Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, Chrome and Black
by Omega Juicers
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List Price: Our Price: $259.00 You Save: $81.00 (24%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $214.00 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, Chrome and Black
Customer Review: If its a masticating juicer you want, this is the best!
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all it is important to understand there are a couple of different types of juicers available to consumers and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. However if you want to be able to juice ALL fruits and vegetables and do so efficiently and economically then you will need more than one type of juicer. There are the centrifugal type juicers that work by forcing the juicing item onto a set of spinning blades centrally located which instantly grates the item and is then thrown out by centrifugal force onto a large spinning screen where the juice is separated by passing through the screen and the pulp slides up the screen and into a bin. Then there are the masticating type juicers (this Omega 8005 for example) in which the juicing item is forced into a barrel with a rotating screw which essentially conveys it forward and subsequently crushes (chews it up or "masticates" the item) and then forces it against a screen where the juice passes through it and out the bottom while the pulp continues to be pushed forward and out the front. There's the hydraulic press where the items are placed in a strong fine mesh bag and is then literally crushed in a hydraulic press forcing the juice to flow through the mesh bag while the pulp remains inside. There's also the citrus reamers and finally the common kitchen blender.
The kitchen blender does a nice job with soft pulpy fruits that do not release juice, such as bananas and blueberries... you take the blended mush and just add it to other extracted juices. However for most other types of fruits and vegetables there's just too much pulp, seeds and skins to make blender juicing drinkable.
The citrus juicer is really the best way to juice any citrus fruit as the other methods involve peeling the citrus first and end up being too time consuming to properly prepare the fruit for juicing everytime.
The centrifugal juicers are fast and can juice a very wide range of firm and soft fruits and vegetables, however small and pulpy items don't juice efficiently and these juicers can't really juice the leafy greens. Also they can produce quite a bit of foam.
The hydraulic press might be a good process for juice extraction... in fact, it darn well better be because those things cost upward of $2500!!! Also they appear to be very messy and complex in operation... however I don't know for sure as I would never spend that much money on any juicer and so have never tried on personally but I have watched all those videos.
Finally, this brings us to the masticating juicer... these are virtually the only juicer type that can realistically juice the leafy greens properly. And these juicers will also do quite well with most firm fruits and vegetables but can quickly become an effort in frustration when trying to juice the softer fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, melons and berries because the small screen gets plugged up to easily. In fact any of the fruits with a high soluble fiber content will very quickly plug up a masticating juicer.
We actually own all the juicer types described above (with the obvious exception of the hydraulic pre$$ type juicer), with the Omega 8005 as our masticating juicer. It is indispensable for juicing leafy greens and consuming those 'greens' is really key to many of the major health benefits derived from juicing. These greens included all types of lettuce, kale, swiss chard, parsley, dandelions, beet greens, kohlrabi greens, turnip greens, collards, spinach, various mild cabbages... however with some cabbages, mustard greens, endive, and other strong flavored greens a little bit goes a long way and too much can make the juice undrinkable. Other items we commonly juice with the Omega are asparagus, carrots, cucumber, squash, celery, beets, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, mushrooms, sprouts, broccoli/cauliflower, (careful with these last five items as they too can contribute very strong or musty/earthy flavors). We have also run through apples, pears, tomatoes and such but they have a tendency to clog-up the screen too easily and since we also have a centrifugal juicer, that is where we more typically juice those pulpier items.
The Omega specifically has been an extremely durable juicer for us. Since the extraction process is rather slow going, I typically will run it straight for a half hour or more while extracting a gallon or more of 'green' juice. It has no problem crushing the hard stuff (beets, kohlrabi, carrots) steadily for 10 or 15 minutes straight and as long as I alternate the firmer items with the softer items the screen doesn't plug up during a session. This thing has a 10-year warranty and I believe it as the motor is very powerful and everything appears to be built to withstand hard use for years. After almost 7 months of heavy usage (3X a week @ 30min-1hr each) this Omega has performed flawless and effortlessly the whole time, the chrome plated (over plastic) finish doesn't stain and still looks like new. The plastic barrel and components are very quick and easy to assemble/disassemble and are of high quality... however they do stain, though its to be expected its not really noticeable since the barrel is tinted a 'smoky' see-thru. The design is intelligent and functional. Cleaning is a breeze with just a fast rinse for most parts and a simple, quick brush (included) of the screen. By the way, slicing up the juicing items is no big deal if you have a sharp knife and a cutting board, just a quick length-wise slicing of the larger items is all that's necessary. Tip: don't be afraid to ram that plunger down into the chute when leafy items jam, as that will happen... I actually pound the palm of my hand on it on occasion to get stuff through, the Omega can take it, it is built tank-tough... be aware as this is no light-weight.
So far we haven't attempted to use any of the other features as we bought this thing just for juicing. The bottomline here is, you need the 'greens' to get most of the major benefits of juicing and only a masticating juicer will do the leafy greens. When it comes to masticating juicers this Omega is probably as good as it gets... its powerful, well-built, high-quality, easy to operate and clean and though it is expensive, if you stop to amortize it over the 10-years life span you can expect out of it, I think it well worth it.
Customer Review: Great Juicer. Great Warranty.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used centrifugal juicers for years...or not used them. Cleaning the centrifugal juicers was a real pain and even though I loved juice I made juice less and less because of the cleaning process.
I purchased this masticating juicer about a year ago and it works beautifully. I actually use it all of the time because to clean I just pop off the juicing assembly, break it down to its components in the sink, rinse off and store on my drying rack until next use (usually the next day or two). Sometimes I have to wipe down the chrome motor housing that the assembly attaches to. It's really just that simple to clean.
10 year warranty!
Juices veggies wonderfully with lots of juice.
Juices most fruits wonderfully too.
Cleans up really quickly and easily.
Runs quietly and smoothly.
Looks good on my counter.
10 year warranty!
Normally I don't make so much juice at once but I currently have sick people in my home so last night I juiced about 8 oranges and one whole pineapple. Due to so much soft fruit I had to clean the screw twice during juicing due to stoppage. I've not had this problem with just oranges, btw. That was the most labor intensive juicing I have done in an entire year of use and I use it at the very least twice a week but sometimes 3 or 4 times a week. 99% of the time running the soft fruits or veggies first and following up with harder ones works like a charm and that is no exaggeration!
I've made some of the healthiest and tastiest juices just by throwing together a bunch of veggies. I also made a veggie juice last night using an apple, a lemon, a small cube of ginger, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and celery. No recipe just picked out some veggies I wanted. Delicious! Throw in a squirt of tabasco and make it a bit spicier if you like. I have never made a juice I didn't like though that is probably possible.
Pomegranate juice...Don't get me started on how good that is. Hint: Fill a large bowl with water, break apart under water. Seeds sink. Peel and pith float. Strain, juice, drink, happy dance!
I've juiced beets, carrots, squash, spinach, cucumbers, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, turnips, apples, grapes, pomegranates, pineapple, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, pears, and some I forgot.
This is an easy, fast solution to achieving better health for yourself and your family. Easy to use, cleans up quickly, cheaper than most of this type and a 10 year warranty. If you're strictly a fruit juicer then you may (and I stress 'may') want to go centrifugal but veggies and fruits or just veggies you can't go wrong with this. I would even use this for just fruits because the juice quality will be better and if you have to stop and clean the screw it wont take any longer to use this juicer than it would to use and clean up the centrifugal one when you're finished with it.
Don't forget to put all of that pulp in your mulch pit! You will have fat and happy earthworms who will make the best soil for your garden which recycles that unused pulp and puts it back into something you can eat or juice.
Customer Review: Great all-around juicer. Its all you'll need.
Summary: 5 Stars
If I were to do it all again, I would only buy the Omega 8005 juicer. I recently purchased both the Omega 8005 and the Breville 800JEXL. Initially, I read raving reviews on the Breville 800JEXL, and thought it was best. I also did not feel I would want to make my own wheatgrass juice. I was buying it at Lassen's healthfood store or at Wholefoods. They'll make it for you right there. After making daily trips to one of the stores - well, it got old. I realized that it would be a lot easier to make my own wheatgrass at home. So, I bought the Omega 8005, as well, and buy a flat of wheatgrass, as needed, from the market. (by the way, I'm keeping the wheatgrass flat in the refrigerator. That's how they store it at the market to prevent it from molding.)
After juicing with the Omega 8005 (carrots, celery, beets, parsley, cucumber), including wheatgrass juice, I realized that I should have bought this juicer from the start. I was more than pleased and prefer it over the Breville Juicer. The Breville juicer is faster, but you need to turn on/off the juicer each time you add more vegetables or it will spray up all over the place. It's also very loud. The sound is similiar to an airplane taking off. The quickness of the juicer is lost by having to turn on/off all the time. Plus, I feel the Omega juicer has a higher juice yield and leaves a little bit of texture/pulp in the juice, as you find at juices made fresh at Healthfood stores. (you can filter it, if you want, they provide a filter, but I like it) The juice from the Breville juicer is completely smooth. No texture/pulp. Perhaps, the Omega yields more juice by leaving just a wee-bit of pulp. It's leaving just a little behind. Whereas, the Breville leaves absolutely no pulp. The Omega juicer produces little to no foam. The Breville juicer has a little more, even on its lowest speed, and a lot more foam on the highest speed. The Omega juicer has 10 year warranty and was $40 less (if not more, depending on whether you purchase Omega 8003 or 8005. They're both the same. The 8005 model is Chrome. The 8003 model is white.) The Breville warranty is somewhere around 1 year. -- you got the picture... The Omega juicer is extremely quiet. It wouldn't wake anyone sleeping, even in the same room. For me, I prefer having a quieter juicer that yields more juice, is super easy to clean up, makes wheatgrass juice, and takes up less counter space. We'll hold onto the Breville for a little while, just to be sure, but otherwise will sell. The Breville does have easy clean-up, but you need to be extra careful when washing the Mesh Filter/Teeth Plate as you could easily snag your finger on one of the blades. The Omega 8005 has no sharp parts for me to worry about and is even easier to clean. The Omega juicer is so much quieter and easier to use. And, sooo much more juice, too! Hands down - I prefer the Omega 8005 juicer.
Customer Review: Overall the highest value and best juicer for a variety of juices
Summary: 5 Stars
After many years of using centrifugal juicers, I purchased an Omega 8003 (exactly the same as the 8005 but in it's color-white). I am concerned not so much whether the centrifugal juicers heat up the juice with their high spin rates, but with the oxidation of the juice. The 8003 only turms at 90-110 rpm and the material gets masticated slowly in a tapering auger inside a fairly tight-fitting outside cone; it appears to me intuitively to cause much less oxidaton and give a higher quality juice. I have so far juiced kale, spinach, carrots, apples, lemon and oranges, ground up peanuts, and have, for the most part, been pleased with the results. Wheatgrass will be ready in about 8 days, and other reviewers have uniformly praised this unit for juicing wheatgrass. You do have to cut hard fruits and vegetables but this is not too time consuming with a good chef's knife. The machines that take larger pieces of fruit are also themselves larger, for the most part. The Omega 8003 takes up very little counterspace. I prefer to cut carrots lengthwise and then crosswise, remove apple seeds. Apples and carrots give a good juice yield and the greens have done well too. The surpise (pleasant) was oranges. I juiced two med-large navel oranges, removing the rind only, and was delighted to have almost 11 oz of juice, fresh, raw tasting and substantial without being overly pulpy.
Cleaning is very easy especially with the supplied brush. You turn the locking wheel on the motor housing (which remains untouched with juice), transport the 5-piece assembly to your kitchen sink, a few simple movements to take apart the 5 pieces and rinse, apply sudsy sponge, and use the supplied brush for the small screens which cleans easily. The whole process takes 2-3 minutes.
While some of the machines like the Breville may make a large quantity of juice faster, the time to chop the fruits, offset by the shorter cleaning time, makes this the better machine, especially since you can juice just about everything with it. If you are going to juice something pulpy, like blueberries or ripe peaches (I eat these whole), then finishing the juicing with an appple or carrot will move the pulpy remnant in the drum right through and extract that last bit of juice. With a few little tricks like that, juicing proves very satisfactory. This well built quiet machine which takes up little counter space, is easy to clean (a very big deal), juices just about everything, reasonable in cost (under $200 including shipping, if you know how to search the web), while perhaps a little slower than some machines costing much more, is best for the typical family. It comes with a 10 year warranty (the longest) and the manual states it is suitable for home and commercial use too.
Customer Review: Fantastic juicer!
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE this juicer!
The Omega 8005 is incredibly efficient. It juices quickly, and leaves dry, pale pulp (meaning that pretty much all the juice that could possibly be extracted from the fruit/veggies has been). I've even run the pulp back through the juicer to see how much more juice would be extracted, and it wasn't more than a few tiny drops. It is VERY efficient with leafy green vegetables, which is something that other (cheaper) juicers often struggle with.
This juicer is VERY easy to use. I had no problem putting it together right out of the box (hardly even had to glance at the instructions), and it takes me less than 10 seconds to put back together after cleaning. I really believe that ease of use (assembly & clean-up) is the difference between having a juicer that you use once every few months & one that you use everyday!
The juicer is beautiful & looks very nice sitting on the countertop. My understanding is that the the Omega 8003 is the same as this 8005 - only the 8005 is silver where the 8003 is white. The 8003 looks okay, but the 8005 is actually gorgeous. It's also fairly compact & take up less room than I expected.
One thing about this juicer vs. ones like the Breville is that you can't just toss whole fruits or vegetables into the Omega. The Omega 8005's chute is somewhat small. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about this, as I didn't want to spend 30 minutes chopping my produce into tiny pieces prior to juicing. However, this is not a big downside - and it's a "downside" that I feel is worth it. I've found that it takes me less than 3 minutes to wash & chop my vegetables to prepare them for juicing, and from what I've read, the Omega produces more juice than a lot of the other juicers on the market. Taking an extra 3 minutes out of my morning to chop veggies when it's going to yield more (and better-tasting) juice is a small price to pay, in my opinion. (And the produce doesn't need to be bite-sized or anything; just thin enough to put into the chute, which is about 1.5" across.)
Overall, I am only sorry that I didn't buy this juicer sooner. I hemmed & hawed over spending $250 on an appliance when I wasn't sure how much I would use it... Well, I have never had a juicer before this Omega so I can't compare it to other juicers out there, but I LOVE this thing. I look forward to juicing every morning, and just one month after buying it, I can no longer imagine my mornings without my green juice.
Don't hesitate on buying this juicer! I am confident that you won't be sorry. I can't imagine having a juicer that is easier to use or produces better juice!