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.
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| 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
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