Omega J8006 Slow Speed Masticating Juicer

I spent over a year researching a wide variety of juicers, and watched more demonstration videos that I could ever count. Once or twice, I almost wish I never took this dogged challenge because all the facts, comparisons between the various juicers, and advice from others who reviewed their own product spun my head in ways I never thought possible. And it is because of my extensive research, that I'm posting a somewhat lengthy review, which I will update from time to time as I continue to work this wonderful machine. I originally bought this machine because I planned on juicing hard fibrous vegetables, and my research from various sources showed this to be the best juicer for greens, which best suited my personal needs. But realistically, it can do so much more. Ironically, even though I bought it for the greens, when writing this review, it is autumn, and grapes are in season, and so I got a bushel of concord grapes from a farm for a great price. So my first juice wasn't the kale, or Swiss chard, or celery that I spent all season growing, but the concord grapes. And I'll be damned if that wasn't the best thing I ever drank. Mind you, because I was juicing everything, seeds and even some stems, the final result was THICK, much like a smoothie, but still, the best I ever had. Never again will I buy "grape juice" from a store after having this. Since this was my first go at this, I made more than I could drink all at once, so I kept it in the fridge, and even on the second day, there was NO SEPERATION. This machine is so efficient, the pulp was dry beyond belief, but still I chucked the pulp into my worm bin. Hopefully they'll get something out of it. I have to reiterate, this was my first attempt, and it was with in season concord grapes. So if you try something else, your results may vary. Next came my first vegetable concoction, a V-6, as opposed to a high sodium, store bought V-8. I used two large store bought carrots, an organically grown tomato from my generous neighbor, as well as several stalks of my own organically grown celery, several leaves of Swiss chard, kale, and four small Cajun Belle peppers, which also came from my garden. In a word... "WOW!" I'm really getting a better appreciation of my new best friend. Thirdly, I made apple, grape lemonade. First I was just going to juice three granny smith apples with one half lemon, which was not pealed, and one lemon that was peeled, but then I thought, hey, add some of those seeded concord grapes. If I quoted my reaction to this, I probably would have the review pulled. But it was a GREAT reaction. Just probably not one you might want your children to read, which is basically, "Holy (Bleepity bleepity bleep bleep)." Of the three juices that I have made thus far, this one I have continued to make numerous times. Part of this is due to the fresh produce selection, and part of it is due to how damn good it tastes. Putting my various tests aside, I want to address a common complaint for this juicer, which is the size of the feed chute. Here's how I see it. This, in my humble opinion, is one of the most efficient juicers one can buy for its price range. Taking a little more time in prep work far outweighs the waste that you'll get from a high speed centrifugal juicer. And the versatility of this outweighs what you can get from a vertical auger juicer, as many people have come to realize that the vertical auger juicers are far less efficient with leafy greens, plus they cannot do the myriad functions of the Omega 8006. I've done my research on this. Hopefully, you can benefit from it. If I ever get to the other functions of the 8006, such as nut butters and fruit sorbets, I will update this review. I understand that it can also grind coffee beans, process flower, and mince garlic, but I neither need these functions, nor do I want to use this for such purposes because I don't want the residual smell to bleed in my other concoctions. Finally, most people are concerned about the clean up process afterwards. Well for me, it's always a breeze. I never actually time it, because I'm constantly distracted. Rinse this. Take that to the worm bin. Rinse that. Feed the cats. Rinse the rest... as if you can't tell, I'm in no hurry. The best I can give you, by means of comparison, is when I was using a centrifugal juicer with no ejection port. To be blunt, that was a labor of unrequited love, as I was tying to better my dietary lifestyle. Now that I have the Omega 8006, there's very little labor, AND A WHOLE LOT OF LOVE. It is more efficient than anything I've ever used before. Now just let me win the lottery, and I'll be the happiest person to walk the Earth. Pros: It does more than I expected, and better than I expected. What more can I say? Also, it has a 15 YEAR WARRANTY. The enclosed manual says 10 years, but that is outdated. Cons: I was going to complain about the collection cups that come with the unit because they don't indicate how much juice it's collecting, but since this is a juicer review, and not a collection cup review, I feel that in retrospect it's not even important. It would be nice if the Omega website had more detailed information on general usage and some various demos of the product, but there are a plethora of them on YouTube. So unless I want to be an over picky person, I don't have any REAL cons. MY BOTTOM LINE: If you don't love it, send me a response letting me know how wrong you think I am about this juicer. But if you love it, then please do the same. I truly believe that I will get far more positive responses that negative ones. Hopefully, this review has been of some help to you. If so, please click the "yes" button, so that other readers may benefit from this review, and hopefully find this review to be helpful. Thanks. October 11th 2012 UPDATE - Frozen Sorbet. I made my first "frozen sorbet," consisting of bananas and pineapple. I started with the blank plate, but did NOT use one of the extra nozzles, and pushed through a slice of pineapple first. The manual states, "no nozzle needed, but may be used if desired." But that just produced frozen flakes. So I stopped, added the round nozzle, and when resuming, it created the consistency that I've seen on numerous videos. I have to say that the machine stopped once while pushing the pineapple through, but this was user error. No problem, I reversed the unit for a few seconds, and afterwards was able to continue. Learn from my mistake. More fibrous fruits like pineapple need more time to process as opposed to bananas. I rotated pineapple with banana, so that each spoonful had both in almost every bite, which incidentally, I'm thoroughly enjoying as I type this. Ultimately, I will chalk this up as another success as to the versatility of this machine. October 15th 2012 UPDATE. I wanted to try an experiment with this machine that I've never seen covered before on any of the demonstration videos that I've watch prior to purchasing this machine. My thought was, if the unit can make frozen sorbets with the blank plate, why not try to make a non-frozen paste by using the blank plate with fruits that were NOT frozen? Seems logical, to me at least, and theoretically, my body should be able to more easily process the already broken down fiber. FAILURE. Specifically, I do mean it was I WHO FAILED. The manual NEVER suggests doing this, and NONE of the videos that I have watched on line show my little experiment. And now I know why. The blank plate does not form a tight seal with liquids, so juice spills out from the juicing port, and what I hoped would be a paste, was just a semi-dry mush. The blank plate seems to be designed for semi solid, to nearly solid matter, and so, these non-frozen items did not work. Since I was curious about this before purchasing the unit, but could not find any info on this, I thought to share this with anyone who may be wondering the same thing. This is NOT a product defect. It simply wasn't made for what I was trying to do, so my original rating of 5 stars still stands. I'm still in the early stages of getting to know the Omega 8006, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If I can help, I surely will. I'm not a retailer, I just want others to be able to enjoy this great product. And please let me know if this review and its updates have been helpful to you. Thank you. October 31st 2012 UPDATE - Auger Wear I have noticed some slight wear on the auger. For now, I'm not going to worry about this, since this could simply be part of the "breaking in" process. For now, I'm not going to let it bother me, since this does have a 15 year warranty. And sometimes, some things need a little wear and tear to break in. But for those of you who may have recently purchased this, or are still considering it, I wanted to let you be aware of this. I am still thoroughly happy with the 8006, and continue to use it daily without any problems. Additionally, I'd like to make aware to those who juice a lot of carrots, buy the largest quantity when possible. My local grocery store sells a 10 pound bag for about 5 bucks. I also want to give you a tip on the larger sized carrots. Since you should already be aware of extra prep time needed for the 8006, I'll give you one more step that takes just a few seconds, but makes the end results easier on you and your juicer. Cut LARGE carrots in half, lengthwise. It's just that simple, and it only takes a few seconds. Try a whole, large carrot, and then try a halved carrot, and see how much easier it is on the juicer, as well as for yourself pushing the halved carrot through compared to the whole one. Depending on the girth of the carrot, the smaller ones pretty much feed themselves. I guarantee those few extra seconds of prep will ultimately be easier on both you and the juicer. November 9th 2012 UPDATE - Making Peanut Butter. I addressed the question of making nut butters in the comments section a short while ago, but now that I have actually tried this, I wanted to share my results with those who are interested. As stated in the comments section, nuts that have a higher oil content will produce a more creamy end product, while nuts that are low in oil will produce a product which is drier and flakey. And so, I made peanut butter for the first time, using roasted peanuts which I shelled and skinned. The blank plate is needed for this, and for my first test, I didn't use any of the optional nozzles. What came out of the 8006 were buttery flakes. So I stopped the machine, used the round nozzle, and this produced a nut butter that was more of a buttery paste, which I personally preferred. I ran this back through the machine in an attempt to make it smoother, and it did to some extant, but noticed that running it through once more after that make little difference. I suggest that you try to experiment with the nut of your choice as well, and perhaps a different nozzle will have better, or worse results. Experimentation is key. Your end product will not be the same consistency as a store bought product, meaning that it will not be as creamy. And this is due to the fact that additional oil is added to the processing of most commercially bought peanut butter. But, this can be a good thing because you will be consuming less fat calories. Mind you, if you do want this to be creamier, you can add oil, but at that point, it pretty much defeats the purpose of making it yourself. In addition, you can keep this salt free by using unsalted nuts, or add some salt if you prefer. Cleaning up the parts does take more time, because of the oils and the stickiness of the peanut better, so you may want to make a larger quantity of it all at once, and store what you don't use. Ultimately, while peanut butter is NOT a health food, you can make a HEALTHIER CHOICE by making it yourself by regulating the fat and salt content. And for that, the Omega 8006 still retains the five star rating which I originally gave it. 12-17-12 UPDATE - Wear and Cactus Pear. Wear. As previously noted, there was some wear on the auger. After continual use on a daily basis, I can say that my previous speculation of this being part of the breaking in process was correct. The wear has come to a standstill, and I feel comfortable in saying that this will not be an ongoing problem. Cactus Pears. I have watched numerous videos on the health benefits of cactus pears. Their biggest drawback is that they have a plethora of hard seeds. Since my first test was on Concord Grapes, which also has hard seeds, I decided to try cactus pears. It worked flawlessly! I have run through several of these at a time over the course of a few weeks, and never has the machine hesitated, cracked, or failed in any way. So for those of you who are interested in juicing Cactus Pears, I recommend the Omega 8006. Mix this with some young Thai coconut water, chill it, and let your eyes roll to the back of your head as you drink it. 1-7-13 UPDATE - Cleaning Tips I Have Not Found Anywhere Else. Using this as much as I do, I noticed that a few components slowly became a bit... unsightly. Please feel free to utilize these tips that I had to discover on my own. The end cap has a silicone ring inside, which will eventually accumulate some crud. If you use your 8006 as much as I do, you'll probably be embarrassed by just how awful this looks when you do get it out. But the ring in the end cap can be cleaned. This ring can easily be pried out with a blunt tool, and I highly recommend a blunt tool, as a knife will cut the ring. Also, I would not recommend putting this ring in a dishwasher, since it is so small, just do it by hand, it only takes a few seconds. Just make sure you pay attention as to what side of the ring goes face down. It has a specific upside and downside fitting, so you'll want to make sure it goes back in the same way it came out. In addition, the pusher has a similar silicone ring, so I suggest you remove it and clean it as well as you see fit. Now I need to draw your attention to the coupler that allows you to attach the main juicing unit to the machine itself. Over time, it very well may start to get sticky, and not rotate into place as smoothly as it did when you first used it. When you take off the main juicing component, you'll see that there are four Phillips head screws that keep the coupler attached to the unit. These are easily removed, and once you do remove them, you'll probably see some unsightly gunk between these rings. Again, I suggest washing these parts by hand. Once they're clean and dry, reattach them, BUT DO NOT over tighten the screws. A slightly snug fit will keep everything in place without stripping a screw or breaking these plastic pieces. I hope that these instructions will help not only those who plan on buying the Omega 8006, but help those who already have it and need to know how to deal with these uncovered maintenance practices. 7-6-13 UPDATE - Fresh Berries Sorbet. Strawberries have just ended their season, and blueberries and raspberries are coming into season, at least in my area, so I wanted to make an update. And instead of making three updates which ultimately would be very similar, I thought I'd spare you from having to read three similar updates when they could easily be combined into one. For starters, I grow my own strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and though I love to eat them whole , when I purchased my 8006 last year, I wanted to make a frozen sorbet from each of these that I grow organically, even if just once. Turns out, my "just once" idea turned into "just a few times more, and more, and more." When it comes to making frozen sorbets out of these berries in the 8006, the same rules apply. Keep them in the freezer until they're... well... need I say it? Then use the blank plate along with the round nozzle. From my experience, this combination works best. Now admittedly, if I used a little more forward thinking, I would have saved some strawberries and combined them with either or both the blueberries and raspberries, but dummy me didn't think to do that. If you love any or all of these berries, you're going to love this a whole hell of a lot. And while you can just as easily do this with store bought berries when they're available, I wanted to try this with what I'm growing. After all, that's why I'm growing them, and waited until now when they're in season. For those who do not grow their own berries, or just want to have this nearly any time of the year, good quality store bought berries will work of course. BONUS TIP: If you are so inclined, you can mix this sorbet in with nonfat Greek yogurt, or even regular plain nonfat yogurt. I was very happy when I had the frozen sorbet, and thought "it can't get any better than this." I proved myself wrong as to how much much happier I was when I made this sorbet yogurt combo. And yes, while you can just as easily add any of these whole berries to yogurt, which is always a better thing to do than buying some ready-made yogurt products, full of who knows what, adding fresh made frozen sorbet from the 8006 to yogurt is an EXTRA SPECIAL treat that you brain and body will thank you for. 7-27-13 UPDATE - Salsa! My peppers and tomatoes are ready to harvest, so I decided to try an experiment, making salsa in the 8006. You need to use the blank plate for this, but you do not need any of the optional nozzles. While your salsa will come out of the end, you will still get some drippings from the juicing section, so I suggest you use both collection cups. I won't necessarily call this a recipe, since everyone's taste is different, but I'll tell you what I used. Tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, garlic, onion, and a tad bit of cilantro. (I'm not a fan of cilantro, but it has its uses in small amounts for me). Just so you know, juicy onions create a frothy foam, but you can just stir that in when it's done, and no one will ever know it was there. If the salsa is too watery for you, and this will be based on what type of tomatoes you use, you can easily strain the salsa when you're done. Before you know it, you'll have THE BEST and MOST FRESH, salsa ever. I shared this with neighbors, and they either, (A) really liked it, or (B) were just being really polite by consuming the whole batch and asked for more. Either way, it was a winner. I dare say, once you make this, you'll NEVER buy that store bought %&*# again. 8-1-13 UPDATE - Grinding Flax Seed. I've been doing some research on the health benefits of flax seed, which is high in Omega 3 fatty acids. These help with brain function, inflammation, as well as other things, and it has become increasingly used by many people because of its beneficial properties. The only problem with flax seed is that it has to be broken open to get the full effect of its beneficial properties. So if you ingest it whole, and don't chew it well, you'll not absorb what it has to offer. The good, or rather great news is, the Omega 8006 does a superb job of breaking up flax seed. Use the blank plate, pour as much as you need, and that's it. DONE! How much more simple can it be? If you like, you can run it through a second time to help break the seed down a little more, but that's not really necessary. And cleaning this can't be any easier. You can practically blow away all of the remaining flax residue. I didn't even bother to rinse anything except the blank plate. And if any residual flax residue that clung to the auger gets into my juices, it won't hurt the juice, or you, at all. So what do you do with the flax once it's been ground? Anything. Personally, I prefer to use it in juices, smoothies, and sorbets. If you're making a sorbet, I recommend running the flax through before any of the produce, and then incorporate it while making the sorbet. I don't know if you'll get the same great results if you mix it in while making a sorbet, or sprinkle it on top when done. One important thing of note is that once it's been ground, you have to use it within a few days, or it can go rancid, so prepare only what you can use. And so what if you have to grind this every few days, because again, it's so easy to clean afterwards. Do your brain and body a favor, add flax seed into your diet. And do it with the 8006. 8-6-13 UPDATE - Coconuts. This is an update that I'm somewhat unwilling to post, but again, I do this for the sake of others, while I might get even more dislikers who feel my review up to this point is still NOT helpful. How more thorough can I be, you disliking /\$$H0L$? Firstly, it is imperative that none of the hard outer shell of the coconut gets into the juicer. It can wreck your screen, and invalidate your warranty. And while the softer, brown, inner lining won't be a problem, and won't mess up your 8006, I personally think the end product tastes better if you peel that off as well. And now... Flakes for baking. I'm not a baker of sweets. But, if you are, you can't get any better FRESH coconut flakes than if you make them yourself in the 8006. These are, The BEST! No contest. You can use either a white coconut, not to be confused with a young Thai coconut, or a brown coconut. Crack it open, and de-meat it however you want, then run the pieces though the 8006 using the blank plate without any of the additional nozzles. What you will get are fresh flakes, which are not treated or preserved with who knows what from that you would normally buy. And these taste far better, because of this. Because these are made fresh, by you, and have no preservatives, their shelf life is limited, and you will need to use them with a few weeks, even if kept in the fridge. Store bought coconut garbage flakes will last for many more months because... you got it, they are full of extra chemicals that you don't want to consume. BONUS TIP: Save the coconut water in a bowl, and when you run the coconut chunks through the 8006, let them go back into the coconut water. Since they have been masticated by the 8006, they will reabsorb the water and add more flavor. Now again, since I'm not a baker, I don't know if this soaking in coconut water will affect your cake or cookie recipes, but I used these drenched coconut flakes to make coconut shrimp, and they were outstanding! Chunky Colada. Here's the one I think most people may not like, but I'm posting it anyway for that 1 out or 100,000 people who may like this. For starters, I AM NOT trying to make coconut milk. I admit full heartedly that I'm too damn lazy for that. I drained the water from a coconut and set it aside, then ran half of the meat through the 8006 to make flakes. Once this was done, I blended both the flakes and the coconut water together. People who want to make coconut milk would then strain this to get rid of the chunks. Again, I'm too damn lazy for that. I added some ice and rum to the blender, and got a refreshing drink I can drink, and chew on. I'll bet 99 percent of the readers won't like this idea, but if you are among the select few who do, you are going to enjoy this. In fact, I'm drinking / chewing on one of these as I'm updating this, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Although maybe it's just the rum... 11-7-13 UPDATE - A Little Over One Year Anniversary. I feel that it's important to let serious buyers to know what to expect not only after a few months, but after a year of continuous use. And I do mean continuous. Almost every day I have made the most of the 8006, and that's important as opposed to those who only use any appliance a few times a week, or less. Grape juice revisited. It's grape season again, so I bought 20 pounds of Concord grapes for 25 bucks. As such, I'm making The Second Best Grape Juice Ever. Yes, I said second best. I planted Concord grape vines this year, as well as a Granny Smith apple tree, so in a year or 2, probably 2, I'll be making The Best Grape Juice Ever, because it's organic and home grown. And just as importantly, after a year of use, wear and tear, I can say by means of comparison, that the pulp from the grapes is almost as dry as when I first used the 8006 a year ago. I don't think of this VERY MINOR reduction in the dryness of pulp as a bad thing. The 8006 needed some time to wear in as previously stated, and the difference is so minimal, it's barely worth noting. Take it where you need it. Yup, take that bad boy out of the kitchen. Sounds crazy, but since this is a slow rpm juicer, and is very quiet as opposed to those high and less efficient RPM juicers, why not take it out of the kitchen? A few days ago, time was a factor. I wanted to make my juice, but I also wanted to watch a vid. So I did both. I took the 8006 into the living room, and made what I wanted while watching a show. Or take it outside, and make juices while entertaining guests and cooking on the BBQ. There's no need to confine yourself to the kitchen with this low noise juicer. Omega 8006 vs. the Omega NC800. I almost lost what was left of my mind when the NC800 was released. I had the 8006 less than a year, and then a new model was released. Speaking from observation, I can see 2 pros, and 2 cons to the NC800. Pros: The feed chute is larger than the 8006, which means less cutting, and the adjustable end nozzle. If you adjust it properly, you should get more juice than the 8006. Cons: The juicing housing is attached to the feed chute. I feel that this is more cumbersome to clean, and many people feel that an easy to clean machine is more favorable. Secondly, while the adjustable nozzle may be a pro, I feel this can also be a con. With the 8006, you simply put in your produce and have great results. This adjustable nozzle creates a new learning curve, and personally, I rather have a more simple option which doesn't need me to overthink what I'm juicing. Hopefully this one year anniversary review will be helpful to those who not only want to buy the 8006, but wanted to know what they can expect after a year of continuous use, as well as some insight to the newer, more expensive model. 12-9-13 - Update - Cranberry Juice. WOW. I can't believe you're still reading this. I love cranberries. I literally buy about 2 dozen bags during the short time that they are available, so the idea of making my own cranberry juice was a no brainer. When they come straight from the bag, and not cooked, they are a "perfect produce product," (I dare you to say that three times fast,) for the 8006. Plus, due to their size and firmness, the pusher isn't even necessary. Three 12 ounce bags made thirty two ounces of juice. But be aware, this juice is very, VERY tart! And as much as I like tart, juicing a few sweet, firm apples into the mix makes this far more palatable. And due to the firmness of the cranberries, if you want to incorporate them in a frozen sorbet, you do not have to freeze them as you would bananas, mangoes, strawberries, etc. 1-24-14 Update - Orange Juice. Well you could knock me over with a feather on this one. All this time I've been hearing how the Omega 8006 is optimal for hard, fibrous fruits and vegetables, and with over a year of personal experience, it has proved to be just that. But I had 7 average sized oranges lingering in my fridge, and thought, "what the hell?" Using the standard juicing screen, the peeled oranges turned into 18 ounces of juice. I only wish I had a small kitchen scale so that I could tell you what the weight of the oranges were beforehand. But nonetheless, I was not only impressed, but flabbergasted as to why I didn't think try this sooner. I did run the pulp through two additional times for a slightly higher yield. Actually, I ran some of it through a third time, and found that by then, there wasn't much more the juicer could extract. While the pulp wasn't as dry as what is typical for harder produce, I feel that it did a pretty darn good job. Because some of the pith of the orange is working its way into the juice, you will get a thicker, more robust juice than something from the grocery store. And personally, I prefer this. I guess it just goes to show that just because you graduate from college, you don't have to stop experimenting. The most important reason why I tried this, and added this experience to my overly long review, is so that people who are seriously thinking about the Omega 8006, shouldn't have to worry about possibly getting an additional juicer that's specifically designed for softer fruits, unless they plan on juicing a lot those on a regular basis. While the yield may have been greater with an Omega Vert, or some other vertical auger style juicer, which are typically recommended for fruits, the Omega 8006 shows that it is versatile enough to handle squeezing out a great tasting orange juice as well. It is possible that the Omega NC800 can squeeze out more juice per orange than the 8006, due to its adjustable nozzle, but unless Omega wants to send me one of those to do a side by side comparison, and allow me to publish the results, I'm going to remain loyal to the 8006 which has PROVED itself to me time and time again as being a one of the best, and most versatile juicers, that any serious customer could ever have. Addendum. My on going review is longer than Amazon allows, so I'm working on putting a link to another Amazon account, where you can continue to read my ridiculously long review with updates. Hopefully, that will be posted soon, as I am working on it. Also, there may one or two item that will be repeated from the end of this, to the beginning of the other. Sorry, I'll work out the kinks as I go.