Comparing Low RPM Juicers - Oscar, Omega 8001, Green Power and Green Life

One of the most frequently asked questions we have been receiving lately, is which is better, the champion, omega 8001, Samson, Green Star or green power juicers? This article will shed some light on the newest style juicer to hit the market- the single auger juicer. I will also try to compare this juicer to the other low rpm juicers that we offer. If you are not familiar with the types of juicers available on the market, you might want to read the article, The Best Juicer, before reading this article. This article deals with the lower rpm machines, which generally produce a higher quality juice (nutrients) than some of the juicers with a higher RPM. The higher quality juice does come at a cost.. Read on to learn more..

The champion juicer has been around for 25+ years. Its a very good machine, and very durable. They are practically built like tanks, with their steel cased motor. While the juicer does work at a much higher RPM than the other two juicers we will be discussing, this is an advantage when performing certain tasks, that we will mention more about below. The champion does have only a few parts to clean, so we rate it as "easy" to clean for the sake of this comparison. While the champion will not juice wheatgrass, it does do a decent job on most vegetables, except leafy greens and celery- the strings get caught around the cutting blade, and leafy greens seem to come out in big pieces.. On the flip side, it probably juices fruits better than the other two juicers mentioned in this article. For best results, SLOW down with the champion. You will need to constantly use the PUSHER to push the food into the machine, if you don't, the food will come back up at you up the spout. Push food in at a slow rate, and let the juicer take its time. Pushing too much food in, too rapidly will cause it to back up, and kick out the pulp faster, resulting in less yield. Due to the higher RPM and friction caused by the champion, we feel this is the lowest quality juice produced of the three machines in this article.

Basically, the Samson and the Lequip Omni are horizontal single auger juicers are very similiar units in design. The Lequip Omni includes the Cold Press Oil Press attachment that will allow you to make your own flax oil and other seed oils. The Samson does offer a optional (about $100) oil press. Currently the Samson with a 10yr/5yr warranty and the Lequip Omni with a 10 year warranty. When juicing with these machine, it is very important to pre-cut your produce into small pieces for best results. We also recommend alternating soft and hard produce when feeding the juicer. (for example, if you are juicing apples and carrots, cut them up into "cubes", and feed some apple, then some carrot, then some apple, then some carrot, until its all gone). We feel this juicer is the easiest to clean of the juicers in this comparison. A special brush is included to assist cleaning of the screen, which is the most difficult part to clean. This machine produces the pulpiest juice of all the juicers mentioned in this article, and its advised to use the strainer that comes with the machine. (especially when juicing hard veggies, such as carrots and fruits). The samson is an "upgraded" model over that of the visor. It features some redesigned parts, such as the auger and juicing nozzles, it also has an improved juicing screen as well as a user replaceable fuse located in the bottom of the unit. The lequip visor is the newest singler auger juicer to be sold on the market. The visor has an offset feed chute (which assists in "self feeding" of produce into the machine) as well as the juicing screen has smaller holes than the Samson. The Newest style Single Auger is the Solo Star, Solo Star II, and Omega 8003/Omega 8005 has the same single auger design, but has dual juicing screens, for "better yield" according to the manufacturer, and in our tests, that looks to be accurate. The Omega 8003 is the same as the Omega 8005 except for the color. The 8003 is white, and the 8005 has a chrome look. Of the dual stage juicers, the Omega 8003/Omega 8005 is easier to clean. The new Omega 8006 Juicer is identical to the Omega 8005 and the Omega 8004 is idendical to the Omega 8003 Juicer except it has a new 8x stronger auger and 15 year warranty.

The all-new vertical single augers are new on the market. They take the horizonal single auger design, and make it vertical, so the machine has a smaller foot-print on the countertop. It also include the 8x harder auger, and a innovative automatic cleaning system, which you can think of windshield wipers for the juicing screen to keep it clean while you are juicing. This is our favorite style juicer yet. It produces a higher yield on most produce items than the horizontal single auger. One negative is that there is no blank plate included, so you can not homogenize with this machine (see comments below). The two brands are The Hurom Slow Juicer and Omega Vert VRT330, which are virtually identical, except the hurom has a built-in-handle and the Omega Vert does not. Both have a 10 year warranty, and are made in the same factory.

As you may know the Green Star is the "new and improved" model of the Green Power juicer. This juicer is more "forgiving" when juicing a wider variety of produce than the single auger unit above. Its housing has been reinforced, and there is a 5 year warranty on the machine instead of 2 years. For this reason, we recommend the Green Star over the green power juicer. This juicer has the most parts to clean of the juicers in this comparison. (click here to see a comparison of the Green Star and green power)

Before I begin, one of the nice things about all these units mentioned in this article (that is not applicable to the centrifugal ejection or centrifugal machines) is that once the pulp comes out of the machine, you can take it and run it back through the machine to extract further juice, (if the pulp is still wet). This feature results in higher yields..

Please see the table below comparing some of the basic features of these juicers:

* Please note: The Hurom Juicer and the Omega VERT VRT330 does not include a "blank" plate that is ment to be used to make nut butters, baby foods and frozen sorbets. We have used the small hole screen to successfully perform these functions. That being said, if you do this, do this at your own risk. The warranty may not be valid if you do something the juicer was not intended to do.

Now we will discuss how each of the machine handles certain types of produce. Please note: the results in this article, are our results, and your results may vary depends on the methods you use when juicing, and the quality of your produce (i.e.: old produce, soft, hard, etc.).

When juicing Carrots:
The Green Star and the Champion, in our opinion seemed to juice carrots the best. When juicing carrots in the Omega 8003/8005/8006,Samson juicers and Lequip Omni, we felt that we didn't get a whole lot of juice, and that the screen seemed to clog up fairly quickly. We had to stop the machine to clean the screen several times when we juiced 5 pounds of carrots. When juicing carrots with the Solo Star, it produced more juice than the other single auger juicers we have tested. Summary: We recommend the Green Star or Champion if you want to juice mostly carrots.. If you want to juice carrots with a single auger, the Solo Star would be our choice.

When juicing Celery:
The Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Omni , Solo Star and the Green Star juiced celery the best. When juicing celery with the Champion juicer, the long strings in the celery stalk tend to get wrapped around the high speed blade. The Omega 8001/Samson/Lequip Visor, Solo Star and the Green Star just crush the celery without any problems. Summary: We recommend the Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Omni or Green Star if you want to juice celery.

When juicing wheatgrass:
The Solo Star, Samson, Omega 8003/8005/8006 and Lequip Omni will juice wheatgrass about as well as a dedicated wheatgrass juicer (after all the design is almost the same). The Green Star, while it will juice wheatgrass, it does tend to create some excess foam when juicing wheatgrass. The Champion will not effectively juice wheatgrass in sufficient quantity, and we do NOT recommend the champion for juicing wheatgrass. Summary: We recommend the Solo Star, Omega 8003/8005/8006, Samson or Lequip Omni if you want top quality and yield of wheatgrass juice. If you want to juice wheatgrass the Green Star juicer will juice wheatgrass, as most other fruit and vegetable juicers will not.

When juicing leafy greens:
The Solo Star, Omega 8003/8005/8006, Samson Lequip Omni, and Green Star juicers will juice leafy greens about the same. The champion is not as effective when juicing leafy greens.
Summary: We recommend the Green Star, Solo Star, Samson, Omega 8003/8005 or Lequip Omni for juicing leafy greens.

When juicing fruits:
Due to the consistency of fruits, the Green Star, Solo Star, Omega 8003/8005/8006, Lequip Visor and Samson can "back" up when juicing softer fruits, since hard fiber is needed to push the pulp through the juicer.. Therefore, if you want to juice mostly fruits, the Champion would be a better choice. In our tests, The Green Star, Solo Star and Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Omni all juiced watermelon (with rind and seeds), fine. The Green Star also juiced hard Fuji apples with no problems. The Omega 8001/Samson/Lequip Visor juiced about 5 cups of tangerine juice without incident (I peeled the tangerines first).. If I want to make more, I would have to stop and clean the screen, since it was clogged, and in the end, it produced a fairly pulpy juice, due to the clogged screen.. If you want to make a fruit/veggie combo juice, such as carrot, spinach, and apple, be sure to feed a few pieces of apple, then some carrot, then some spinach, and then start over with the apple.. (alternate them for best results). As a side note, I reccomend blending fruits instead of juicing them, or just enjoying them whole!.
Summary: We recommend the Champion if you want to juice mostly fruits. The Green Star, Solo Star and Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Omni will juice fruits to some extent, but don't expect a whole lot when juicing them alone. If doing combo drinks, remember to alternate fruits and vegetables.

When juicing Combo drinks (i.e.: carrot, apple, spinach, parsley juice)
All the juicers performed fairly well when juicing a combo drink. Remember to alternate the produce as it is being fed into the machine. (feed some apple, then carrot, spinach, then parsley, then apple, carrot, spinach, parsley until it has all been juiced). Alternating will produce the best results.
Summary: All four juicers performed fairly well on this combination.

When juicing sugar cane:
To the best of my knowledge no other company at this time has tested which "household" juicer will juice sugar cane. There are dedicated sugar cane juicers that cost thousands of dollars that are designed to juicer sugar cane on a commercial level. We have successfully juiced sugar cane in the Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Omni. Be sure to slice off the hard outer husk, and slice them into long, thin strips. I would not recommend the Omega 8003/8005/8006/Samson/Lequip Visor for solely juicing sugar cane (as in commercial use), but for occasional, household use, it should be fine. Its very important to REMOVE the juicing nozzle otherwise it will cause excess stress on the machine. The champion and Green Star will not effectively juice sugar cane. Summary: We recommend the Omega 8003/8005/8006, Lequip Omni or Samson for occasional juicing of sugar cane. The other juicers will just not do it.

When making frozen fruit sorbets:
One of my favorite "treats" to make is to make frozen fruit sorbets with these juicers. Of the juicers we offer, only the juicers listed in this comparison will make frozen fruit sorbets. Basically you take frozen fruits, and feed them through the juicer. Instead of assembling the juicer with the "juicing screen", you put in a "blank plate" or "solid plate" in its place. Instead of juicing, the fruit is pulverized into a very fine texture, and comes out the consistency of "frozen yogurt" out of the machine at a frozen yogurt shop. But remember this is 100% fruit, with NO additives, and 100% delicious.. I generally will freeze peeled RIPE bananas, and have them ready to homogenize. Strawberries, pineapple, mango, raspberries and blueberries, cantaloupe are some of my other favorites to homogenize. All the machines make frozen fruit sorbets to a very nice and "creamy" consistency.
Summary: You can't go wrong with any of the three machines on this one. They all do fine. The Solo Star, Omega 8003/8005/8006, Lequip Omni and Samson seem to get the sorbets a bit more "fine" then the champion or Green Star.. The champion seems to "fluff" them up since it runs at a higher rpm and introduces more air into the sorbet..

When making nut butters:
While all of these machines say they will make "nut butters", people instantly think of "creamy" peanut butter purchased from the store. Well I don't want to let you down, but that isn't the consistency that the machines produce... They produce a very chunky peanut butter.. When using ROASTED nuts... and the champion does it better than the other two, due to the higher RPM. I have tried making RAW almond butter in the Champion- it turned out fairly well.. In the Solo Star, Samson/Lequip Omni/Omega 8003/8005/8006 and in the Green Star, it basically turned the almonds into powder.. not quite a butter.. Why did that happen? Well most RAW nuts do not have a very high percentage of OIL contained within them. So ROASTED nuts work best, if that's what you are into.. If making raw nut butter, you may have to add some oil to get it to form a "butter" consistency, but don't expect the "store bought consistency"- they use commercial high powered machines to make that stuff..
Summary: The champion, with its higher RPM, and friction causing heat, seemed to produce the smoothest almond butter in our tests, followed by the Solo Star, Samson, Lequip Omni and Omega 8003/8005/8006 juicer..

Summary:
In summary, all of these units are great juicers, as long as you purchase the juicer to MEET your needs. (I wouldn't recommend a Green Star, Solo Star, omega 8003/8005/8006/Lequip Omni/Samson juicer if you want to juice 80% fruit, for example).. On the other hand, if you want to juice 80% leafy greens, I would without reservation recommend the Solo Star, Omega 8003/8005/8006/Lequip Visor/Samson or Green Star Juicer.. depending on the secondary factors that may be important to you.

Depending on your needs, we would make the following recommendations:
The best juicer is one that meets your budget, and suits your individual needs. Every person has different needs and uses for the juicer they will purchase. Based on the following factors, we make the following suggestions:

Factor	Purchase Suggestion
Price	Omega 8003 or Champion (least expensive)
Want to juice mostly wheatgrass	Solo Star, Lequip Omni, Samson or Omega 8003/Omega 8004/Omega 8005/Omega 8006 juices wheatgrass best of these units.
Want to juice mostly leafy greens	Solo Star, Lequip Omni, Samson, Omega 8003, Omega 8004, Omega 8005, Omega 8006 or Green Star juices leafy greens the better than the champion.
Wants to juice mostly fruit	Of these three juicers, the champion juices fruit the best, but you might want to consider a centrifugal or centrifugal ejection style machines.. Read this article about juicing fruit
Want to juice a wide variety of vegetables and fruits	The Green Star design offers greater flexibility when juicing fruits.
Want the most nutrients in the juice	Green Star utilizes Bioceramic and magnetic technologies which help pull out more nutrients from produce.
Want to store juice for the longest period of time.	Green Star manufacturer advertises can store juice up to 72 hours with minimal nutrient loss
Style	Omega 8003, 8005, 8006, Lequip Omni or Green Star (If you like the sleek look) Samson or Champion (for a more square, classic look)
Ease of Cleaning	The Omega 8003, Omega 8004, Omega 8005 , Omega 8006 has the least parts to clean.
Best for Traveling	The Omega 8003 has a built in folding handle, and is the most compact.
Duration of Warranty	Omega 8004 and Omega 8006 has the longest warranty of 15 years on the whole unit.