Amazon shipping came in double carton and manufacturer also uses very thick padding therefore no problem with shipping and no damage of any kind. In one sentence, this juicer is practically designed, works very well and looks good.
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I agree with almost all of the positive comments in all of the reviews on the Green Sprout bibs. However, I am knocking down their rating because I think it is misleading that they did not explicitly, clearly, state what Stage these bibs are. Green Sprouts I believe has 4 stages of bibs: Stage 1 I think is for infants, Stage 4 is for toddlers ages 12 to 24 months. I was looking for a large toddler bib (Stage 4). I had no idea there were different "Stages" of bibs I ordered this because the pictures made the bib look adequate, and one of the postings said that these are too big for a new born. When I received the bibs, the label says there are 4 stages. Of course, I had gotten the wrong one. Boo to Green Sprouts and Amazonvery tricky. They need to clearly label the size/stage of bib in this Amazon advertisement.
