Hi,

I had a Champion a few years ago when I lived in another US state and sold it before I moved. I didn't think I wanted another one but I changed my mind.

I did a lot of reading about various juicers and decided to get another Champion. I got a real nice used one for $105.

I think it will put out a good juice. I can remember the brightly colored juices I got from it. I was going to get another centrifugal but decided not to. The Champ might be ugly and not as easy to use as a Breville, etc., but I think the juice quality will be worth the extra effort.

L

Congratulations! Good price! I ended up getting a champion as well. It's got it's plus and minus, but over all I'm really happy with the money I spent. I have the commercial version, but I'm not sure it was really worth the extra money.

You can also make nut butters (watch out for over heating if you try to make a lot) and Bryan gave me the tip of putting frozen bananas through it with the bank plate in. It turns it into an icecream maker. The next time I make banana icecream with my juicer, I think I'll toss some berries in as well, mmmmmm but which berry? blue berry, rasberry or strawberry? I bet rasberry and some lemon juice would go well, also the lemon juice would help prevent the banana oxidizing.

You can also use it with no plate at all, this great for sherding carrots and veggies.

I don't think it's very hard to use, and I find it some much easier to clean than centrifugal juicers. Just one little screen to clean the bits out of, the centrifugal screens seem to take so much effort to clean.

Anyway, enjoy your juicer!

Cheers,
Ian.

Hi Ian,

I was reading below of someone that had 2 Champions that both stopped working after apparently overheating. I think this is uncommon and with normal use and a little TLC the Champion will last for decades. I've heard of people that have had and used theirs for over 40 years! That big ole GE 1/3 HP motor is no rubber band. :-)

I've made banana ice cream with an Oscar food processor many times. It's actually good with a little lemon juice in it, adds a nice tartness. I've also made it with strawberries before which was real good. I bet blueberries would be real good in it and make a nice color ice cream.

I got a L'Equip Mini a while back (cheap on eBay) and it doesn't seem to have power enough to get out of it's own way. It bogs down just from juicing citrus. The reviews gave me the impression that the Mini would be powerful but it is not. I kinda thought the Juiceman Jr. had more power.

The Champion juice quality is the next best thing below a Greenlife I think. Centrifugals are OK, but I don't know, all those RPMs don't do the juice any good plus with the Champ we can run the pulp through again to extract more juice.

I like the way the Champ is a breeze to clean. I've never used it w/o a plate before.

Here's a juice quality comparison in PDF format (need Adobe Reader to view it) :

[www.hacres.com]

This is at least a few years old. I think this is what convinced me to buy my first Champion.

Happy juicing. :-)

L

I bought a Champion some years ago and found it slightly cumbersome to deal with and not very user friendly. At the same time I had a "Juiceman 2" which, being fully aware that it's not very solidly built, I found it to be easy to deal with, nicely designed and very easy to clean. The pulp was wet but I figured, so what - I could always run it through again for diminishing returns.
Recently I observed my Juiceman sort of crapping out on me but still operates. Juice bleeds through the top, the machine jams up and whole pieces of vegetables get thrusted into the pulp bin. So - just for the fun of it I brought forth my Champion again, and truly, the difference is night and day.
It is a great juicer. I find I use about half the produce to make the same quantity juice as I did with my Juiceman and it's a darker, richer drink.
Yes, you have to deal with finding a low, wide glass to catch the juice - I find a Pyrex works perfectly. You have to deal with pulp flying out to your contertop even if you use a container - but I tried the plastic bag and rubber band trick and that works fine too... although I wonder about the effect of cutting off the air supply - would that tend to jam up the machine a bit? Probably yes. I think a ventilated bag, like burlap, with a velcro strap, would work ideally.
So, you have to put a bit of time with the Champion to deal with its design but it is really a superb machine.
Jeff in NYC