I mostly consume my produce whole, but still do SOME green juices some of the time while building up to eat higher quantities healing digestion. The greens I use are romaine/spinach (usually one or the other). I also use celery (and as you will see, have to in this juicer).

The Omega VRT has some issues with juicing JUST romaine or spinach, or romaine and spinach in larger amounts without 1-2 whole heads of celery to push through. I more often than not run into some sort of backup problem where I reverse it and see large amounts of pulp that just keep rotating. I have become more adept at this, alternating with celery, pushing it through WITH bunches of greens, but one must still wait for it to juice.

All in all it seems to take me the same amount of time as in my omega 8006 to juice, if not slightly less. The few times I have fed produce at the rate it SEEMS able to accept it, it gets stuck and I have had times where I have to pour through juice again to get it moving again.

Another key issue, getting backed up even when using reverse or feeding more celery through, sometimes needs juice poured back through.

Also it sometimes requires straining of the juice, which isn't necessarily unique.

There is then the cleanup, and the bit of pulp in the machine. I notice the 8006 is a bit more efficient on juicing spinach/romaine/celery though very close especially the celery. There is also a decent amount of juicy pulp left in the juicer after completion of juicing.

I do like many aspects of the VRT. Self feeding is nice, however i feel this description is only partially true. If you are juicing all hard crispy produce (lots of kale, apples, carrots) it seems to be fine from JJ's videos. Softer items not so much. Hey it will do well with tomatoes and such it seems, but soft greens alone seem to be it's downfall. Sometimes I don't have tons of celery to push through.

The rate at which items are fed matters too, I often have to put through some greens, a piece of celery, and wait for it to chew for a good bit. The time ends up balancing out. Sure it's easier to get stuff down the chute, but once it's in there....

It would be best for me to analyze side by side, but for now I will stick with the 8006 which serves multi-purpose in case I do wish to make portions of / raw salad that way. There is always the vitamix, a knife, other food processor, the salad chopper device, or TEETH.

I go back and forth on it, I'll go test again before I clean and part with it, but I am fairly certain on these observations.

Other observations, corroborations, independent testing?

WY, others?



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2009 07:58PM by Ebhak.

i have been quietly observing the chatter regarding the new verticle style juicer.

my initial impression is that it seems to be rather cheaply made depite its high dollar cost.

since most of us "juicers" on the board here do not go the extra expense of buying the baby carrots i question the validity of the testing demos which use the small carrots instead of the full sized carrots. those of us who juice seriously do not use expensive baby carrots.

anyways..... i have decided to purchase both the "vrt" and the greenstar elite so that i can compare them side by side. however, i will not be doing the "ounce for ounce" comparrison yield testing but instead i will do a very simple evaluation based on my overall experience with juicers for the last 25+ years (including the norwalk).

both demos...matt's and john's seemed to be a bit hyped up and i'm not sure if i believe that vrt is as great as they are touting it to be. ebhak seems to be a bit more realistic since he does reveal the weak points as well.

so when i get both machines and have had a chance to do some testing with them i will post my results for all to see.

good health to us all!

juicin' john

Yes, Greenstar is definitely more efficient than the VRT for the items I use. 8006 a very close second, perhaps almost tied. I no longer have a Greenstar or an 8006 at the moment actually. I may not even get another one, but that is another story.

Truthfully, the greenstar seemed to have the same deal with spinach alone, but I did not test it extensively enough. It worked fantastic for romaine/celery.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2009 09:45PM by Ebhak.

juicin' john Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> anyways..... i have decided to purchase both the
> "vrt" and the greenstar elite so that i can
> compare them side by side.
Very good JJ!! I'm sure many here will be
interested in your findings. I would be interested in
a yield comparison.....WY

based on the fact that we already know the pulp from vrt is wetter and that pulp must be strained from the juice of the "vrt"...i am sure that the yield from greenstar will be superior....that is why i won't be doing any testing for yield.

what i am interested in is the overall value comparison...and any "surprises" as far as use goes.

jj

juicin' john Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ........i am sure that the
> yield from greenstar will be superior....that is
> why i won't be doing any testing for yield.
I agree. In his test, John Kohler of DiscountJuicers.com
showed that the Green Star Elite yielded more juice (about a cup)
than the Omega VERT. He had juiced 5 pounds of Baby Carrots in each.
JJ...Keep us posted as to your findings. It's all most interesting.....WY