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Omega VSJ843QS Juicer Model Notes

Omega VSJ843 juicers are available in 5 different configurations. For this review, we purchased and tested the Omega VSJ843QS. It has a square shape and is silver in color. There are two other square shape VSJ juicers available – the red VSJ843QR and the white VSJ843QW. In addition, there are also two round (these have a round instead of a square shape) VSJ juicers available – the silver VSJ843RS and the red VSJ843RR.

Please note that all five of these juicers are identical except for the shape and color of their bodies. Everything else about them is the same. They have the same motor, auger, strainer, juicing bowl, etc. Thus, all of the review below applies not only to the VSJ843QS (the actual model that we tested), but also to each of the other four juicers we just mentioned. The table below summarizes the model notes described above.

Model Name	Color	Shape
VSJ843QS	silver	square
VSJ843QR	red	square
VSJ843QW	white	square
VSJ843RS	silver	round
VSJ843RR	red	round

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Omega VSJ843QS Juicer Assembly

The Omega VSJ (843QS, QR, QW, RS, RR) is not a very versatile machine. Unlike most other masticating juicers we tested, which can not only be used as juicers but can also be used as homogenizers, the VSJ can only be used as a juicer. As such, we will only discuss the parts necessary for juicing below.

Juicing – Parts List

1. food pusher
2. feeding chute assembly
3. juicing bowl
4. juice cap
5. spinning brush
6. strainer
7. auger
8. main body
9. juice container
10. pulp container

The auger is on the left, the juicing bowl is on the right, and the strainer (top) and spinning brush (bottom) are in the middle.

Notes

The parts list above is, for the most part, fairly standard for a vertical masticating juicer. The only part of note is the juice cap, which is a part not included on only two of the vertical masticating juicers we tested for review – the Breville BJS600XL and the Omega VRT350. All other juicers of this type that we tested do include a juice cap, including the VSJ843QS.

Extra Removable Parts

The parts we list below are silicone parts that fit into the larger plastic and metal parts we listed above. These silicone parts do not absolutely have to be removed for cleaning and therefore they do not absolutely have to be assembled to prepare the juicer for juicing. Hence, we put them in a separate list below. Despite their small size, these parts have a large role to play in the overall functionality of the Omega juicer. We discuss each of these parts in detail further below.

1. Silicone blades (silicone brush)
2. Silicone pulp pressure plug (silicone pulp stopper)
3. Sealing ring (bowl packing)
4. Juice cap seal (juice cap packing)

Silicone Blades

An important part of the juicing process is moving the juice that is pushed by the auger through the juicing strainer down through the juice outlet at the bottom of the juicing bowl. The part that facilitates this movement of juice is the spinning brush, which fits around the outside of the juicing strainer.

When juice is strained through the juicing strainer not all of it falls straight to the bottom of the juicing bowl. The produce being pushed through the juicing strainer is a violent process and much of the juice that comes through the other side of the strainer squirts out onto the clear side wall of the juicing bowl. This is especially true for fruits and vegetables high in water content such as oranges, grapes, and cucumbers. The spinning brush moves the juice that has squirted onto the side wall of the juicing bowl much the same way that your car wipes away rain that’s fallen on the windshield. Attached to the spinning brush are four silicone blades that are the Omega’s very own custom made windshield wipers. These silicone blades constantly and continuously wipe the juicing bowl’s plastic walls clean of juice and move that juice to the bottom of the bowl.

From there they move the juice in a circular pattern around the outside perimeter of the bottom of the juicing bowl. Eventually, the juice comes to the juice outlet at the front of the juicer where it exits out of the juicer. In this way the spinning brush is the mechanism by which juice is pushed out of the juicer. Without it, juice would accumulate at the bottom of the juicing bowl even up to the bottom of the strainer, which would severely hamper the juicer’s efficiency. In order to move this accumulated juice out of the juicing bowl you would have to turn the juicer off, remove the juicing bowl, and turn it on its side to pour out the juice.

Again, the Omega VSJ843 has a grand total of 4 silicone blades on its spinning brush which are all removable if you want to clean the juicer as thoroughly as possible. That being said, we didn’t remove them even one time during testing as we didn’t find it necessary to do so. We found that we could clean them just as well while they were still attached to the spinning brush.

Silicone Pulp Pressure Plug

The Omega juicer’s pulp pressure plug is attached to the bottom of the juicing bowl. One end of the plug is attached to the juicing bowl with a screw while the other end plugs into and out of the juicing bowl’s pulp outlet.

The pulp outlet is where pulp exits the juicer during the juicing process. After you finish juicing, pulp will likely have accumulated within the same outlet. In order to remove that pulp you need to push or pull it out of the outlet. Think about removing a mushy material such as pulp from a cylinder. If the cylinder was closed on one end you would need to pull the material out to clean it. If the cylinder had both ends open you would be able to push the material out, a much easier process. The same concept applies to the juicer’s pulp outlet. If the juicer didn’t have a pulp pressure plug it would need to permanently close off one end of the pulp outlet. Cleaning the outlet would be much more difficult as you would need to pull the pulp out using a specialized tool that the manufacturer would have to include with the juicer. Such a tool would have to not only be made to be able to pull a material like pulp out of the pulp outlet but it would also have to have the proper dimensions to be able to fit into the pulp outlet.

To make things easier vertical masticating juicers use a pulp pressure plug instead.  By unplugging the plug from the back of the pulp outlet all you need to do to clean it is push out the accumulated pulp with the handle of the included cleaning brush.

The plug itself is very easy to clean and you don’t have to unscrew it from the bottom of the juicing bowl to do so. We didn’t do so during our testing and we don’t recommend that you do it either. In fact, we think you can easily get away with never unscrewing the plug from the juicing bowl for the life of the juicer. The screw and the plug itself really don’t get very dirty to begin with as the only thing that comes into contact with the plug is dried pulp and the only thing that comes into contact with the bottom of the juicing bowl is the main body of the juicer.

Sealing Ring

Only one of the juicer’s parts fits directly onto the body of the juicer – the juicing bowl. There are concave notches on the bottom of the juicing bowl that fit onto convex clips on the top of the main body. Turning the juicing bowl clockwise onto these clips secures it in place. The juicing bowl has a large hole in its center through which the motor shaft extending from the top of the main body extends upward. The auger is fitted to the motor shaft which completely covers the hole. That being said, there’s still room for juice to leak out of the juicing bowl onto the main body. The sealing ring’s function is to prevent this leakage. It’s fitted inside the interior juicing bowl hole and around the motor shaft though it’s attached to the juicing bowl and not the motor shaft. So, every time you place the juicing bowl onto the main body it provides a water tight seal between them.

The sealing ring can very easily be removed from the juicing bowl although we never felt compelled to do so during testing.

Juice Cap Seal

The juice cap itself is composed of two separate parts – the hard black plastic part that gives the cap its form and the soft grey silicone seal that prevents liquid juice from leaking out of the juicing bowl when the juice cap is closed. The Omega VSJ843’s juice cap can very easily be removed from the juice spout. The juice cap seal can be removed from the cap just as easily. In practice, you’ll rarely want to remove the whole juice cap from the juicing bowl when cleaning but may want to remove juice cap seal every so often.

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Assembly Introduction

Assembly of the VSJ843 is much the same as it is for most other vertical masticating juicers we tested, with a few exceptions. We’ll cover those exceptions in detail as we take a close look at each step required for assembly below.

Markers and Guides

Vertical masticating juicers are more difficult to assemble than all other types of juicers except for twin gear juicers. When assembling any juicer there are quite a few parts that need to fit together in very precise ways for assembly to be completed successfully. What separates the difficulty of assembling a vertical masticating juicer from the difficulty of assembling a horizontal masticating or centrifugal juicer is the fact that when assembling the former (vertical masticating) parts that are fitted incorrectly can very easily appear to be fitted together correctly while when assembling the latter juicer types (horizontal masticating and centrifugal) parts that are fitted incorrectly either simply don’t fit together or actually obviously appear to be fitted incorrectly.

For example, on a vertical masticating juicer you may assemble many of its parts by placing them in what you believe to be their proper place and fitting them in what you believe to be a secure way, only to find out that they’re assembled incorrectly when the juicer starts (in which case the juicer will not operate correctly) or doesn’t start (most juicers have a built-in safety feature that will prevent the juicer from starting if all parts are not properly assembled) because of incorrect assembly. On a horizontal masticating juicer and especially on a centrifugal juicer, parts that don’t fit together correctly or are not properly secured actually look like it. It’s easy to see when you’ve made a mistake when assembling a horizontal masticating or centrifugal juicer. You may also be able to see when you’ve made a mistake assembling a vertical masticating juicer, but incorrect assembly with this juicer type is much less obvious and much more difficult to troubleshoot.

To mitigate this difficulty, vertical masticating juicer manufacturers have implemented certain markers and guides on many of the parts that are required for their assembly. Now, instead of placing the juicing strainer and spinning brush inside of the juicing bowl and assuming that its fitted properly and securely in place, you can confirm that the same is true by making sure that the large red dot on the top of the strainer is properly aligned with the top of the large red dot on the top edge of the juicing bowl (ironically, the VSJ doesn’t feature guides for these particular parts as most other juicers of this type do). Some manufacturers have implemented these guides better than others and quite often just how well they’re implemented can make the difference in saying one model is easier or more difficult to assemble than another. We’ll discuss the markers and guides implemented on the parts required for assembling the Omega VSJ843 juicer in more detail as we discuss each step required for assembly in more detail below.

Step 1 – Assembling Omega VSJ843QS juicer

The first step in assembling the VSJ for juicing is to secure the juicing bowl to the main body of the juicer. There are, unfortunately, no guides, labels, or other markers on the juicing bowl to help you complete this step correctly. What does help, however, is the overall design of the VSJ843Q (S,R,W) and to a lesser extent the VSJ843R (S,R).

Every vertical masticating juicer we tested has the juicing bowl fitted onto the main body with some part of the main body extending up past the side of the juicing bowl. With the Omega VSJ843R and especially the VSJ843Q, the part of the main body that extends past the side of the juicing bowl has much more of a surface area (is much larger) than that part of the main body that extends past the side of the juicing bowl on most other juicers of the same type that we tested. In this way the main body of the VSJ843Q engulfs or surrounds almost half of the outer wall of the juicing bowl when it’s properly secured in place. The body of the VSJ843R surrounds a little less and the main bodies of most other juicers of this type surround only a few inches of the outer wall of the juicing bowl.

And so with the VSJ843Q and the VSJ843R the main body itself is the guide or marker that is used to properly secure the juicing bowl in place. The juicing bowl has to be oriented so that the juice outlet and pulp outlet are not on the side on which the main body extends upwards past the side of the juicing bowl. Since that part that extends covers such a large surface area on the VSJ843, there are very few orientations in which the juicing bowl can be placed onto the main body incorrectly. With less orientations to choose from, it’s much easier to choose the correct orientation, and fit the juicing bowl to the main body correctly.

Step 2

The next step is to fit the juicing strainer inside the spinning brush. The spinning brush is just large enough of a diameter for the strainer to fit inside of it so the fit will be tight. Once again, there are no overt markers or guides to help you fit the two parts together correctly but the actual design of the parts does make assembly easier. Recall that the VSJ’s spinning brush has four silicone blades that extend vertically from the top ring of the spinning brush to the bottom ring of the spinning brush. The strainer consists of perforated metal pieces that are held in place by a plastic frame. There are four pieces of this plastic frame that extend vertically from the top ring of the juicing strainer to its bottom ring. In order to fit the juicing strainer inside the spinning brush correctly you’ll need to rotate both parts until the four silicone blades of the spinning brush are aligned with the four vertically oriented pieces of the strainer’s plastic frame. Once they are aligned firmly press the juicing strainer into the spinning brush. The strainer has to be pushed into the spinning brush far enough for the bottom of the strainer to extend almost a full inch past the bottom of the spinning brush.

The strainer needing to be perfectly aligned with the spinning brush for it to fit inside of it correctly is unique to the VSJ843. On almost every other vertical masticating juicer we tested, properly orientating both parts in this way is not a requirement for them to be able to fit into each other.

Step 3

The next step involves taking the two parts fitted into each other in step 2, and placing them together as one unit into the juicing bowl. Again, there are no markers or guides to help you. You will have to fit the strainer/spinning brush into the juicing bowl using trial and error. This is unique to the VSJ843 as every other vertical masticating juicer we tested had large matching red, orange, or white dots (depending on model) on both the top edge of the juicing strainer and the juicing bowl. With these juicers all you need to do is match the dots to secure the strainer and spinning brush in place. Aligning these markers also serves as a confirmation that this step of assembly was completed correctly. You won’t have any such help or confirmation with the VSJ843. You’ll need to rotate the parts back and forth until they click into place using trial and error alone.

Step 4

The fourth step requires that you place the auger inside the juicing bowl. Unique to the VSJ843 is the fact that its auger has wings that fit into grooves on the top edge of the spinning brush. Once again, in lieu of using overt markers and guides the manufacturer points you in the right direction with the juicer’s design dictating how parts should fit together. The auger is designed in such a way that it fits into the top ring of the spinning brush. This is how it turns the spinning brush. As the motor shaft rotates it rotates the auger and the auger in turn rotates the spinning brush. This is not a design choice common to this juicer type. Most other vertical masticating juicers have augers that do not come in direct contact with the juicer’s spinning brush. Instead, the bottom of the auger has teeth that fit into the teeth of a plastic gear that is permanently secured to the bottom of the juicing bowl. This gear’s teeth are in direct contact with ridges on the bottom of the spinning brush. As the auger turns it rotates the gear which rotates the spinning brush. Because the auger in this case doesn’t fit directly onto anything except the motor shaft, much more adjustment is needed in order to get it to fit securely in place than is the case when fitting the VSJ’s auger in place.

Step 5

The fifth and final step of assembling the juicer involves fitting the feeding chute assembly to the juicing bowl. To do so place the feeding chute assembly on top of the juicing bowl and turn it until it locks into place. This is the only step of assembly for which the manufacturer has implemented markers or guides. There is a bright orange arrow on the feeding chute assembly that should be aligned with a matching bright orange arrow on the top of the main body of the juicer. We commend the manufacturer using orange as the color for these arrows as they really stand out against the black plastic used for the top of the main body and the feeding chute assembly. In any case, note that the two arrows should not be aligned when first placing the feeding chute assembly over the juicing bowl. Instead, the arrow on the feeding chute assembly should first be a bit to the right of the arrow on the main body. Once the feeding chute assembly is turned clockwise to secure it in place you can be sure that it’s properly locked into place by checking that the two arrows are in alignment.

Step 6

This step isn’t required for juicer assembly per se but it is certainly a required step that should precede turning on the juicer and using it to juice. This extra step involves placing both the juice container and pulp container under the juice outlet and pulp outlet, respectively.

Omega VSJ843 Juicer’s Assembly Summary

Before we summarize what we discussed above and proceed to make any conclusions about how difficult it is to assemble the Omega VSJ843QS juicer, we first have to make a very important note. The way in which we went about assembling the VSJ – the steps involved for assembly that we outlined above – differs quite dramatically from the directions outlined in the juicer’s manual. The manual instructs you to assemble all parts inside the juicing bowl and to then take all of those parts collectively (the juicer calls these parts the “assembled juice bowl chamber”) and place them onto the main body of the juicer. Instead of starting with our step 1 the manual instructs users to start with our step 2 and so our steps 2 through 5 are the manual’s steps 1 through 4. Our step 1 is the manual’s step 5.

We described assembly in the order outlined above for one reason only – during testing, we found it much easier to do it by this method – our method – than by the method described in the juicer’s user manual. Assembly is made easier by following our method because the juicing bowl is firmly secured in place in the very first step of assembly. This makes subsequent steps much easier. Following the manual’s directions, you would have to fit the strainer/spinning brush into the juicing bowl, fit the auger into the juicing bowl, and fit the feeding chute to the juicing bowl with the juicing bowl sitting loose on your countertop or, alternatively, you could hold it up in the air while placing all the parts listed above inside of it. Either way, you would be using one hand to either hold the juicing bowl in place on the countertop or hold it in place in the air. You would be left with only one hand to fit the parts listed above in place. By following our directions (our method) you free up your second hand to help fit all of the same parts in place much more easily. The only step that’s made more difficult by assembling according to our method is step 1 – fitting the juicing bowl to the main body. But we already explained above how this step is made easy by the juicer’s design.

That all being said, assembling the Omega VSJ843, with regards to difficulty, is quite the mixed bag. On the one hand the VSJ lacks many of the markers and guides present on equivalent parts of other juicers of the same type. It is the only vertical masticating juicer that we tested that does not have markers and guides on top of the juicing bowl and juicing strainer to help the user fit those parts together correctly. On the other hand, many of the design choices Omega has implemented on the VSJ makes much of its assembly much more intuitive than it is for the VSJ’s competition. The way in which the shape of the juicer’s body almost forces you to fit the juicing bowl onto the main body in a certain way – the correct way – is a refreshing way to direct the user to assemble the juicing bowl and place it into the main body correctly. Similarly, the unique way in which the VSJ843’s auger drives its spinning brush and therefore needs to be fitted into the spinning brush’s matching sized grooves feels right and intuitive. This is a notable improvement over what is required to complete this step of assembly for most other vertical masticating juicers we tested – having to turn the auger back and forth and never really being absolutely sure that its properly seated until attempting to fit the feeding chute assembly to the top of the juicing bowl.

The bottom line – we give the Omega VSJ843QS juicer strong marks for being designed in such a way that makes much of assembly – steps 1 and 4 above – more intuitive than it is for most vertical masticating juicers on the market. However, we detract from its score in this category due to the problems outlined in steps 2 and 3, namely the fact that unlike every other juicer in the category special care is required to fit the juicing strainer into the spinning brush (step 2) and the juicing strainer and juicing bowl are not labeled for alignment and fitting (step 3).

Food Preparation for Omega VSJ843QS

Three factors influence how much food preparation is required for any particular slow juicer: (1) chute size, (2) juicer type, and (3) produce type. All three of these factors will affect (1) whether you need to cut the produce you plan on juicing at all and (2) if you do need to cut it, to what extent you need to cut it.

The Omega juicer VSJ843QS has a bean shaped feeding chute measuring 1.375 inches wide and 2.5 inches long. Most other masticating juicers we tested have the same shaped chute and most vertical masticating juicers we tested have close to the same size chute. Horizontal masticating juicers, for the most part, have smaller sized chutes that are just as wide (about 1.5 inches) but slightly shorter than the 2.5 inch long feed chutes commonly found on vertical masticating juicers. The two exceptions to these generalizations are the Kuvings B6000 and SKG wide chute juicers, which both have circular 3 inch wide feed chutes.

Juicer type influences food preparation requirements in the following way. Centrifugal juicers chop and process food with a fast spinning disc. When produce comes into contact with the disc at the speeds at which it rotates it doesn’t really matter what orientation the produce is in, what shape it is, or even really what size it is – the only requirement is that is smaller than the diameter of the disc itself. The rotating disc processes all types of produce the same. Masticating juicers, in general, have much more stringent requirements when it comes to the orientation, shape, and size of the produce that is fed into their feeding chutes. In the masticating juicer category, horizontal masticating juicers have even more stringent requirements than their vertical counterparts. These requirements exist because with this type of juicer, instead of a quickly rotating disc cutting and chopping everything that comes into contact with it, a slowly rotating auger crushes and grinds food in order to process it. When the food that is to be processed first comes into contact with an auger it needs to be properly orientated and the right size and shape so that the auger can catch it and pull it down into the juicer efficiently. The direction of the auger relative to the direction of the feed chute also makes a difference. The auger lying parallel the feeding chute in a vertical masticating juicer such as the VSJ makes this process easier while the auger lying perpendicular to the feeding chute in a horizontal masticating juicer makes the process much more challenging.

The final factors determining food preparation requirements are the properties and characteristics of the food itself. The pulp that is created when juicing celery, for example, largely consists of long fibrous strands. Such strands can wrap around the juicer’s auger which reduces overall juicer efficiency. In order to prevent this from happening it is necessary to cut celery into smaller pieces prior to juicing it. If celery didn’t partly transform into this type of material when juicing it, we wouldn’t need to cut it as celery stalks easily fit into even the smallest diameter feed chute.

Food Preparation Results

The table below shows (1) whether cutting was required at all and (2) if it was, how much cutting was required for each of the seven different fruits and vegetables we prepared for our juicing performance tests. The table also shows the specific and average time it took us to make each type of cut (in seconds).

Fruit/Veg.	Size of Cuts	Time to Cut	Avg. Time to Cut
Oranges	quarters	25	24
Grapes	no cutting required
Carrots	no cutting required
Celery	1″ to 2″ pieces	54	66
Apples	eighths	39	46
Spinach	pre-cut
Wheatgrass	pre-cut
More Information
Chute Size	1.375″ by 2.5″
Type	Vertical Masticating

A Word of Caution About Our Test Data

Before we continue, it’s important for us to note that while we did juice exactly 1 lb. of each fruit and vegetable that was tested, the number of each fruit or vegetable necessary to reach that 1 lb. weight requirement would vary. This variance had a direct impact on the time it took us to prepare one 1 lb. of a particular fruit or vegetable for one juicer compared to the time it took us to prepare the same weight of the same fruit or vegetable for another juicer.

For example, it took between 13 and 24 celery stalks to reach the 1 lb. weight requirement for the 14 slow juicers we tested. It took 14 celery stalks to reach this requirement for the VSJ843. It took 18 celery stalks to reach this requirement for the Omega J8004. For both juicers we had to cut the celery into 2 inch pieces prior to juicing it. It took us 54 seconds to do so for the VSJ and it took us 59 seconds to do so for the J8004. How long does it take then to cut 1 lb. of celery into 2 inch pieces? Does it take 54 seconds or does it take 59 seconds? Does it take 113 seconds which is how long it took us to cut the 23 celery stalks that needed to be cut for the Champion juicer? Obviously, we cannot say that preparing celery takes longer to do for the Champion and the J8004 than it does for the VSJ since all three juicers require that celery be cut into exactly the same sized pieces. How then can we compare preparation time between them?

The solution is to compare preparation time for each juicer in terms of the average time it takes to cut each particular fruit or vegetable to a particular size. We cut celery into 2 inch pieces 10 different times for 10 different juicers. The average time it took us to do so was 66 seconds. Thus, it is correct for us to say that the VSJ, J8004, and Champion juicer all require that celery be cut into 2 inch pieces prior to juicing and that cutting 1 lb. of celery to this size takes an average of 66 seconds to do.  It would definitely be incorrect for us to say that preparation time for celery is longer for the Champion than it is for the J8004 or VSJ843.

Food Preparation Comparison to Other Tested Juicers

Earlier we said that three factors affect food preparation time – feed chute size, juicer type, and produce type. Should you buy the VSJ843 and start juicing with it you’ll be able to look at its feed chute and thereby know what size produce you can fit inside of it. But how will you know how the fact that it’s a masticating juicer (juicer type) will require that you sometimes cut produce into even smaller pieces than what can fit into the feed chute? How will you know that certain types of produce will require the same?

Two things will guide you along the way. First, the juicer’s manual should tell you if there are any special requirements for juicing certain types of produce. Second, you’ll learn from experience. By referencing the manual and by trial and error (experience) you’ll eventually know exactly how much you should cut a particular fruit or vegetable to enable the juicer to work most efficiently and thereby produce the highest yields. Going into testing the VSJ843, we certainly had the manual ready for reference and we also had plenty of experience juicing with the same type of juicer. We were therefore well equipped to cut and prepare produce in a manner that would enable the juicer to juice as effectively as it could.

Oranges

Note that we said above that the manual should tell you if there are any special requirements for preparing certain types of produce for juicing. This doesn’t mean that it always does. Among the 14 slow juicers we tested we saw quite a bit of variance in how well manufacturers describe proper food preparation. Certain juicers have user manuals that are very specific on the topic with diagrams and tables to boot. Other juicers have manuals that are broad and/or vague in their description, that is if they even discuss proper food preparation at all. Unfortunately, the VSJ falls into the latter group. Its manual almost doesn’t address proper food preparation at all. Only at the end of the manual under the recipes section and closer to the beginning under the heading “Hints and Tips” will you find that it makes any reference to food preparation. When it does, it often does so in very broad terms. For example, when describing how to prepare produce for what is referred to as an “Australian Dream” juice the manual simply states that produce should be “cut as needed to fit into (the) juicer”.  When describing how to prepare produce for a “Cukelear Power” juice the manual instructs to “add all ingredients to your Omega juicer and juice”.

The instructions listed in the “Hints and Tips” section are a bit better. The manual properly warns that “stalk vegetables with strong fiber” should be cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces, properly stating that celery falls into this category.

In any case, the manual nowhere instructs how to properly prepare oranges for juicing, which, to be fair, is not really too much of an issue, as oranges really don’t present any unique type of challenge to a masticating juicer such as the VSJ. Only the VSJ’s chute size dictated that we needed to cut oranges into 4 smaller wedges. Two other vertical masticating juicers required that we cut oranges to the same size, those being the Tribest Slowstar and the Brevile BJS600XL. One of the vertical masticating juicers we tested, the Hurom HU-100, along with many of the horizontal masticating juicers we tested and the twin gear Green Star Elite required that oranges be cut into 8 smaller wedges. Two masticating juicers, the Kuvings B6000 and the SKG wide chute juicer, along with most centrifugal juicers we tested didn’t require that we cut oranges at all, as they have large 3 inch diameter feed chutes.

Just how much time does it take to cut 1 lb. of oranges into 4 or 8 wedges? Averaging out our test data, it takes 24 seconds to cut such a quantity of oranges into 4 wedges and 59 seconds to cut the same quantity of oranges into 8 wedges. That’s an extra 24 seconds you’ll need to set aside to juice oranges with the VSJ843 as compared to wide mouth juicers but an extra (59-24) = 35 seconds you’ll gain when juicing oranges with the VSJ as compared to juicing oranges with several other masticating juicers that we tested.

Grapes

The table grapes we used for testing how well each juicer could juice small seeded soft fruits such as grapes were all small enough to feed into the VSJ’s feed chute without needing to cut them. The same was true for every other masticating juicer we tested.

Carrots

The manual makes no mention of carrots except to say that “hard ingredients such as carrots, potato, radish, beets, etc.” may cause the juicer to shake while in use (more on this later in the review). With no help from the manual we had to rely on our experience juicing carrots with other masticating juicers for us to be confident that we could juice carrots whole, which we did for all of the vertical masticating juicers that we tested. This was not the case for the horizontal masticating juicers that we tested, which required that carrots be cut into smaller 2 inch pieces. Doing so for 1 lb. of carrots took us an average of 50 seconds which is 50 seconds of preparation time you save when juicing this quantity of carrots with the VSJ compared to juicing the same quantity of carrots with a horizontal masticating juicer such as the J8004, 8005, etc.

Celery

We already discussed earlier how the manual instructs that fibrous produce such as celery should be cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces. We followed these instructions to a tee when we prepared celery for juicing with the VSJ. We cut celery to the same size for most other masticating juicers we tested also. Cutting 1 lb. of celery to this size took us an average of 66 seconds. Note that centrifugal juicers have a distinct advantage over masticating juicers when it comes to juicing celery because they do not require that celery be cut prior to juicing. You’ll save yourself a full minute in preparation time when juicing 1 lb. of celery with a centrifugal juicer compared to juicing the same quantity of celery with a masticating juicer.

Apples

When preparing apples for juicing with the VSJ we once again had to rely on experience and feed chute size to help us decide how much cutting would be required as the manual makes no mention of proper preparation of apples. The VSJ’s feeding chute is small enough to require that apples be cut into 8 smaller sized wedges for juicing. This was the requirement for 8 of the 14 slow juicers we tested. Among the vertical masticating juicers we tested, only the Kuvings and SKG required less cutting – apples prepared for juicing in those juicers only had to be cut into 4 smaller wedges. The same amount of cutting was required for most centrifugal juicers we tested, most of which have large feeding chutes like the Kuvings and SKG.

The difference in cutting 1 lb. of apples into 4 smaller wedges compared to cutting 1 lb. of apples into 8 smaller wedges is close to 30 seconds. Cutting apples into 4 wedges took us an average of 18 seconds while cutting apples into 8 smaller wedges took as an average of 46 seconds.

Spinach and Wheatgrass

We did not need to cut spinach or wheatgrass for juicing with any of the juicers we tested.

Food Preparation Summary

The Omega VSJ843QS (and others) has the disadvantage of being a masticating juicer with a small feed chute and so you’ll need to do a lot more to prepare produce for juicing with this juicer than you would with say, a centrifugal juicer. Oranges and apples needed to be cut because of its small chute size and celery needed to be cut because of the fact that it’s a masticating juicer (and because celery is a unique type of produce that presents a unique problem when juiced with such a type of juicer). Compared to other masticating juicers the VSJ has the advantage of being a vertical masticating juicer. We therefore didn’t need to cut carrots to juice with it like we did when juicing carrots with the horizontal masticating juicers we tested. These tables found in our general buyer’s guide add up how long it took us to prepare all of the produce we juiced when testing the VSJ and compares that time took how long it took to prepare produce for juicing with all other juicers we tested.

Performance

After properly preparing each fruit and vegetable for juicing, it was time for us to actually juice. As we mentioned previously, we prepared 1 lb. of each fruit and vegetable for juicing for most tests. The only tests in which we juiced a different quantity of produce were our wheatgrass and combination performance tests. In our wheatgrass test we only juiced 4 oz. of wheatgrass. In our combination test we juiced 2 lb. of produce. This 2 lb. was composed of 1 lb. of oranges and 4 oz. each of spinach, celery, carrots, and apples. In all tests except for our combination test we fed only one type of produce into the juicer. For our combination test we fed 5 different types of produce into the Omega juicer (5 different fruits and vegetables) alternating between each one.

For all tests we employed certain methods and techniques in order to give the juicer the best chance to give good (high yield) results. Those methods are described in detail here. In the same write-up we also talk about how and why we selected oranges, grapes, carrots, celery, apples, spinach, and wheatgrass, specifically, among all of the different fruits and vegetables we could have chosen to test.

Out of Juicer Yield vs After Sieve Yield vs % Yield

For each test we recorded two types of yield – out of juicer yield and after sieve yield. The out of juicer yield is the volume of juice extracted by the juicer. The after sieve yield is the volume of juice collected after pouring the out of juicer yield through a sieve. Finally, we also calculated percent yield for both types of yield. We calculated a percent yield for out of juicer yield by dividing the out of juicer yield by the initial weight of the produce and multiplying that number by 100%. Percent yield for after sieve yield is calculated in the same way but by using after sieve yield instead of out of juicer yield. For example, the after sieve yield for juicing oranges with the VSJ843 was 10.3 oz. which we divide by the initial weight of 1 lb. or 16 oz. which equals 0.64375. We then take this number and multiply it by 100% to give 64%. Thus, we can say that we were able to extract 64% of the weight of the oranges that were juiced using the VSJ as relatively pulp free (after sieve) juice.

Juicing Performance Results

This table, which is a part of our general buyer’s guide, shows the yields recorded for the Omega VSJ843QS (and others) for each of our 8 juicing performance tests.

Juicing Performance Summary and Score

The Omega juicer VSJ843 did very well in our orange juicing test where its out of juicer yield of 10.8 oz. was the fourth best result and its after sieve yield of 10.3 oz. was the top result among all 14 of the slow juicers that we tested for review. It also did very well in our grape juicing test where both its out of juicer and after sieve yield placed it in the top 4 among the slow juicers we tested. Its time to juice for both was also relatively low due to its vertical design. These results make the Omega VSJ843QS (and associated models) a recommended choice if juicing soft high water content produce is a priority for you.

The VSJ’s performance in our carrot juicing test was barely average. An out of juicer yield of 6.4 oz. and an after sieve yield of 6.1 oz. meant that the initial volume of extracted juice was very low in pulp content (the difference between 6.4 oz. and 6.1 oz. = 0.3 oz. of pulp) – a definite positive for this specific type of juice (carrot juice) in particular. However, these same yields rank as only 10^th and 9^th best results in the category.

The juicer’s performance improved somewhat with our celery juicing test where its 11.7 oz. out of juicer and 11.4 oz. after sieve yields were good for 6^th best and 4^th best in the category, respectively.  These results also demonstrate very low pulp content in the initial yield (only 0.3 oz. of pulp (11.7 – 11.4 = 0.3) once again).

Rounding out testing for hard produce performance was our apple juicing test. The VSJ did very well in this test also. Both its out of juicer and after sieve yield were good for a top 4 finish in each category – above average results. Its hard produce juicing results make the VSJ a recommended choice as long as you’re not juicing especially hard produce such as carrots or beets. If juicing hard roots is a priority for you our recommendation would be a different type of juicer altogether – a twin gear or a centrifugal juicer.

The VSJ’s performance in our spinach juicing test was average. Its out of juicer yield of 9 oz. gave it a top 6 finish in the category and its after sieve yield of 7.5 oz. was good for the 5^th best result among all of the slow juicers we tested. These results make the VSJ an adequate choice for juicing leafy greens such as spinach.

The only type of produce that we would not recommend for juicing with the VSJ is wheatgrass. Its performance in our wheatgrass juicing test was absolutely terrible. It was able to extract only 1.2 oz. of juice from 4 oz. of wheatgrass – a percent yield of only 30%. Compare this result to most other slow juicers which were able to extract at least 2 oz. of juice in the same test.

Finally, the VSJ843 garnered an average result in our combination juicing test and thus is by no means a terrible option if you plan on primarily juicing a combination of fruits and vegetables. Its out of juicer yield of 20.4 oz. in the category was good for 8^th place among the 14 slow juicers we tested. 8^th place may sound like a below average result but consider the fact that juicers ranked 4 through 9 all extracted between 20.4 and 20.5 oz. of juice. Only the top 2 juicers in the category, the Omega J8006 and VRT350, extracted more than 21 oz. in this test.

Cleaning of Omega Juicer VSJ843QS

Neither the hard copy manual we received with the juicer nor the PDF version of the manual we obtained for it online (we’ll have more to say about these two different versions of the manual later in the review in the ease of use section) have much to say about cleaning it. In fact, the hard copy manual says nothing about proper cleaning procedure at all. The PDF version does mention two ancillary cleaning techniques but says nothing about proper procedure for regular everyday cleaning of the juicer’s most important parts including the juicing bowl, auger, and strainer.

The two supplementary cleaning techniques covered in the PDF version of the manual are what the manual refers to as “sterilization” and an “easy cleaning system”. The first, “sterilization”, is a technique that we never employed on any of the juicers we tested for review, including the VSJ843. This technique involves soaking the juicer’s parts in a solution of warm water, baking soda, and dishwashing soap for 30 minutes. The second technique, “easy cleaning system”, involves running water through the juicer to pre-wash it. We actually did use this technique before cleaning all of the vertical masticating juicers we tested for review, although we simply call it “pre-washing” the juicer. We recommend that you employ this technique just the same if you end up buying this type of juicer (vertical masticating), as it does go a long way in making the juicer’s parts easier to clean in the sink later on.

Cleaning Method and Tools

Speaking of cleaning parts in the sink, that’s exactly what we did after pre-washing the same parts by running water through the juicer on the countertop. As we made clear above, we weren’t able to apply general cleaning techniques outlined in the manual, because it simply didn’t have any. Instead, we relied on prior experience cleaning other juicers of the same type, to enable us to clean the VSJ as quickly and efficiently as possible. The general techniques we followed for cleaning all vertical masticating juicers including the VSJ are as follows:

First we filled our test sink about halfway with warm soapy water. We then placed as many parts as would fit in the sink into the sink. Those parts that had excessive pulp accumulation (more on this later) were first cleaned of pulp before placing them in the sink. With a few parts soaking in the sink we would then proceed to pick one of them up and wash it by hand using a microfiber cloth (any type of dish rag would have done just as a good of a job). The part was then rinsed under running water (under the tap) before being placed next to the sink on a towel to dry.

A few parts required more than just a hand wash with a cleaning cloth. The following parts required the use of the included cleaning brush as well: the auger, juicing bowl, and strainer. We used our fingers to pull pulp out of the bottom of the auger during testing but the handle of the cleaning brush would have worked just as well. We actually did use the handle of the brush when cleaning out the bottom of the juicing bowl and its pulp outlet of pulp. We used the actual brush end of the cleaning brush to clean the metal parts of the juicing strainer.

When running water through the juicer to pre-wash it, it’s important that you place some type of juice collection container and pulp collection container underneath the juice and pulp outlet, just the same as you would when juicing. We used a measuring cup as a juice collection container since the quantity of water we poured into the juicer to pre-wash it exceeded the volume of the juice collection container included with the juicer.

Pulp Accumulation

For all of the vertical masticating juicers that we tested, we observed different levels of pulp accumulation within the bottom of the auger (in the space between the inside of the auger and the lip of the juicing bowl), juicing bowl, and strainer. The VSJ was one of three vertical masticating juicers we tested, for which we saw excessive pulp accumulation in all three parts. The bottom of the VSJ’s auger was absolutely loaded with pulp after juicing. So much pulp had filled the underside of the auger during juicing that it accumulated where the auger is seated on the inside ring of the juicing bowl as well. This unique deposit of pulp was in addition to the normal pulp accumulation we saw in the pulp outlet of the juicing bowl. Finally, we also saw quite a bit of pulp accumulation on the inside ring of the juicing strainer. This pulp was removed by hand before cleaning the strainer with the cleaning brush.

It is important for us to mention that pulp accumulated on these parts because it did not accumulate nearly as much on the same parts of many other juicers of the same type that we tested. Those juicers for which we saw excessive pulp accumulation (such as the VSJ843) were slightly more difficult to clean than those juicers for which we saw barely any pulp accumulation at all.

Staining and Deposits

Omega has plenty of experience designing juicers and it shows with regards to how the VSJ is designed to combat staining. This juicer is perhaps more stain resistant than any other slow juicer that we tested. All of its parts are constructed using dark and therefore difficult to stain materials. The main body of the juicer is silver and easily wipes clean after juicing even the most likely to stain produce such as carrots or spinach. The juicing bowl is made of a clear but darkened plastic. Most other parts are made of solid black plastic including the auger, strainer, and feeding chute assembly. The silicone blades of the spinning brush are black and the sealing ring and pulp pressure plug are both grey.

Dishwasher Safe Parts

Neither the VSJ843QS’s hard copy manual nor its PDF manual say anything about whether its parts are dishwasher safe or not. However, we find it safe to assume that they are not, based on the fact that only 2 of the 14 slow juicers we tested are composed of dishwasher safe parts. In addition, similar juicers designed with similar parts have several warnings in their manuals explicitly stating that the juicer’s parts are not dishwasher safe.

Cleaning Summary and Overall Score

It took us about 5 minutes on average to clean all of the vertical masticating juicers that we tested. Cleaning the Omega VSJ843 took us just about as long as average – about 5 minutes as well. This time includes the time it took us to remove excess pulp accumulated in the juicer’s auger, juicing bowl, and strainer and so it’s hard for us to count this excessive pulp accumulation too much against it (with regards to its cleaning score). Nonetheless, it does detract ever so slightly from the VSJ’s score in the category but this negative is easily offset by the positive of its stain resistant parts. It receives an above average 4 out of 5 in for cleaning difficulty overall.

Ease of Use

A masticating juicer isn’t an appliance that is intuitive to use. You’ll need to learn from experience how to juice properly and efficiently. Certain aspects of using the juicer will become easier over time. Those aspects include assembly, food preparation, properly feeding produce into the juicer, and efficiently cleaning the juicer. These tasks can be mastered over time and are only difficult when you first start using the juicer – together they make up the juicer’s initial learning curve.

Other aspects of using the juicer will always have the same degree of difficulty no matter how experienced you are actually using it. Those aspects include the difficulty of pushing produce into the juicer, moving the juicer around the kitchen (weight and carrying handle), controlling the juicer (buttons and controls), being able to use the juicer without it moving around on the countertop (juicer movement), being able to place it on the countertop where you want to (power cord length), etc. These difficulties are all categorized as having to do with the continued difficulty of using the juicer.

Initial Learning Curve

The VSJ843 has exactly the same learning curve as most other vertical masticating juicers we tested. Learning to assemble it quickly and efficiently takes time. Learning to prepare produce properly for juicing with it takes time. Learning how to feed produce into the juicer at a rate that will allow the juicer to juice most efficiently takes time. And finally, learning how to disassemble it and clean it quickly and efficiently also takes times.

Continued Difficulty

How Hard Is It to Push Produce into The Juicer?

The VSJ843QS (and equivalent models) is a vertical masticating juicer, and as such not much force is required to push produce into and through it. In contrast, other types of juicers including horizontal masticating and twin gear juicers require that quite a bit of force be used to push down onto the food pusher to enable it to push produce into the juicer. For more information on how and why the difficulty of pushing produce into juicers differs by type see here.

Other Design Choices and Features that Improve or Detract from Ease of Use

Weight and Carrying Handle

The VSJ843QS weighs 14 lb. 8.9 oz. fully assembled. The main body alone weighs 11 lb. 9.8 oz. Both of these values are slightly above average for the category (masticating) but still fall within a range where they’re not outliers. Most other slow juicers we tested weigh between 12 and 14 lb. fully assembled with main bodies that weigh between 10 and 11 lb. Of the 14 slow juicers we tested, only the Tribest Green Star Elite and Champion juicers weighed more and are therefore more cumbersome to move around the kitchen than their competition – whether that be from one countertop to another or in and out of storage. The Green Star Elite weighs over 17 lb. fully assembled and the Champion juicer weighs over 20 lb. fully assembled.

Buttons and Controls

The VSJ has only one switch that controls all of the juicer’s functions (of which there are only two – forward and reverse). The switch is clearly marked “ON” and “REV” and is located in an easy to reach spot on the front face of the main body of the juicer.

Juicer Movement, Power Cord Length

We definitely saw a fair share of juicers actually move around on the countertop while testing them (this one, for example). This was thankfully not the case with the VSJ. Its 4 small rubber feet kept it securely in place on the countertop during all juicing performance tests.

The VSJ’s power cord is 63.5 inches long which gives you great flexibility in terms of where you can either permanently keep the juicer on the countertop or temporarily place it on the countertop only when using it (the longer the power cord the farther away you can put the juicer from wall outlets which gives you a much greater area in which you can potentially place it on the countertop). Most other slow juicers we tested have similarly long power cords while most centrifugal juicers we tested have shorter power cords in the 25 to 40 inch range.

Other Factors That Affect Ease of Use

Manual Quality

The VSJ843QS comes with a very short 14 page hard copy manual (we think it’s safe to assume equivalent models come with the same manual). The included manual does a very good job of explaining proper assembly of the juicer – it includes detailed color diagrams detailing each step of the process with arrows, markings, and corresponding text instructions. It also does a fairly good job of addressing juicer troubleshooting. However, the included manual does an absolutely terrible job of explaining proper use and care for the juicer. As we already discussed in the cleaning section earlier in this review, the manual basically says nothing about how to go about cleaning the juicer properly. Without this information being readily available in the included manual, new users are likely to have a great deal of difficulty trying to figure out how to clean all of the juicer’s parts correctly. We’re definitely disappointed in Omega for not addressing proper cleaning techniques and many other aspects of properly using the juicer in the included physical manual.

After purchasing the juicer for review and actually testing it, we looked up a PDF version of the manual online for us to be able to reference the manual for this editorial review more easily. We found a PDF manual for the VSJ but this manual differs quite dramatically from the physical manual we received with our purchase of the juicer. While the PDF manual doesn’t cover all of the components of juicer use and care as well as we would like, it does do a much better job of covering them than the included physical manual.

Parts and Their Properties

The VSJ843’s juice cap is a small but not insignificant part that does much to improve your experience while using the juicer. The juice cap

1. Allows you to switch juice containers without spilling.
2. Allows you mix the juice you’re making while it’s still inside the juicing bowl.
3. Allows you to pre-wash the juicer.

The first feature only comes into play should you be producing more juice than what the 38 ounce juice container can hold. When this happens you can temporarily close the juice cap and switch to a different container. You can do so without turning off the juicer.

The second feature is only necessary if you’re juicing more than one type of fruit or vegetable and don’t want to have to mix your juice by hand after juicing. Simply close the juice cap while you’re juicing to enjoy this functionality. Note that you won’t be able to juice much before having to open the cap again as the juice bowl does fill up quite rapidly. This is because the juice bowl only has an approximately 16 oz. capacity. Still, you can always close the cap, mix 16 oz. of juice, open the cap to fill up the juice container, and then close the cap again to mix another batch of juice.

The third feature is perhaps the most useful as it allows you to pre-wash the juice bowl and all the parts that fit inside of it before removing the juicing bowl from the main body of the juicer. Simply close the cap and pour clean water into the top of the juicer where you would normally feed it with produce. The water will go through exactly the same path the produce normally would, pre-washing all parts it comes into contact with along the way. This goes a long way in making cleaning those same parts easier later on. We talked about this process earlier in our Omega VJS843QS juicer review but relative to the current discussion, simply know that closing the juice cap allows water to fill up to the top of the juicing bowl which allows for a much better pre-wash than in juicers that don’t have a cap to close off the juice spout.

In addition to the juice cap two other parts – the included juice container and pulp container – can also make a difference as to how easy or difficult it is to use any particular juicer. Depending on their size and depending on how much produce you’re juicing all at the same time, these containers will need to emptied and replaced at a certain rate. The smaller they are and the more produce you’re juicing, the more frequently you’ll need to empty and replace both containers. All other things being equal, if a juicer has very small containers then it will be more difficult to use to juice large quantities of produce as the containers will need to be replaced very frequently. Conversely, if a juicer has very large containers then it will be easier to use as the containers will need to be emptied and replaced less frequently.

The Omega VSJ843QS (and equivalent models) comes with a very large 38 oz. juice container and an even larger 58 oz. pulp container. Its juice container was the third largest juice container and its pulp container was the largest pulp container we measured for volume during testing (recall that we tested 14 different slow juicers and so we measured the volume of approximately 14 different juice containers and pulp containers).

Note that if you’re juicing only for yourself, what we just discussed is unlikely to affect you. However, if you’re juicing for a family of two, three, or four plus people you’re very likely to make more juice than what a typical juice container can hold and you should definitely take the juicer’s included juice container and pulp container’s volumes into consideration when making your purchase decision.

Ease of Use Summary and Score

The VSJ does have a learning curve. You’ll have to use it consistently for several weeks or even months before you’ll be completely comfortable assembling it, preparing food for it, juicing with it, and cleaning it. However, you’ll need to learn to do these things just the same with equal difficulty for all of the other vertical masticating juicers we tested and you would need to learn to do the same things with even greater difficulty should you purchase a horizontal masticating or twin gear juicer.

Moving on to the continued difficulty of using the juicer, we found that the VSJ fared average in most subcategories except for the last two. It scored well below average in the manual quality subcategory but well above average in the “parts and their properties” subcategory (it comes with a juice cap and very large sized juice and pulp containers). All things considered, we give the VSJ843 a 4.5 out of 5 for ease of use.

Versatility

The VSJ843 lacks the versatility of similar offerings (vertical masticating juicers) from Tribest and Kuvings. The Tribest Slowstar comes with an extra juicing bowl and lid for homogenizing while the Kuvings whole slow juicer comes with a blank strainer for making fruit sorbets, gelatos, and ice creams. The Kuvings also comes with the option of buying additional strainers separately for even greater versatility. No such parts are available for separate purchase for the VSJ. It earns a below average 3 out of 5 for versatility.

Durability

Build Quality and Materials

The VSJ843QS (and associated models) is by all accounts a very high quality appliance. All of its parts are made using very high quality plastics and stainless steel. Its build quality and the quality of the parts used for its construction is comparable to that of similarly priced vertical masticating juicers manufactured by Tribest (the Slowstar) and Kuvings (the B6000). All such juicers in the $400+ price range that we tested were made of very high quality materials and with above average workmanship.

Consumer Feedback

Consumer feedback for the VSJ843 has thus far been primarily positive. There are very few reports of the juicer or any of its parts being prone to cracking or any other type of damage. Most negative consumer reviews comment on the same shortcomings (of the juicer) we cover in this editorial review.

Brand Reputation and Quality of Support

Omega is a well-known, trusted brand in the juicer community. While all of their manufacturing is carried out in South Korea, all of Omega’s customer service is carried out from within the United States. Omega offers a variety of different means to contact them by including a toll free phone number, a regular US phone number (with Pennsylvania area code), an email address, a regular physical address, and an online contact form at omegajuicers.com. Our survey of online consumer reviews for Omega products indicates that Omega customer service is very good.

Warranty

Neither the manual nor the warranty registration card included with our purchase of the VSJ made any mention of the warranty’s exact duration or terms. The warranty card instructs that for “specific warranty coverage” we should go to thelegacycompanies.com/techservice which we did. However, the given URL only lists a toll free number to contact Omega customer service. It does not state any warranty terms anywhere on the page.

Omega’s website, omegajuicers.com does list the VSJ as having a 15-year warranty. Based on this information we find it safe to assume that the VSJ has the same 15-year warranty included with other slow juicers that Omega manufacturers, including the J8006 and NC800. Warranties included with those juicers do not have any listed part exclusions and so we can assume that the same is true for the VSJ’s 15-year warranty. The warranty should cover all of the juicer’s parts and the main body.

Summary and Score

The VSJ843 earns a perfect 5 out of 5 for durability. Not only is it built very well using high quality materials, but the warranty included with the juicer is for a very long 15 years – the longest such warranty in the industry (comparable juicers from Tribest and Kuvings have only 10-year warranties). Thus, even should any of its high quality parts break, you can rest assured that they will be covered by the included warranty.

Value

Bonus Accessories

Our purchase of the Omega VSJ843QS did not include any bonus accessories. The only parts that were included were those parts absolutely necessary for juicing – the juicing bowl, strainer, etc.

Initial Cost

The VSJ843QS normally retails for between $450- $500. This makes it one of the most expensive slow juicers we tested. Comparable vertical masticating juicers from Tribest and Kuvings normally retail for between $380 and $450. Horizontal masticating juicers retail for less – normally between $200 and $300 – while most centrifugal juicers we tested retail for less than $100.

Long Term Cost

In addition to the buying the juicer itself, you’ll also need to buy produce before you actually start juicing. How much you’ll need to spend on produce will vary depending on which juicer you buy. The more efficient the juicer, the less produce is necessary to make the same volume of juice. Less produce equates to a lower cost in buying that produce. Thus, the more efficient juicer (with higher performance) you buy, the less you will spend on juicing in the foreseeable future.

For more information on how juicing efficiency (performance) relates to produce cost and the long term cost of juicer ownership please see here. For now, we will simply say that the VSJ performed quite well in most of our juicing performance tests which only has a positive impact on its value. In fact, because the VSJ did so well in most of our tests (garnering good yields) it may very well be a better value than comparable juicers (with lesser results in our juicing performance tests) despite its higher initial cost.

Value Summary

The Omega VSJ843 juicer earns solid marks in this category despite its lack of bonus accessories and its high initial cost. The reason why – its average to above average performance in most of our performance tests. Again, if you’re confused at all why this is the case please see our write-up on the relationship between juicer performance and long term cost here.