The Black and Decker Fruit and Vegetable Extractor makes some very large promises. It claims to be able to extract juice from both fruits and vegetables with ease and to make your juicing experience effortless. As you will see in the coming review, the Black and Decker JE2200B isn’t quite what it claims to be, but is still rather impressive for its competitively low price.
Is 400-Watts Enough Power?
In the world of juicers, 400-watt motors are usually featured only on lower end juicers designed for extracting fluids from soft foods such as berries and tomatoes. 400-watt motors are not very strong and can quickly overheat when put to large tasks. Breaking down hard foods such as carrots is a large task for any juicer and is best handled by one with a motor of at least 700 watts.
A 400-watt motor may be able to handle large tasks if it is used in a masticating juicer which breaks food down slowly by grinding it between gears. Unfortunately, this Black and Decker juicer is not a masticating juicer; it is a centrifugal juicer. As a centrifugal juicer, it relies on high speed blades to break down food. Considerable power is required to keep the blades moving at such high speeds when they are faced with the challenge of breaking down hard foods. I would be seriously concerned that this juicer’s 400-watt motor would quickly overheat if you were to try to use it for breaking down carrots or other hard foods.
Not Very Time Efficient
The Black and Decker JE2200B pulp extractor cup is medium-sized when compared with those of other centrifugal juicers. Although this is better than a small cup, it is obviously not as good as a large cup. The larger the pulp cup, the fewer times you will have to stop the juicing process to empty it. I wonder, though, if a large pulp cup would be beneficial to this juicer. I doubt that its 400-watt motor could run long enough to fill a large pulp cup without overheating.
The small-mouthed feeding tube also slows down your juicing process. Whereas many other centrifugal juicers feature mouths as wide as 3 inches, this Black and Decker’s narrow feeding tube means that you cannot simply drop an entire apple or orange inside. You will need to spend some time prepping your food before beginning to juice it.
Convenience Features
The only major convenience features I was able to find for this particular juicer were its external pulp extractor cup and its specially designed juice cup. Although I would prefer the pulp extractor cup to be larger, the very fact that it is external and easy-to-remove is a bonus feature.
The specially designed juice cup was made with an easy-pour spout to prevent spills and drips. It also features measurement lines so that you no longer need to play the guessing game when it comes to making specific amounts of one type of juice or another.
Consumer Concerns
I was very surprised to find that, despite its low price and low-wattage motor, the Black and Decker Fruit and Vegetable Juice Extractor has received very few negative consumer reviews. Of those I could find, the most common complaint was that the pulp left behind from the juicing process is often wet. However, wet pulp is a regular complaint for centrifugal juicers, especially when it comes to hard foods. Centrifugal juicers simply are not made to break down hard foods as well as soft foods.
Concluding Remarks
If you are looking for a very low-cost juicer, do not have high expectations, and do not plan to use your juicer to create large batches of juice, the Black and Decker JE2200B may satisfy your needs. It is perfectly designed to create berry and citrus juices. I would not, however, recommend this product to anyone who is hoping to make apple juice, carrot juice, or any other type of juice which involves processing hard foods. The 400-watt motor is not strong enough to handle these types of foods and the centrifugal design of this juicer is likely to leave most of their juice behind.
