97306 Juice Press, X-Large, Black

This juice press turned out to be even better than I'd anticipated after watching the YouTube video of it. It's earned a permanent place on my kitchen counter and that's saying a lot because space is a premium. I use it so much that I have it tucked off to the side and ready to use. If you have juicers or a VitaMix, you already know that cleaning them is often very time consuming. Forget all that with this citrus juicer. One twist and the silver cup and strainer lift up, wash, replace. Even with using a damp cloth to wipe off the handle and inside the pressure cup top, you're talking all of 3 minutes to clean. What that translates into is that you'll use it much more often because of its simplicity. I'll never use an electrical juicer again because the pressure that juices the halved fruit extracts 100% of the juice. Amazing to see. Since the handle is balanced, it is easy to use enough pressure to do that. As you lift the handle, the silver top raises, you place the halved item on the cone and press down. Much of the pressing down is already done for you due to its design. I'm a 74 year old woman and I have no trouble with it at all. It easily does lemons, oranges and I've even cut a pomegranate in half to add to the orange juice (yum). If your fruit is very large, you can squeeze, move it a bit, squeeze again or even cut it in 4ths if needed. Some have complained about the bottom of the silver cup/strainer unit being too low to accept a large pitcher, etc. I find that a complete 'non-issue' because I store juice in mason jars and I just put a 1 cup glass measuring cup under the strainer and as I juice, I pour it into the mason jar or a glass. This unit is heavy and feels solid on the counter. No slipping. There are suction grips under each corner. Since I keep mine in a ready to use corner where it isn't going to be bumped, I keep it with the handle up and have no problems of tipping at all. Like I said, this is a heavy, sturdy, made to last forever citrus juicer. I think if I had children around or were keeping it in the middle of a busy counter area, that I'd keep it with the handle down though just to be on the safe side. I've never experienced any sliding, or coming ungripped yet. I put the fruit in, put my left hand somewhere on the unit for my own balance and then bring the handle down with my right. I have fresh lemon and orange juice on hand for cooking and drinking at all times. I generally have a bag of lemons and/or limes around and I'm so happy that I can grab what I need for a recipe, cut in half, and have totally squeezed fresh juice instantly and have it take me less than 3 minutes overall to do. A lot depends on the size and thickness of the fruit you are juicing so you may need to press, move, press again on a very large item. I cut the large pomegranate I use in 4ths and squeeze them that way. This manual unit is the best citrus juicer I've ever had and I wouldn't trade it for an electrical whirling juicing cone ever. 100% pleased and I use it almost daily because of how simple and good it is.

I have now owned this product for two years, so I thought it might be useful to tell others how it has held up over time. Be advised that it was terrific the first time I used it and it remains terrific today. The only maintenance required, aside from routine cleaning, has been to tighten the moving parts with an Allen wrench (aka, hex key) a few times. Beyond that, the juicer has performed superbly. It quickly and efficiently extracts juice from oranges and lemons with very little effort. My wife uses it even more than I do and our grandkids have operated it too. With kids, an adult should be on hand to ensure that the child doesn't mash his hand and to keep him or her from pulling the heavy juicer off the countertop but my experience suggests that risk is minimal. What I like about this gadget is that it is heavy and durable. One of our favorite beverages is orangeade, which typically requires 8 or more oranges per batch. It takes very little time to squeeze that many. A simple glass of orange juice is even faster and easier. And cleanup is a snap, too, since the parts that come in contact with the oranges can be removed and washed with very little effort. The parts are stainless steel and clean up nicely. They are also dishwasher safe though you don't need to put them in the dishwasher all that often. Because the juicer is fairly heavy, we keep it on a seldom-used countertop in a nook of our kitchen. We use it at least once a week, which is more than we had expected when we bought it. I am a bit of a gadget nut so I researched various juicers quite a bit before buying this one from Amazon. I seriously doubt that I could have found a better juicer for our purposes. Even my wife, who is NOT a gadget nut, likes it. After two years of fairly heavy use, this device shows no signs of wear so I think it will probably last about as long as I do. If you want a fast, easy means of producing fresh orange juice or lemonade with a minimum of effort, this is the gadget for you.