I stumbled upon this forum by accident and I must admit that I love it!! I am in the market in for a juicer and I have no idea what is good or what to get. I am getting this juicer for my mom and I want the best for her. Well best that is less than or around $500 haha. (I hope this doesn’t make me a bad son but that’s a whole different topic!!) Anyways, my mom just started juicing using an old juicer she had lying around. So far, she mainly juices fruits (apples, oranges, etc), veggies, some ginger – basically mostly large objects so far. I am sure down the road she will get into the smaller veggies, wheatgrass, etc. etc. I come to you my friends in need of advice and suggestions as to what to get!! I suppose I want something that retains the most nutrition from the original products and is relatively easy to clean…Thank you for your time.

Welcome aboard!

You are asking a loaded question here, for sure...

The answers you will get are going to be largely based on personal opinion & everyone thinks there choice is the best.


Not a big fan of the centrifugal models...most feel that too much juice is thrown out with the wet pulp.

In the price range you mentioned, which is just fine - you will find many very good juicers. You could get a twin gear, but your mom will probably tire of the juicing time/cleanup time that goes along with those...

A single auger may be the best choice for her. I personally like the Omega VERT 350. Very quiet, easy to clean, does a nice job on pretty much all produce. The Omega 8xxx line is also very popular here...

These juicers may require some pulp straining, depending on how it is used - but that is not really a big deal.

You can also check out John Kohler's vids on youtube - he demonstrates many of them & does a great job of explaining the features, and his personal opinions on the yield, cleanup, etc.

Keep us posted on your choice - & don't be a stranger!

Cheers, katz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2010 03:53AM by juicerkatz.

Id actually pretty much insist you check out John Kohlers Youtube videos, they are a must in my opinion for deciding what juicer is best for you, the VRT is pretty good, better for stuff like carrots, I like the omega 8004 more cause there is a wider variety of things you can do with it, its very good at juicing, but you can also use it to make whole fruit sorbets , peanut butter, and pasta, amongst other stuff, (ive made fruit spreads out of dried fruit with it too...mmm...) but the omega VRT is better with hard veggies like carrots and soft fruits, but much less efficient with greens, so in the end what will be best for your mother will depend entirely upon her individual needs and wants... and if you go with the VRT, get the 350, ive heard its a major improvement over the 330, although im not sure on that as i haven't used one myself.

There is also the greenstar elite just above your price range at $530, but its ALLOT more work to cleanup, and the promised higher quality juice doesn't seem any different to me than with my omega 8004(Ive got a juicing buddy now she owns the greenstar elite, and a Hurom slow juicer, and a jack lelanne as well as a handcrank wheat grass one, dont remember the brand of that...and she wants to buy an omega 8006 now,lol...)

Oh, and amazon tends to have some great deals, but if you want to support a great guy (and owner of these forums) and its only a tiny bit more, check out www.discountjuicers.com

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

general consensus amoung juing professionals is that the greenstar 5000 elite is undoubtably the best you can get. less pricy is the basic greenstar 1000 (about $100 less). same quality of juice from both machines but the gs 5000 elite is worth considering if you can afford it.

i would buy it from www.discountjuicers.com since the guy who sponsers this forum john kohler owns discount juicers.com and he is a good supporter of healthy living.

juicin john

Thank you for the replies guys.

I see that there are two omega verts: Omega Vert Hd Vrt350 Juicer and Omega VRT330 Dual-Stage Vertical Single-Auger Low-Speed Juicer (as per amazon - I just did a quick search). Are there any significant differences between the two?

At the moment, my mom mostly juices larger fruits and veggies, so I am leaning more towards the VRT than the 8004/6.

@juicin' john: I browsed the forums quite a bit and the consensus, at least IMHO, seems to be between the VRT and 8004/6. I may be wrong but please educate me more about the greenstar elite. I watched some videos and it doesn't seem all that above the previous two juicers I mentioned. But what do i know really?!

The VRT 350 is the updated model. It features a pulp basket that is made of the same material as the auger. The old basket style was constructed of plastic which cracked repeatedly.

After receiving consumer complaints, Omega redesigned the basket.

if its mostly large fruits and veggies, I think she will be happy with the VRT 350 then, its a bit more work to clean up than the 8004/6 but its still fairly easy to clean compared to most juicers on the market, and if she does want to do greens, she just has to make sure they are mixed with some harder produce like carrots or something similar... good luck in choosing, and I hope your mother loves whatever you choose for her! (if its not a surprise for her, you could always show her the comparison vids and see which she likes better?)

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I had the Samson single auger for awhile which is essentially the same design machine as the Omega 8xxx models; I personally feel the Vert is maybe a tad easier to clean.

I make sorbets/nut butters/nut milks/coconut milk & pudding with my vert & it works just fine. The most desirable feature about the vert may be that it is "self-feeding".

With the 8xxx models, you will have to cut the produce into smaller pieces & "force" feed them into the juicer. It took a bit of pressure to force hard produce, i.e. carrots into the auger.

That was one of my main complaints with my Samson. The self feeding feature of the Vert rules!!!

Ive never had a samson, but I own an omega 8004, and ive seen a VRT cleaned after a demonstration at a health food store, and it took almost 5 minutes for the guy to clean, but in all honesty, he was moving rather slow... when im cleaning my 8004 it takes me under 2 minutes, depending on what ive juiced, it can go even faster sometimes, but I cant be 100% sure which is truly faster or slower as ive not cleaned it personally, however, from everything ive heard/seen from those who have owned both, they said the 8004/8006 clean faster... I could be wrong, but it doesnt look like it from what ive seen.

Its not about whether or not it will "work fine" I wouldnt admit to making them with the VRT JK, cause you voided your warranty by doing so... the reason why it voids the warranty, is cause the VRT is not built to do that, there has got to be a good reason why it voids the warranty...

Also, ive never had to "force" anything into my 8004, it all goes in fairly easy,sucks the kale right in if I just twist it, and I put the carrots in top first, and it pulls them right through, and I dont have to cut much, only really really big things...which Im fairly certain most of would also have to be cut to be put into the vrt as well. (I will state that the self feeding feature of the vrt DID look like it worked better, but not THAT much better...from everything ive read, the omega 8004/6 is light years beyond the samson...so not good to base comparison on...)

Dont get me wrong, I believe its a superb juicer, I also believe from all the tests ive seen, that its better at juicing carrots and fruits, but from all reports it has allot harder time doing sorbets or nut butters, and doesnt have as good of results, its just waaaaay better with fruits, and a little better with carrots.

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Gup Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> .......I am in the market in for
> a juicer and I have no idea what is good or what
> to get. I am getting this juicer for my mom and I
> want the best for her.
Your Mom would probably do best with a Blender to start with. When I wanted to give my Mom a present, I didn't even consider buying her a Juicer. I bought her an inexpensive Blender from Wal-Mart. And she actually uses it.
I'm guessing that your Mom would find a Juicer a bit cumbersome at best.
Knows all, Sees all, Blabs all.....WY

Thanks guys! Pulled the trigger on a 350 HD Vert. Now the wait begins...

Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gup Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > .......I am in the market in for
> > a juicer and I have no idea what is good or
> what
> > to get. I am getting this juicer for my mom and
> I
> > want the best for her.
> Your Mom would probably do best with a Blender to
> start with. When I wanted to give my Mom a
> present, I didn't even consider buying her a
> Juicer. I bought her an inexpensive Blender from
> Wal-Mart. And she actually uses it.
> I'm guessing that your Mom would find a Juicer a
> bit cumbersome at best.
> Knows all, Sees all, Blabs all.....WY


His mum already had a juicer...he was just looking to upgrade for her...

Hope she enjoys the Omega vert!

awesome goodluck! its a great juicer also, your a good son,lol.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I got the Huron slow juicer and I am liking it very much.Very easy,better than the champion which I had,still have, for 7 years.

The juicer arrived and it is awesome! Much more yield, and overall better taste are just two of the perks so far.


For those who have this juicer or are well informed about it, are there any tips or tricks you recommend for this badboy? For example, is there a certain way to clean it that is optimal, etc. etc.?

I believe JK would be the best to ask abuot that one, I believe he owns one, ive only seen one used/cleaned a few times in person.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

There are a few members on here that own one; pbhorst does, although I haven't seen him around lately...

I don't believe there are any real tricks to cleaning, except to clean it as soon as you are finished juicing. This way, pulp particles won't become lodged in the fine mesh screen making for a less efficient juicing process.

Use the supplied brush.

I have found that if I allow the juicer to feed the produce on its' own there seems to be less pulp present in the juice - but I usually strain anyway.

There are many videos on youtube of folks using them; A lot of people will pour a few cups of water through it while it is running to help dislodge/flush pulp out of it.

I usually don't bother with that unless I am making different kinds of juice - say, carrot/celery/apple, & then I want to make watermelon juice after that; I don't want my watermelon to have the carrot taste, so I may run water through it to flush it.