We started juicing about a year ago. My husband had researched juicers, and although we knew masticating juicers were supposed to be better, we weren't ready to jump into that price point. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone straight to a machine like this one. It's much quieter, and faster/easier to clean. The footprint is about the same, but the base can sit back along the counter, whereas our vertical centrifugal juicer needs to be towards the front to clear the top cupboards. The base is pretty much the size and shape of a toaster. I like that this model has the metal screens and thicker plastic cones. There's a lot less surface area to clean than our old juicer, and no sharp edges to watch out for. With the centrifugal design, we'd have chunks of apple or carrot get shot into the waste bin, and lots of stuff sprayed along the top of the outgoing chute. It also sometimes escaped through the pieces of the juicer, and sprayed the walls. It didn't feel like we were getting the most out of the fruits and vegetables, and I was getting tired of cleaning the wall. I also didn't like that much noise first thing in the morning. My husband's favorite juice has kale in it (also celery, apple, ginger, and cucumber). We made his juice this morning, and got 150% of what we usually get. I don't like any pulp in my orange juice, and carefully read reviews about pulp. I've made several fruit juices already, with things like strawberries, grapes, pear, apple, peaches, and grapefruit. I haven't had any issue with pulp. The strawberries were noticeably creamier, in a good way, almost like a fruit smoothie. I felt like I was getting more of the fruit. The grapefruit shavings looked like coleslaw when they came out of the machine. We've been very impressed with the dryness of the pulp. The screen mesh is fine enough that there isn't anything I would call pulp in the juice. There's an extra mesh strainer in the box, but I haven't even used it yet. There's a lot less surface area that touches the food, so a lot less to clean. I don't own a blender or a food processor because I don't like cleaning appliances, but don't mind cleaning this juicer. One of the reviews said that if this one is too much for someone to clean, they probably shouldn't juice, and that may be true (though I'd hate for someone not to juice). Much less screen, much less surface area, and no sharp parts. In our other juicer, not only were there sharp teeth, but the large plastic top part was bulky and hard to rotate around in the sink to clean, plus the plastic triangle that guides the pusher is pointy and was always scraping me. Throw everything into soapy water right away, and it's pretty painless. We also used to use plastic produce bags for the outbin in our old juicer, but I find I don't need them with this new one, since there's a little pile of much drier pulp. I got this model instead of the next version because of the detachable funnel, longer pusher stick, and more durable plastic of the juice/pulp bins. Those were the things that stuck out to me when I compared the reviews. I considered a vertical masticating juicer, but read lots of reviews about the pulp chute clogging, the plastic filter cracking, and too much pulp in the juice. We haven't had those issues with this machine. The vertical models have larger feed chutes, but I don't mind making a few extra slices. It's somewhat relaxing and meditative. It's not that much different than our old juicer, which was supposed to be able to do large things, but required small bits because if a flat surface hit the bottom of the spinning basket, it would just stay there. Rather than cubing the apple for the old machine, I slice it into longer slices for this machine. Our old machine had sharp teeth that could hurt you, but could also get dull. That's not an issue with this machine. All in all, we are extremely happy with this juicer, and heartily recommend it.
