juice me up! omega vrt 350 juicer review

On February 17, 2012 · 11 Comments · In food

[ETA: six month review update link below.]

Breakfast this morning:

I admit, it doesn’t look that appealing unless you realize I JUICED IT ALL in my handy dandy new BIRTHDAY JUICER. Mwa ha ha ha! My super health will know no bounds!

Why look, here is the Birthday Juicer now, doesn’t it look dapper?

That’s right, I cashed in a couple hundred dollars worth of amazon points and a bit of birthday $$$ and procured myself a Juicer Of My Own, an Omega 350HD vertical masticating juicer, to be precise. So far, I couldn’t be happier. The juicer is easy to assemble, has juiced everything we’ve put into it with no problem, cleans up in 3 or 4 minutes (I timed it), and makes AWESOME juice.

Here it is, doing it’s juicy thang:

See the dry pulp coming out on the left? And bright green juice that is coming out on the right?

Here’s a close up:

The pulp is quite dry. The juice has a little foam but not much, maybe a half inch on top when I juice leafy greens. There is some pulp, about what I associate with orange juice you buy from the store, so if you want NO pulp, you’re going to have to do some extra straining or else get a different juicer. Clean up is super easy, as I mentioned 3 or 4 minutes, tops. The juice itself is brilliant in color and does not separate (before I drink it anyway). I don’t know what a $1000 juicer does that this one doesn’t—bone dry pulp? like, the veggies are WHITE in the bin, like Bunnicula has come along and drained them dry?—but I have no complaints.

We’ve juiced apples, carrots, spinach, kale, chard, parsley, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, pears (Luc’s favorite), and oranges (use a carrot peeler to peel off the orange color, but leave on the white pith), in various combinations, with no problems whatsoever. I have chopped up the greens when they have long stems, have broken the celery into chunks maybe an inch long, quarter the apples and pears and oranges, split fat carrots and run skinny ones through whole. So far all the prep maybe takes a minute.

An entire minute! The horror! But seriously, to make a giant glass of green juice for both Paul and I, including prep time and clean up time took me eleven minutes this morning. Not bad.

Here is another photo of my breakfast:

Ooooo! Ahhhhh! Emerald green juice that tastes like sweet carrots and apples. It’s magic! Better than coffee!

I can’t believe I just said that.

An UPDATE to this review, six months later, can be found here.

Tagged with: juicing

11 Responses to juice me up! omega vrt 350 juicer review

CathyB says:

February 17, 2012 at 3:48 pm

So what are you doing with the pulp?
maya says:

February 17, 2012 at 4:28 pm

If only we still had goats, they would be in goatie heaven! Instead we are composting, although there is one veggie burger recipe that I have made, quite yummy, with veggie pulp from juicing.
Jeff says:

February 20, 2012 at 7:52 am

Do you core the apples, or do the seeds go in too?
maya says:

February 20, 2012 at 5:47 pm

Hi Jeff! I do not core the apples, but I do quarter them. I also find that breaking up stringy things like celery, into smallish pieces, maybe an inch long, or stripping the leafy parts off tough kale stems, or cutting the stems up, helps fibers not get wrapped around the innards. Still loving it though, have had juice every day since we got it.
Tracy says:

March 12, 2012 at 10:28 am

Mine should arrive tomorrow and I am so excited! My current juicer limits my ingredients. Happy juicing! We are also striving to juice daily.
maya says:

March 12, 2012 at 5:11 pm

Hey, cool! I hope you like yours as much as we are enjoying ours. We’ve had the daily green juice for breakfast going pretty strong and then the kids love fresh apple and orange. So far it’s juiced everything we’ve thrown at. Good luck, Tracy!
juice fasting & an update on my review of the omega vrt juicer | mayaland says:

July 16, 2012 at 9:16 am

[...] After watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead last winter (my post here with a link to the movie) we were pretty fired up to try a juice fast. If you’ve seen the movie (and you haven’t, don’t wait another second, you totally should), you’ll completely understand that statement. It is a very inspiring movie. This prompted us to get a juicer, the Omega VRT350, and I did a review here. [...]
John M. says:

February 15, 2013 at 9:14 am

When I first starting juicing ( new VRT350 ) I would get ~ 4 1/2 cups from a set weight of assorted veggies…a fairly good yield.
I used the juicer several times a week and after a few months I barely get 3 1/2 cups from the same set weight. Nothing appears
to be worn or in need of replacement. I contacted Omega several times but they refuse to reply and offer any advice or assistance.
It appears they can’t be bothered..their customer support is non existent. That in itself should tell you to stay away from this product.
Gwen says:

February 15, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Have you tried double extracting? that is to say, run the fiber and sludge output back through the juicer?
maya says:

February 17, 2013 at 5:08 pm

Hi Gwen and John, nice to meet you both! Sorry you’re not liking the VRT anymore, John. I can’t imagine what the difference could be since it is the same grinder, unless your pulp is coming out more wet, and then I might think you had clogged holes in your strainer or something. I hope you get it sorted out.
Gwen, I have run the pulp through, and I do get a bit more juice when doing it, but I find it mostly gets stuck in hopper and ends up making clean up a pain. It’s a bit better if you run something firm through right after (or during) like a carrot, to push the wet stuff through. For the small increase in yield, I can’t generally make myself bother with the considerable (or so it seems) increase in effort.
judy Mihlenbeck says:

May 3, 2013 at 4:28 am

So far I really like this juicer. I have had for about a month and juice 3-4x weekly.
Thank goodness for John Kohlers video because I have become totally disappointed with Omega for not replying to my emails and phone calls regarding questions about using and suggesting some recipes. I cannot believe they do not include a booklet explaining how to properly juice with this VRT350 and maybe some juice recipes since this was not a cheap machine. I received better/more helpful instruction with my last juicer which was cheaper. Based on this I doubt if I will buy Omega again.