Review: Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer: Classic

Several times a week there is an infomercial on television promoting Jack LaLanne's line of power juicers. These juicers are said to transform fresh vegetables and fruit into juice in just seconds. During the show, LaLanne and his wife Elaine join other celebrities to discuss the benefits of juicing and to demonstrate the operation of LaLanne's juicers.

One day while watching the show, my husband and I decided that we might want to give the juicer a try. We work very hard to get in our nine servings of fruits and vegetables as recommended by the Office of Food and Drug Administration, but knew we were falling short of the goal. Thus, we thought the juicer might help us increase our intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

As with all infomercials, several claims were made representing the Jack LaLanne juicer as one of the best, if not the best juicer on the market. We were most impressed that the chute could take most fruits and vegetables without us having to cut or slice them. Claims were also made concerning easy clean up and ease of use. Are these claims true and does the infomercial accurately portray the juicers?

Whisper Quiet Operation - The Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Classic is very quiet. Unless you are close up on the juicer, one would not even realize it was on.

Dishwasher Safe - Parts for the Jack LaLanne juicer are dishwasher safe; nonetheless, one has to clean the parts quite a bit before they are dishwasher ready. That said, I have found it just as easy to wash the parts by hand.

30% More Juice Than Other Juicers - This statement is also very true. I'd used a store bought juicer before but had given up on juicing because I'd have to use so many fruits and vegetables just to get a glass of juice. I was surprised at the amount of juice the Jack LaLanne juicer produced.

Drop In Whole Fruits/Vegetables With No Chopping Or Slicing - This statement is only partially true. Many produce have to be cut in order to fit them into the chute. Sure, you can get a small apple in the chute, but a larger apple will have to be cut. This is the same for larger tomatoes, green peppers, etc.

Clean Up Is A Snap - The first time I used the juicer, some pulp and several seeds escaped the chute and hit the walls. There was also a problem with some of the pulp not going into the collector. After reading some juicing sites and blogs, I discovered that lining the pulp collector with a plastic bag aids in clean up. Additionally, I put a plastic bag over the pulp guard to catch any pulp or seeds that might come out somewhat violently from the guard. This has helped considerably with the mess but at times pulp and seeds will still shoot up from the chute when putting in other produce. Therefore, clean up is far from a snap. Also, after using the juicer, it has to be taken apart before cleaning. If you've used a plastic bag, the bag can just be tied up and thrown away and the pulp collector rinsed out. Next, the pulp guard needs to be removed. There can be quite a bit of residue and pulp remaining in the guard. I usually use another plastic bag to clean out the pulp guard before attempting to wash it. Next the receptacle, blade and filter have to be removed and cleaned. The filter can also be quite a challenge to clean.

Ease of Use - The juicer comes disassembled and has to be put together. This is however a very simple process. The manual and instructions are very easy to follow. Follow the instructions again to disassemble for clean up.

Overall we've been extremely pleased with this product. Every morning we begin our day with a glass of fresh fruit/vegetable juice. All in all it takes me about twenty minutes to clean the fruit/vegetables, juice them and then clean up.