Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer Update #4 - The Replacement Arrived

The replacement Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer finally arrived.  It has been over 2 weeks since I shipped the original juicer back to the company.  The replacement unit is better than the one I returned; however, it has a couple of features that trouble me.

First, the bowl that attaches to the base of the juicer is very difficult to remove for cleaning.  It is a major effort to rotate it and thus unhinge it from the base.  This is physically difficult to do as the base is smooth and has no grips.  The bowl fits too tightly.  The amount of effort needed to disassemble is unacceptable.

Second, the pulp produced after extracting the juice is, on average, one ounce heavier per 16 ounces of juice produced than my old juicer.  The old juicer, as you recall from previous posts, is 16 years old.  One of the reasons I purchased a new juicer with supposedly "dry" pulp was to get greater efficiency in juicing, i.e., extract more juice from the produce.  I am concerned about the consistently higher weight of the waste pulp as compared to my old juicer.  On average, the weight of the Omega VRT350HD pulp is over 6% more than that of my old juicer, and that does not include any pulp in the actual juice produced by the Omega.  My old juicer produced a juice that was virtually pulp-free.
Six percent may not seem like a lot, but over time, it adds up.  I had hoped the new juicer would be more efficient, not less efficient.  If you try this sort of comparison at home, be sure to include the pulp that remains around the auger and in the pulp ejection port, a very narrow rectangular space 2 inches x 1.25 inches x 1/2 inch.  The pulp tends to get stuck in this narrow space and is a challenge to clean.  The cleaning tool included with the juicer is like a toothbrush with a narrower part on the handle end.  However, the bristle head is too wide to fit into the pulp ejection port so it can only be rinsed with water, not brushed out.  The narrow handle end is not the right size for effective cleaning.  I may have to use a chop stick.

Additionally, there are several parts that are difficult or impossible to clean due to their trapping bits of pulp or becoming stained with juice pigment after each juicing.  The main exit port for the juice, the juice spout, is like a cylindrical pipe.  Normally, one could clean a cylinder large enough for a finger, sponge, or wash cloth.  But, this cylinder has a hard plastic wall dividing the cylinder like a radius dropping down from the top of the cylinder.  This little radius-like wall within the cylinder makes thorough cleaning difficult and cleaning the little "wall" is almost impossible as it is acts as a pigment and particle magnet over time and the diameter of the pipe is not large enough to use the cleaning tool bristles.  It is impossible to easily and effectively clean the narrow space around this small, yet hard to access "wall" using any tool or technique I have tried.  Bad design.  [See post dated 2/8/12]

If the function of the bad design wall is to break down the foam the juicer produces, it is not working in my opinion.  If the bad design wall has any other function, I cannot figure out what it is.  Bottom line:  it is impossible to quickly or effectively clean the juice exit port because of this bad design wall, thus there will be additional particle and pigment build up.  Is this healthy?

Is the Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer worth the money?  This is a highly subjective question.  Personally, I expect better design and function for the price.  After all, it is just plastic parts with a motor.  Also, there are other parts that are difficult to efficiently clean due to particles getting caught in poorly engineered fittings such as the auto cleaning brush fitting.  The auto cleaning "brushes" are just rubber-like windshield wipers that wipe the pulp strainer baskets.  Good idea, but the wiper material stains after the first use juicing pigmented vegetables such as carrot, and will stain after each such use. Juice material including pulp gets lodged in the crevices where the "brushes" are attached to the plastic.  This organic juice matter builds up over time and the cleaning tool does not dislodge it effectively.  There are no instructions for use of a special cleaning product except "Do not use metal sponge . . ." and "Do not use dishwasher to clean."  I use a biodegradable liquid soap.  It does not remove all the pigment stains but does lessen the pigment deposits on the juice bowl.  Note I said reduce, not totally remove the pigment stains.  Thus, they will build up over time and form a patina.  There are too many little places that produce material gets lodged and stuck, and no tool can clean.

The replacement Omega VRT350HD juicer produces less pulp in the juice than the Omega VRT350HD I returned.  It produces a juice that is like the most pulpy orange juice, but with some, how to describe it, chunkier style pulp -- little chunks of carrot, etc.  Today I got a string of celery in my juice that was nearly an inch long.  This was not pleasing.  And as I have described in previous posts, the strings of celery or wheatgrass tend to get packed into the pulp ejection port area and can be time consuming to dislodge.  Note that I cut my celery into lengths half as long as Omega recommended to me (although their suggestions have varied from person to person), put all produce into the juicer slowly, and almost never use the pusher.  I have been using the smallest carrots I can find.  Although they are not baby carrots, the largest carrot diameter, at its widest, is 1/2 inch.  Nevertheless, the Omega 350HD jammed and had to be put into reverse to clear the jam.  Come on Omega, a one-half inch diameter carrot!  What's the problem with your product?

Am I totally satisfied with the Omega VRT350HD juicer?  In a word, no.

Added Dec. 17, 2011:  photos of sample of strings, etc. from today's baby spinach and carrot juice.  I have had strings as long as 2 inches in the Omega VRT350HD juice since the original post!  Not pleasant to fish a 2 inch string out of one's throat! 

This gives you the size of the strings in inches.  The photo on the left has added material from the juice.  This is just a small sample and does not include the chunks of "pulp" which are ever present in Omega VRT350HD juice.  There are several other reviews of this juicer in my blog.

Thinking of a way to grow and juice enough wheatgrass to make the Omega VRT350HD worth it,  but juicing the wheatgrass just produces too much foam!
I AM
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011   P.S. Support this blog by using discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements, raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, soaps such as Dr. Bronner's, raw cacao, organic chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for US orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order.  www.iherb.com .  Thanks.
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Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer Update #2

My father had a saying: "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all."  If I were to adhere to his advice, this would be a mighty short post.

As you may have read in previous posts, I am displeased with my new Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer.  I have seen dozens of videos of happy people using their VRTs on youTube.  Rarely does one jam or overflow.  Rarely does anyone mention the pulp content.  I have even seen folks juice several whole stalks of celery, whole bunches of kale, bunches of chard, parsley, medium size carrots, and wheatgrass.  I, on the other hand, have been cutting my celery into bite size pieces, slimming my carrots so as not to jam the machine, and cut my leafy greens into 2 inch lengths.  If the juicer jams, and I put it into reverse to clear the jam, huge amounts of pulp come out of the juice port.  I finally tried placing a metal strainer over the juice collection container and the strainer clogged because the "juice" was so thick!  I finally resorted to taking the smallest strainer I had, about 2 inches diameter, and repeatedly skimmed the juice for pulp.  Then I mashed the pulp in the strainer to extract all the juice I could, and although this system is far from perfect, I extracted a few ounces of pulp this way, and the juice was still pulpy.  There were strings of celery, up to 2.5 inches in length in the juice!  Unacceptable.

I finally phoned Omega and told them I needed a replacement juicer.  Cleaning the overflow juice off the motor cover, straining huge quantities of pulp, and drinking celery strings was not making me happy.  They agreed and sent UPS to pick up the juicer.  Luckily, I still had the shipping box.  I packed the juicer, instruction manual, and all, and it is on it's way to Omega.

I juice daily.  I weighed the pulp extracted from the Omega on my last day of juicing.  I generally juice 2 pints of mixed vegetable juice daily.  The pulp weighed, conservatively, 12 ounces.  Now, while my Omega is on it's way to headquarters, I am again using my trusty, 16 year old Juiceman Jr.  It is louder, but it does a good job.  I have figured out how to juice greens with it.  It juices much more quickly than the Omega.  I had hoped to get higher yield from the Omega.  The Omega boasts its pulp is dry.

I weighed the pulp from 2 pints of my old juicer's juice.  There was considerably less waste than the Omega; plus, 16 year old juicer porduces a smooth, pulp-free juice with no leaks, no drips, no jams, and no strings in the juice.  The old juicer has less parts to clean.  Clean up does not take any longer than the Omega VRT.  Assuming the Omega replacement juicer works well, with a tolerable amount of pulp in the juice, the only 2 reasons I can come up with to keep the Omega are: 1.  it is quieter, and 2.  supposedly the juice has more nutritional value because it is a slow juicer, thus less oxidation takes place.

Again, this is a pricey juicer and the fact that it performs worse, so far, than a 16 year old centrifugal juicer is disappointing.  I told Omega I want to be happy with this juicer.  Lots of folks are happy with it.  We are assuming my first Omega had a factory defect or two.  But honestly, I am enjoying the pulp free juice from my old juicer so much that I am not sure I want to spend big bucks for anything less than perfection from Omega.  Stay tuned for the arrival of the replacement Omega Vert.

Thanks for reading this post.   To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for US orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order. www.iherb.com .  Thanks.

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May all your juice be sweet,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011
P.S.  Howdy to the blog readers from Russia.  Do you juice?

Review #1 of the Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer

After weeks of intensive research I finally purchased a new juicer.  My 16 year old centrifugal juicer worked pretty well but was very loud and the pulp was a bit juicy.  With the price of organic produce I had hoped for a drier pulp and better yield, especially when juicing leafy greens, as well as a quiet juicer that does a good job juicing both fruits and vegetables.

A few years ago the Huron vertical juicer was the new rage.  It is quiet, has the new style vertical (tall) design, and is a "slow" juicer.  The slow juicers generally use an old style auger design like your grandmother's old clamp-to-the-counter, metal, meat grinder.  This style meat grinder is still for sale in gourmet and cook's supply sites and shops.  They are generally reasonably priced and some folks have used them as a cheap wheatgrass juicer.

Back to the Huron:  It was the rage among those who had about $400 (USD) or more to spend on a newfangled juicer.  As time passed, the new guys on the block came out with their new and improved vertical juicers.  There was the Omega VRT330, 330HD and 350HD among others.  The newest versions generally have harder materials in critical parts such as the screen and auger.  This addresses rumors that there were screen problems with earlier vertical juicers.  There is even another brand that boasts their plastic doesn't leach a certain chemical.  That is very seductive when trying to select among very similar juicers.  Two juicer dealers do not recommend that non-leaching brand but prefer the Omega Vert Juicer.  Consequently, I purchased an Omega VRT 350 HD vertical juicer.  Shop around as prices vary a bit.   If you buy online, you should get free shipping. 

This is not a cheap purchase.  One hopes it will give a decade or more of service, but be sure your dealer has a favorable return policy.  The juicer could weigh over 18 pounds boxed, and if you have to pay return shipping, it could get costly -- that is if you are allowed to return it!

The juicer arrived in good condition.  The instruction manual is minimal.  Too minimal.  The base unit, the motor, is heavier than I expected.  In my opinion it is awkward to move the juicer as it has a sleek smooth base and no grips.  In my opinion, it is difficult to disassemble, after juicing, to clean it.  But, I get ahead of myself.

The instructions give basic safety tips, show you how to put the parts together and take it apart for cleaning, and give some trouble shooting tips.  That's all folks.  The problem is, this is not your old centrifugal juicer or Champion style juicer.  It is a persnickety machine.  It is self-feeding for the most part, but you need to cut the produce into small pieces (opinions vary here) and add the pieces slowly to keep the unit from jamming, flooding, backing up, or getting tangled in fiber.  Yes, it is sometimes called a "slow juicer" but that's only part of the story.  It is a picky eater.  Even after partially de-stringing celery, and cutting the celery into 1 inch pieces, cutting the chard into 2 inch pieces and the chard stems into 1 inch pieces, strings got tangled in the pulp ejection spout area.  This is the hardest part to clean.  The pulp gets mashed into a near solid mass and I have to use the special cleaning tool to wedge and push it out after pulling at the strings as best I can.  This can be frustrating.

The juice is VERY pulpy.  Is the V in VRT for very pulpy?  Think of the pulpiest orange juice you can get commercially and then add some more pulp.  I was warned of this and tried straining the juice.  I filled a 2.5 inch diameter x 1 inch deep metal mesh strainer to the brim with thick pulp after juicing one cup of carrot, chard, celery, beet, ginger juice.  This is the blend I have been making daily for years.  With my old centrifugal juicer, the juice is a cleaner, much lower pulp, juice.  In the old juicer I do not have to cut the chard stems or leaves -- I just roll it up like a cigar and push it in;  I cut the celery once so that the length is 5 inches.  I only use a small piece of ginger -- one inch at most.  So, the prep time is greater for the Omega VRT because all stringy produce must be cut into small pieces that will not jam the machine.  Worst of all, I have gotten pieces of celery string, up to 3/4 inch, in the VRT juice! in addition to the thick pulp.  [see future posts for longer strings! and photos of the "string of the day"]

Overall, the cleanup is nearly the same as my previous centrifugal juicer -- that is if there are no plugged ports or spillovers to clean.  My old juicer had less parts to clean, so it is quicker and easier for me to clean.  The actual juicing time is longer than a centrifugal juicer.  The yield does not appear to be significantly greater even though the ejected pulp seems a bit drier.  The Omega VRT350 HD waste pulp is generally heavier that the waste from my 16 year old juicer for the same amount of juice produced by each.  One wishes the pulp  extracted into the juice of the VRT350HD was sifted and ejected into the trash by the juicer.  Note that I am using the fine strainer that comes with the juicer, and all reported results in this post are using the fine strainer!  [See strainer post in 2012] This pulpy juice is a real turn off for me.  As a seasoned juicer, I judge the juice unpleasantly pulpy.

My opinion:  I would rate this juicer disappointing.  There is a lot of online and video hype which makes me wonder whether this juicer gives a big mark-up to the on-line sales people.  In my opinion, the Omega VRT 350HD is a heavy, awkward to move, awkward to completely disassemble and clean, product that delivers an unpleasantly pulpy juice.  It sometimes makes a loud squeaking sound when juicing green leafy produce.  It does not handle stringy produce well.  It requires more prep time and more juicing time than my old centrifugal juicer.  It weighs more than my old juicer.  It does not deliver noticeably more juice although the juice contains, after draining the hand strainer of liquid, about two solid tablespoons of pulp per 8 ounce cup of vegetable juice.  This is unacceptable in my opinion.  I feel like I have to brush and floss after drinking this juice.  After I put a pint of the mixed vegetable juice in a clear glass pint jar in the refrigerator for 2.5 hours, there are 3 distinct layers:  a 1 inch pulp layer on the bottom, a 1 inch particle and foam layer on the top, and the 2 inches of good-looking juice in the middle of the mason jar. 

Furthermore, the instruction manual gives no guidance on how to prep the produce for juicing except "rinse everything thoroughly" and "cut or split any hard materials such as carrots into thin slices..."; minimal instruction on how best to clean the parts, no guidance on how to avoid or remove vegetable juice stains on parts, etc.  And there will be carrot and greens stains after just one juicing.  The parts are not to be washed in a dishwasher.  Did someone forget to tell them this is the twenty-first century?  Help me out here Omega! 

Quote from the Instruction Manual VRT350.  "Troubleshooting ...  The machine shakes.  This shaking is perfectly normal.  It is a sign of the motor working properly."  What?!

I will phone the company on Monday.  They are closed today.  Why do people love this machine?  Why all the hype?  Someone, please tell me.

Perplexed and pulpy,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011  P.S.  To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for US orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order. www.iherb.com .  Thanks.

Juice Fast Day 7

It is a very pleasant night in the Desert Southwest.  Temperature is a delightful 70 degrees (F) and there is a gentle rain.  This is the seventh day of the Juice Fast and it is going well.  I experienced some tiredness over the weekend so I took it easy.  My energy was variable this morning but leveled off nicely as the day wore on.  Still, I have been taking it easy.

I have been consuming an average of 14 cups of fresh juice per day, plus more than a liter of water.  Sounds like a lot, but it is about the right amount to maintain consistent energy throughout the day.
I juiced some perfectly sweet watermelon and cantaloupe with hearts of celery.  I juiced all sorts of vegetables including carrots, cucumbers, beets, spinach, chard, bok choy, cabbage, and sweet red bell pepper.  I harvested and juiced local prickly pear fruit (see previous blogs). I added an orange to my vegetable juice mix and it was quite good (or perhaps I am just hungry).  One evening I added a garlic clove and basil leaf to my vegetable juice.  I have been giving my 16 year old juicer quite a workout.

I notice fleeting periods of relaxed bliss.  My sense of sight seems heightened.  I nails are growing more quickly than usual.  I choose to remain somewhat detached from the cares of the world.

Yesterday I started thinking about food.  I thought of some nori sushi I made a while ago with cucumber, carrot, and avocado filling and ginger soy sauce.  Was I craving the minerals in the seaweed?  The fat in the avocado?  The salt in the soy sauce?  The thought passed as did the thought of fresh bread and butter.  More time has been spent thinking I need a new juicer.  Technology has advanced in the past 16 years.  I want a quieter machine with better yield, drier pulp, yet easy to clean.  I have been trying to figure out the payback time based on the price of the new juicer and the amount of money I will save on fresh produce if the juicer gets better yield.  Does this remind you of a school math problem where X = the amount of money saved per pound of greens, y = the amount of money saved per pound of carrots, and Z = the amount of money saved per pound of celery juiced in the new juicer?  The problem is X, Y, and Z are unknown numbers.

I almost forgot to tell you, I also had the juice of two baby coconuts -- a rare treat.  It was ambrosia.
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Ending one full week of the 10 Day Juice Fast,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c) 2011                     P.S.  To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for US orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order. www.iherb.com .  Thanks.