Great juice from a convenient, durable product

The Omega 4000 is an intermediate level juicer, fitting between several products in the $100 range (like the Braun MP-80) and the industrial strength Norwalk at well over $1000. It is a little more expensive than the popular Juiceman II which is well-liked by the epinions community (but which I have not tried).

We started juicing in my family because I was having a jaw problem that made it difficult to eat hard fruits and vegetables. Now we make juice on almost a daily basis, for 2-4 people. So durability, ease of use and ease of cleaning are very important. We also appreciate a juice with as little pulp as possible. The low end juicers are not satisfactory in any of those respects.

The Omega 4000 is our third juicer and after about a month's use, it is proving itself to be the best. It ejects pulp very efficiently into a large container so we can complete an entire juicing session without having to pause to unclog or empty anything. The juice itself is very good quality, the yield is high and the pulp content is low. A nice bonus is that it runs quite quietly (for a juicer).

It assembles and disassembles for cleaning reasonably easily, and it comes clean quite well if you just throw all the pieces in the dishwasher. (In my opinion, any daily use kitchen item that can't be cleaned in a dishwasher doesn't deserve to live.)

The Omega 4000 is not as well marketed as Juiceman, but independent reviews give it the edge for juice quality and yield. The Omega company has been in business for over 40 years and the 4000 comes with a 15 year warranty. So it should be an investment that will last.

If you're not sure about juicing, by all means get one of the cheap machines, start by throwing in some carrots and apples and see if you get hooked like many of us do. If so, your cheapie juicer will conveniently self-destruct in no time at all and you'll be ready to move up to the Omega 4000. Highly recommended.