10th July 2008
My name is Jim Rubel and I’m a working rock bass player who can often seen playing at Disneyland, CA. I’d also consider myself a “Jack of all trades” since I’ve had a number of jobs that each differ from the last. Jobs that have come and gone are: Head of operations for a surf clothing company, an advertising saleman for a magazine and recently a render artist for an architectual firm in downtown Los Angeles. Now I’m back to doing a lot of research and writing on the Internet on subjects that interest me. Some of that information is on jamesrubel.com as well as here.
Playing bass at Disney with the Tomasina band.
As I have gotten older I’ve felt more of a need to take charge of my health as many other baby boomers have. And that has been compounded by the fact that a lot of my friends are starting to have health issues.
While I do eat fruit and vegetables, there is no way I eat enough of them. From all the articles I’ve read on maintaining health, I now feel the benefits of juicing are too great to pass up.
When I started looking at different juicers I was interested in, I got overwhelmed with all the stuff. Then I got really interested in all the different types of juicers and how they worked. There seems to be a lot of hype out there concerning juicers which is confusing. I’m not a super scientific guy but I like things that work well. I started buying different juicers and trying them out and making videos reviews on them.
So I started this blog and the website best juice extractor reviews to review the different juicers to try to help steer other people toward the better juicers and away from the not very functional juicers.
Have you used a Lexen? Would like to see your review of this machine.
Comment by Cathy Weaver — June 1, 2009 @ 11:15 am
I am likewise confused. I have an older Norwalk that produces great juice but requires an extra step or two. I have owned a Champion and have had good results but would like to juice wheatgrass and the Champion did not process green leafy lettuce or wheatgrass well. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Comment by Bart Bell — September 21, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
I haven’t tried out a Lexen. I don’t even have any friends that have one. I’ll have to research it and see what I can find out. I tend to focus on the most popular juicer brands
since that is what most people will end up purchasing.
Comment by admin — September 28, 2009 @ 11:32 am
The Norwalk juicer gives great results but for me, it is a lot of work. The wrapping of the pulp in cheesecloth and then crushing it in the press is just more than I want to do. A friend of mine and I worked with one but I kind of didn’t care for it much. We had counter space to work with at the time but for me now, that is not the case.
I also tend to believe that it kind of has this mystical status much like the Champion juicer has. People have been using both of these for so long they become jaded and out of loyalty can’t even imagine newer more versatile machines. I get flamed every time I mention that I don’t think the Champion juicer is all it’s cracked up to be.
Yes, the Champion juicer is awful for leafy greens. It is bad at celery too. Drives me nuts.
I like the twin gear juicers like the Greenstar but for the money of around $230, dual screen single auger juicers like the Omega 8003 or the Oscar single auger juicers are awesome. Both will juice wheatgrass and leafy greens very well. I use my Omega 8003 to juice beet greens, spinach, parsley and different lettuce types all the time. The pulp comes out very dry in my opinion. Plus this machine is small and super easy to clean. It won’t stay in your kitchen cabinet like so many appliances seem to. It’s my favorite so far.
Oh, and I’m not an Omega salesman. I get accused of that all the time too. This is not a popularity contest for me. I don’t care what machine people buy. This has become strictly a quest and fun for me to discover what machines were cool and which ones weren’t so much. I would like to see people get healthy and any machine will produce better juice than store bought. No matter, fresh juice is better for you than drinking a coke.
Comment by admin — September 28, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
I wanted to say thank you for your website! It is the best I’ve seen with the most comprehensive reviews that I have been able to find for the available juicers. I love that you list both pros and cons and have pictures of everything. That also makes your website great! I appreciate it!
Comment by Shannon — November 24, 2009 @ 1:15 am
Thanks. I appreciate it. It’s a work in progress. I actually am having a lot of fun with it.
Comment by Jim Rubel — November 24, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
A juicer that juices blackberries well
I am a long time juice nut. Purchased a Champion ten or so years ago. Just lost it to my ex.
Thank you for the WONDERFUL sites you have. Seems you have excellent coverage on 99% of the issues.
Heres my problem. I cannot find a good way to extract juice from blackberries. I came here thinking that a centrifugal juicer would be the best option for getting ALL pulp and juice leaving completely dry seeds. The next juicer I will buy will need to do carrots, beets, greens and blackberries (I hope). Can you shed any light on this from your experiences?? Thank You very much for any help. – Sande
Comment by Sande Phillippi — July 18, 2011 @ 7:12 pm
A centrifugal juicer will not be good for soft berries. It will beat them up and spit them out. I actually suggest blending most berries and soft fruits. However, if you are opposed to that, an single auger like the Omega 8003 or the Omega vertical juicer would be good. A Green Star would also do the job.
Comment by Jim Rubel — July 19, 2011 @ 6:18 pm
Jim,
Loved your website and appreciate your reviews. Was wondering if you felt the Lalane juicer might yield better quality than the Breville fountain since the Lalane operates at 3600 rpm compared to Brevilles low end of 6500 rpm?
Thanks much,
Rob
Comment by Rob Jakovich — September 27, 2011 @ 12:32 pm
@Rob, My opinion is the Jack Lalane juicer will not yield better quality or quantity than the Breville Fountain. My experience with the Lalanne juicer is that is it not a very finely tuned machine. Its design and craftsmanship is lousy. There is too much space between the blade and the chute. That blades are not as nice as the ones on the Breville. Much more thought went into the Breville. They are good centrifugal machines. It would make sense that if the Jack juicer spun at a slower rate, the juice quality could be better. However, the fact that the Lalanne spins a little slower would not in my mind make it produce a better quality juice because I just don’t think it is capable mechanically. That is completely unscientific I know. The spinning process is still rough even at the 3600 rpm speed on that machine. I think the machine would just leave more of the produce intact because it needs speed in the mechanical configuration to work right. When I go to Whole Foods market and get a juice, they use a commercial Nutrifaster. I don’t know what rpm it spins at but the motor is 1.25 hp. The nicer centrifugal juice machines overall have bigger motors and spin faster. Their juice quality might be questionable just due to that centrifugal process. I am not totally sure how big a difference it could be. However, I prefer to not worry about it so much. I mostly use the Omega 8003 or my GreenStar where the mechanical nature of those machines would seem to deliver higher quality juice. But then I will never turn down a glass of juice made with a centrifugal either.
Comment by Jim Rubel — October 13, 2011 @ 7:42 pm