Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This Nesco 2-in-1 Juicer Blender offers an inexpensive way to enter into the world of juicing for health without breaking the bank. But you may want to invest in a better quality unit since this unit seems very cheesy in construction and performance is lacking in key areas.
On the plus side, having a blender easily accessible while juicing is important since there are certain "dry" fruits and vegetables that don't juice well, like strawberries, avocados and bananas. When making a juice drink you can easily use the blender in addition to the juicer to make a smoothie that lets you incorporate the -non-juicer friendly drier fruits and vegetables.
The 50oz Blender container is glass and quite heavy. The blade assembly does not detach which makes cleaning the blender a dicey affair. The juicer base and juicer components are plastic and feel insubstantial.
I was surprised at how light the base unit was. I have had other blenders that have quite heavy electric motors in them. The lightness of this base/motor makes me feel that the unit is not going to survive hard use. Another caveat is that the User Guide states that the unit should not be operated continuously for more than 3 minutes, with a 30 second cool-down period in between.
The motor unit (base) has two speeds in addition to a pulse mode. The knob that controls the speed/pulse settings is not very easy to turn, particularly in Pulse mode. The base unit has suction cups on the feet to help secure it to your counter and prevent it from sliding while in use.
The blender and juicer each attach to the base by means of plastic clamps, one on either side. The clamps are not very substantial. I can see these breaking very easily if mishandled in any way. Switching the blender to juicer or juicer to blender is a fairly simple process that takes just a moment.
Cleaning the juicer parts is a chore. Pulp collects and sticks to the juice collector and sieve and must be cleaned by hand as none of the parts are dishwasher safe contrary to what the Amazon description states. (see update at end of review)
I made a quick concoction of 3 apples plus 1 pear and it was absolutely delicious. The juicer works well with harder fruits and vegetables, like apples, pears, carrots, and not very well at all with soft things like banannas, papaya, or really fibrous things. The sieve shreds the ingredients and acts as a centrifuge to separate the juice and the pulp, although not very effectively. The juice runs out of the juice collector into the collection container while the pulp collects in both the juice collector and pulp collector. I was not impressed with how much very wet pulp remains in the juice collector.
I like the idea of being able to juice fresh fruits and vegetables for really healthy and quick drinks but this unit is dismal. The included instruction/recipe book includes a good variety of smoothie, blender and juicer recipes but lacks any real information on juicing in general. One of the main benefits of juicing is that fiber in fruits and vegetables is not easily broken down by the human body and therefore some, if not much, of the nutrients "hidden" in the fibre is never extracted by the body and is lost. That is why juicing is beneficial. It extracts more of the nutrients from fruits and vegetables. Then by utilizing the pulp into other recipes like muffins or smoothies, you still get fiber in your diet along with the nutrient dense juice.
Pros:
Convenient way to have a blender and juicer in a single device.
Easy to switch components.
Cons:
Except for the glass blender, everything else is plastic and feels unsubstantial.
The latches in particular seem very fragile and prone to breaking.
Components are not dishwasher safe. Must be washed by hand.
Cannot operate continuously for more than 3-minutes at a time.
Cleaning is a chore.
Pulp extraction is not very effective, leaving lots of very wet pulp in juice collector while ejecting very little dry pulp.
Blades assembly does not detach from blender making cleaning it difficult.
Instruction/Recipe book could be more helpful in explaining how to incorporate juicing into your lifestyle by having more relevant information about juicing. For instance a perfectly valid question would be what to do with all the pulp that is created. Seems a waste to just throw it away , and in fact it is a waste. But you won't learn anything about that in the instruction/recipe book.
UPDATE 4/28/2011: The Amazon Description states that the parts, other than the base unit, are dishwasher safe, however the User Guide clearly states several times about washing the parts and says: "wash in warm soapy water, rinse and dry." Nowhere in the User Guide does it state that parts are dishwasher safe. Nor do the parts themselves have any indication that they are dishwasher safe. Furthermore I called NESCO and was told that unless it is explicitly stated that parts are dishwasher safe, assume they are NOT dishwasher safe.
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Nesco American Harvest JB-50 2-in-1 Juicer/Blender, White with Green Trim
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