Omega Juicer Reviews

After completing what felt like a mountain of research on vertical masticating juicers, I have determined the Omega VRT350 Dual-Stage Juicer to be a rather average vertical masticating juicer in terms of function, but above average in quality.

The popularity of this juicer is evident by its sales as well as the positive, enthusiastic reviews consumers have given to it. I found that it doesn’t seem to offer much more than a horizontal masticating juicer; it appears to be rather comparable in terms of functionality. Interestingly, although it doesn’t offer some of the optional conveniences I have seen in other masticating juicers, it reigns as one of the most popular masticating juicers on today’s market.

In this article, I will review the specifications of the Omega VRT350 as well as its consumer feedback. My goal is to help you not only to understand why this juicer is so popular, but also to decide whether or not it’s the right juicer for you.

Masticating Advantages and Disadvantages

Like most masticating juicers, the Omega VRT350 has certain advantages and disadvantages when compared with a centrifugal juicer. On the side of advantages sits its slow speed settings. Since masticating juicers work by crushing and squeezing the juice from fruits and vegetables instead of bleeding it out like centrifugal juicers, they are able to work slower (at a lower RPM). Working this slowly keeps temperatures down and is believed to protect the enzymes in the food, making it much more nutritious.

Like other masticating juicers, this Omega is quiet and easily attacks the difficult task of breaking down leafy green vegetables. Also, it is able to create nut butters, salsas, sauces, and sorbets by running food through only the first step in the dual-stage process. Unlike some dual-stage masticating juicers, however, this one is unable to create pastas.

On the side of disadvantages lies the fact that, like all other masticating juicers, this one works rather slowly. The speed of a masticating juicer cannot and will probably never compare to that of a centrifugal juicer. This is partially because the process of squeezing juice from fruit and vegetables takes longer than the centrifugal slicing and dicing method. It is also because masticating juicers require you to cut your foods into small pieces before inserting them. If speed is a concern for you, you shouldn’t be looking into purchasing this or any other masticating juicer.

Two Major Advantages

Despite not having the pasta-making advantage of many other masticating juicers, the VRT350 takes a slight step ahead of the rest in that it is one of very few masticating juicers on the market which feature a reverse option. If food gets clogged and the juicer jams up, simply flick the switch into the reverse position and watch the juicer work its way out of that jam. Of course, no one can guarantee that this will work every time. For it to work best, you should stop what you are doing and switch it into reverse at the first sign of a problem, not after it completely jams and locks itself into place.

Another major advantage this juicer shares with other vertical masticating juicers is its small footprint. Although much taller than a horizontal masticating juicer, this one will still fit easily beneath most upper cabinets and will take up much less space on your countertop or in you cupboard.

Cleans Like A Dream

Another major advantage worth mentioning is this juicer’s self-cleaning ability. Although the entire unit can be disassembled for a quick hand wash, you can also quickly run one or two cycles of water through to rinse it out. This is a wonderful advantage of most vertical masticating juicers.

Obviously, you will want to use this self-clean option while the juice remnants inside the juicer are still wet – it probably will not work that well if the juice has dried and adhered itself to the surfaces. That all being said, I would recommend hand washing your juicer every now and then to reduce the likelihood of mold building up in any areas where stuck-on food or wet residue has remained.

Two Spouts For Two Stages

In case you aren’t familiar with the way that dual-stage masticating juicers work, I will give you a quick crash course. After you place pieces of cut-up food into the juicer, it is minced to break it down. This mincing process will make it easier to squeeze juices from the food in the second stage of the process, but it will also create things such as salsa, sauce, nut butter, and sorbet.

By running food through only one of the two stages, you can alter the end-product. The Omega Dual-Stage juicer features two spouts, one for each stage of the process, specifically shaped to optimize the flow of that particular type of end-product from the spout and to your container.

Consumer Feedback

Consumer feedback for the Omega VRT350 has been very positive. In fact, I haven’t seen people quite this excited about a juicer in a long time. I literally laughed a few times just reading the excitement pouring out from people’s reviews of this machine.

The only real negative feedback I saw was related to this juicer’s apparent inability to properly digest celery. Apparently the fibrous strings of the celery stalks twisted themselves around inside the machine and caused it to jam. According to the company, however, this is a regular problem for all vertical masticating juicers. I suppose that one must choose which is most important – juicing celery or having a self-cleaning, small footprint juicer.

Concluding Remarks

Overall, I am impressed with this machine. Although it doesn’t appear to hold any advantages of other vertical masticating juicers, its superiority screams to me through consumer feedback. If you are in search of a juicer which will retain enzymes in your food, take up a small amount of space, sufficiently juice your leafy greens, and remain super easy to clean, this may be the one for you. Although, you have to also be prepared for the fact that juicing with any masticating juicer can take a lot longer than doing so with a centrifugal juicer, and that vertical masticating juicers do not handle celery very well.

The Omega J8006 Nutrition Center is one of my favorite masticating juicers I have researched in preparing this website. I have given my fair share of negative reviews and am usually quite judgmental of any shortcomings in my appliances, so being labeled as my favorite is a fairly large accomplishment for the Omega. Still, there is one major disappointing factor weighing against my own purchase of this juicer. As we work our way through this review, you will see all of the wonderful qualities of the Omega and why I believe them to be such wonderful qualities. You will also come to understand its one major downfall.

I am so excited to finally get to write about a masticating juicer! Of course, you are unaware of the order in which I have written these reviews, but suffice to say that I have written a few about centrifugal juicers before getting to write this particular masticating juicer review. I am excited because I am a fan of masticating juicers.

I am a little embarrassed to say that I do not currently own a juicer of any type, but please trust that I have used many people’s juicers in the past and that I have spent considerable time researching the topic. In the end, I have come to the conclusion that my favorite type of juicer is a masticating juicer and one of my favorite masticating juicers is the Omega J8006.

Slow and Steady

Like most masticating juicers, the Omega works at very low speeds, slowly grinding food through its inner auger system. Although this takes much longer than the process used by centrifugal juicers, it will ensure that you get the most juice possible out of your food and with little to no foam. Foam is a major concern people have about centrifugal juicers. It can be messy and takes time away from enjoying your juice as you try to remove it from the top of your glass. The slow speeds of any masticating juicer suppress foam development.

This slower process also keeps your juice cool. Centrifugal juicers create heat as their blades spin at incredibly high rates. It is this heat which is suspected of destroying the nutrient-rich enzymes in foods. Thanks to the slower process utilized by the Omega, neither heat nor enzyme destruction will be of concern.

Extremely Useful

Masticating juicers have the ability to create not only juices, but also many other types of foods. Not a fan of the preservatives used in many baby foods and put off by the price of organic baby foods? Don’t worry – you can make your own baby food with this Omega juicer. Just take some of your baby’s favorite foods or some of your left overs, chop them into pieces, and watch this juicer do the rest.

Enjoy a nice cool treat on hot summer days? You are in luck – the Omega Nutrition Center easily creates an assortment of sorbet varieties. Soy milk and nut milk are also easy to make with this masticating juicer.

One of my favorite features is the special nozzles which can be attached to the spout of the Nutrition Center, allowing you to create pastas of different shapes and varieties.

Easy to Clean

Another great quality of this juicer is that it comes apart for easy cleaning. No more fiddling around with oversized cleaning brushes, trying to get them to fit into the tight spaces of your old juicer. You can simply click apart the pieces of this juicer, place the non-electrical components in the dishwasher, clean the exposed non-removable pieces, then click them all back together.

Consumer Feedback

Reviews from those who have purchased and used the Nutrition Center on a regular basis have been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I wasn’t able to find any major complaints about this juicer’s ability to perform its job correctly without fail. Everything breaks down over time and use, however; invincible electronics simply do not exist – at least not yet. The only major complaint I was able to find about the Omega was that when parts break or wear down over time, consumers have had incredible difficulty locating replacement parts.

This may seem like a small problem and you may think, “Well, this juicer works well and is capable of some pretty cool things. Who cares if it’s hard to get a hold of the company?”. However, everything breaks down over time, and purchasing replacement parts is much more cost-friendly than purchasing an entirely new juicer.

Concluding Remarks

Although this masticating juicer is much more expensive than its centrifugal counterparts, I believe it makes up for that difference in price with the simple fact that it creates much less food waste. In essence, it eventually pays for itself since you will not need to buy as much food to create the exact same amount of juice. Above and beyond, it places itself ahead of even many other masticating juicers in that it can easily create many other types of food thanks to its special nozzle attachments.