The Master Masticator: The Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Masticating Juicer

This juicer is the master of all things grinding, squeezing, and juicing. It is a well-built product with a vast amount of utility and power. Unlike other juicers we have covered, this model is unlimited in the number of things it can use. It has several different modes for use and contains a very powerful motor. There are certainly a few flaws, but these problems center around the machine’s design. At its core function, this juicer is a solid product.

Pros

Let us begin by commenting on the sheer breadth of things this machine can use. I hesitate to call it a juicer. I use the term masticator in the title for a reason. Juicing is only one of its functions. It can grind nuts into a soft spread. This means homemade peanut butter, think about that and salivate. It can take raw coffee beans and make your own coffee grounds. Insert raw dough and you can make breadsticks or homemade pasta. It has a standard blending option for making salsa or just to break up garlic, onions, or other cooking ingredients. These are things other types of juicers may not be able to do. The juicing option is noteworthy among all of these other features. It utilizes a two-step juicing process. First, it crushes and tears up the fruit you inserted to be juiced. It breaks its form and ejects the pulp into another compartment. Here it squeezes the brutalized pulp. It uses a GE Ultem Auger, which is much stronger than most augers and blades used in other juicers. After slowly extracting the juice from it, it discards the remaining pulp. The remnants are very dry, indicating a strong juicer. The juicing process works very slowly. The auger moves at 80 rpms, which results in a slow and thought out process of juicing. This low speed decreases the masticator and will decrease oxidation over time. Juices made by this can hold up to three or four days before the juice begins to separate or go bad. What is more important about this is that the slow juicing process prevents frothing, which preserves both taste and color of the juice. The motor can produce power equivalent to two horse power. Not very fast, but this motor has no problem cutting through almost anything.

Cons

The largest problem for this machine is the size of the feeding tube. For having such a range of uses, its feeding tube does not support this philosophy. The tube is very small by other standards and almost all the fruit you will want to juice must be cut up. This is a minor problem with things like bananas and strawberries, but if you want to make a lot of pineapple, apple, or orange juice be prepared to cut them into small sizes. This means extra work on your end when preparing. This juicer has a fairly high price tag. This juicer is not cheap and is a large investment for most people. You will seriously want to consider what you need out of a juicer before dropping the cash on this machine. It also requires a fair amount of cleaning. The two-step juicing process is very handy, but that means that there are a lot of individual parts to clean and maintain. Keeping this juicer healthy is a labor of love. The juice container is a bit small and can only hold two or three cups of juice. This is fine for an early morning beverage, but creating enough for a barbeque or a picnic will mean a lot of shifting the cup out, pouring it elsewhere, and putting it back in. The plastic on the feeding tube will also stain over time, particularly if you use it with a lot of greens.

The Final Word

For the price, you are getting a prime product. There are some issues with its design and takes some effort to maintain. However, its functions are crisp, powerful, and efficient. It extracts juice marvelously and keeps the taste, color, and preserves it over a few days. Let us not forget it is far more than a juicer. The J8006 is extremely powerful and useful. Despite the minor headaches, this product is completely worth the high price tag. This is best for the hard core juicer/blender that wants to experiment with as many foods and flavors as possible.