Whenever you read masticating juicer reviews, it is important to pay attention to whether the machine is a horizontal or vertical style unit. As long as there are pictures, this is pretty easy to tell, one is tall and narrow while the other is shorter and wider. As I’m sure you can tell, the former is the vertical and the latter is the horizontal machine.
Other than they way they look, what are their differences? By the time you have finished this article, you’ll be clear upon how these devices differ technically as well as their differences in use. In an effort to be specific, I’m going to be referring to two particular models, the vertical Omega VRT350HD and the horizontal Omega J8006.
First of all, let’s look at how masticating juicers, in general work. The basic operation is that fruit and vegetables are fed into the machine. In our imaginary example, let’s think of a carrot. It is fed down into the machine and when it meets the auger, a bit is chopped off and taken into the juicer. The auger forces the bit of carrot into a smaller and smaller space so the piece of carrot is crushed between the auger and the juicing screen. This causes the liquid gold to escape through the juicing screen and the dried pulp is then ejected from the juicer. This process effectively separates the juice from the pulp.
The auger on these Omega juicers rotates at 80 RPM. This is a fairly low speed and guarantees a high quality juice. The reason for this is that the low speeds do not promote oxidation (forcing oxygen into the juice).
Vertical Masticating Juicers
These are the newer design that came onto the market in 2008. The Omega VRT350HD makes juice quicker than its horizontal brother, the J8006. This might seem strange considering they work at the same speed. However, the reason for the speed differential is that the VRT350HD has a larger auger. So each rotation chops off a larger piece of the carrot.
Being able to make juices more quickly is a definite plus of this style of machine. As you may realize, I own both. Although I still haven’t decided which one I like best. Perhaps for juicing, I would go for the Omega VRT350HD because of its superior overall speed. However, the Omega J8006 does have its own set of advantages which we shall now turn to.
Horizontal Masticating Juicers
The Omega J8006 is more than just a juicer, it is a Nutrition Center. Of course, it is great at making fruit and vegetable juices. One juicing area where it perhaps outshines its vertical brother is in making green juices from leafy greens like kale and spinach.
Other non-juicing functions that it has include being able to homogenize foods. This makes it great for making home made peanut butter, salsa, baby foods and also frozen desserts. So while it might be a bit slower at making juices, the fact that we can do so much more with this type of “juicer” makes it an attractive option.
Which is best? This really depends upon what you want to do with your juicer. I am afraid this is something only you can decide.