Pros
- Just as easy to assemble as most other centrifugal juicers
- Average to above average performance juicing softer produce
- Average performance juicing harder produce
- All in all not a great performer in our juicing performance tests but by no means the worst either
- A decent value when comparing its performance to its price
Cons
- Its chrome body may be aesthetically pleasing but is very difficult to clean and keep clean
- Comes with a low quality cleaning brush which makes its filter basket more difficult to clean
- Introduces quite a lot of pulp into the juice it extracts
- Not as well made and with as high of a quality of parts as similar options at a similar price point
- Comes with only a 1-year warranty although a 2-year warranty can be had after the product is registered with the manufacturer
Category Scores
| Assembly Diff. | 5.0 |
| Food Prep. | 5.0 |
| Soft Produce | 4.0 |
| Hard Produce | 3.5 |
| Pulp Free | 2.5 |
| Overall | 3.5 |
| Cleaning Diff. | 2.5 |
| Ease of Use | 3.0 |
| Versatility | 3.0 |
| Durability | 3.0 |
| Value | 3.0 |
| Cumulative | 38 |
All category scores are out of 5.
Contents
Assembly
Parts List
- Food pusher
- Juicer cover (with attached feed chute)
- Filter basket
- Filter bowl
- Motor base (the main body of the juicer)
- Juice container
- Pulp container
Procedure
The Dash juicer is assembled in much the same way as most other centrifugal juicers on the market (see this review for a list of steps involved for general centrifugal juicer assembly) with one exception. It requires the assembly of an additional part – it requires that a rubber nozzle (a separate removable part) be installed onto its juice spout. This rubber nozzle is very similar to the rubber nozzle that comes with the Breville Juice Fountain Multi-Speed. The difference between the Dash’s rubber nozzle and the Breville’s is that the Dash’s nozzle is a part required for proper assembly of the juicer while the Breville’s nozzle is not. The Breville Multi-Speed’s nozzle is installed only if the user wants to have juice exit out of the juicer into a glass. Otherwise (if it’s desired that juice exit the juicer into the included juice container), the rubber nozzle does not need to be installed. The Dash’s nozzle has to be installed for juice to properly exit the juicer into the included juice container.
Difficulty
Because the Dash essentially has all of the same parts as other centrifugal juicers, assembly difficulty for the Dash very closely mirrors that of most other such juicers. The Dash does have one additional part that has to be installed (the rubber nozzle we talked about above). It also doesn’t have alignment markers on its filter basket for easily installing the same part onto the juicer’s motor coupling. This means that it takes a few more seconds of trial and error to properly install its filter basket compared to those juicers that do. Do the absence of these markers and the installation of the Dash’s one additional part make it tangibly more difficult to assemble than those other centrifugal juicers we tested that do not have these same encumbrances? Yes, but only very very slightly. Let’s put it this way, they don’t make enough of a difference for us to score the Dash any lower in this category (assembly difficulty) than those other juicers. It receives a perfect 5 out of 5 in the category.
Food Preparation
The Dash Premium Juice Extractor features a 3-inch diameter feeding chute which is the same size feeding chute as most other centrifugal juicers we tested. All of the Breville juicers we tested also have a 3-inch diameter feed chute. Juicers by Cuisinart, Juiceman, and Jack Lalanne also all have 3-inch diameter feed chutes. Because all of these juicers all have the same sized feed chute they are able to accept the same sized produce whole and require that produce that doesn’t fit into their feed chutes whole be cut to the same size.
Take a look at the table below. Note how the Dash and every other centrifugal juicer with a 3 inch feeding chute was able to juice all but one of the five fruits and vegetables we juiced with each juicer whole. Only apples required that we cut them before we could juice them. Now note how apples needed to be cut to exactly the same size for all such juicers. The bottom line? There’s absolutely no difference in food preparation requirements between centrifugal juicers with the same sized feeding chutes. Note, however, that this same line of thinking does not apply to slow juicers. If you’re interested to see how centrifugal juicers such as the Dash juicer compare to slow juicers, in terms of food preparation requirements, please see this part of our general buyer’s guide.
Most Centrifugal Juicers (including the Dash juicer)
| Fruit/Veg. | Size of Cuts | Time to Cut | Avg. Time to Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oranges | no cutting required | ||
| Grapes | no cutting required | ||
| Carrots | no cutting required | ||
| Celery | no cutting required | ||
| Apples | quarters | NA | 18 |
| More Information | |||
| Chute Size | 3″ diameter |
Note: the time given above is in seconds. For a comparison of “time to cut” vs. “avg. time to cut” see here.
Performance
In order to test the Dash’s ability to juice different types of produce we tested how well it could juice five different fruits and vegetables – the same fruits and vegetables listed in the food preparation requirement table above. We juiced exactly 1 lb. of each type of dry produce and used the juicer’s juice container to collect the juice. We then poured this juice into a measuring cup to determine its weight. The weight of this juice is listed as “out of juicer yield” in this table (a part of our general buyer’s guide) which lists performance test results for all of the centrifugal juicers we tested. After we determined the out of juicer yield we then poured this yield into a different measuring cup through a fine sieve. The weight of the collected juice we recorded as “after sieve yield”. For more information on our testing techniques please see this part of our general buyer’s guide.
Juicing Performance Summary
The Dash’s performance in our juicing performance tests was a bit of a mixed bag. Its out of juicer yields were above average for three out of five tests and only average for the remaining two tests. Its after sieve yields were above average for two tests and average for the remaining three tests. It’s of note that it did not garner below average results in even one test. Let’s take a closer look at its performance in each test.
Its out of juicer orange juice yield of 11.7 oz. is only 0.7 oz. less than the top result in the same test. It is more than 2 oz. more than the worst result. The Dash’s 11.7 oz. yield in this test is good for 5th place among the 17 centrifugal juicers we tested for review. Its after sieve orange juice yield drops it down to 11th place compared to the other centrifugal juicers we tested. Its 9.6 oz. yield in this test is still at least an ounce more than the worst recorded results in this same test, although it’s almost 2 ounces less than the best recorded after sieve yield for orange juice. The top rated Breville Juice Fountain Compact was able to garner an after sieve yield of 11.5 oz. in this same test.
The Dash’s out of juicer and after sieve grape juice yields are both above average. Both are also the 4th best recorded results among the centrifugal juicers we tested. Both of its yields for carrot juice were also above average but not quite as good as its grape juice yields compared to other juicers. Its out of juicer carrot juice yield is good for only a 6th place result while its after sieve carrot juice yield is good for a 5th place result.
The Dash’s performance compared to other juicers drops quite dramatically when we evaluate its celery juice yields. Its celery juice out of juicer yield of 11.7 oz. is barely an average result – a result good for only 11th place compared to 16 other centrifugal juicers we tested for review. Its after sieve yield in the same test garners the exact same placement – an 11th place result.
The Dash’s performance improves somewhat as we evaluate its apple juice yields. Its out of juicer apple juice yield of 10.6 oz. is not quite as good as the Breville Compact’s 12.2 oz. in the same test but it’s still good for an 8th place result. Similarly, its 8.5 oz. after sieve yield in the same test is not as good as the 11+ oz. results of a select few Breville juicers but it’s still a result that’s average compared to the yields obtained by the other centrifugal juicers we tested. The Dash’s after sieve apple juice yield is a 9th place result.
What does all of this test data tell us? It tells us that the Dash is not quite as capable of a juicer as the best performing centrifugal juicers we tested. At the same time, it also tells us that the Dash is not a bottom tier centrifugal juicer either, at least in terms of juicing performance. Note that the Dash does introduce quite a bit of pulp into the juice that exits straight out of the juicer. In order to determine how much pulp is in the juice this juicer produces, look at the difference between out of juicer and after sieve yields in the table we referenced above. For example, the difference between the Dash’s orange juice out of juicer yield and after sieve yield is 2.1 oz. What this means is that the original 11.7 oz. out of juicer yield contains 2.1 oz. of pulp. Compare this result to the only 0.3 oz. of pulp that was collected when we poured the Breville Compact’s out of juicer orange juice yield through a sieve. The Dash produced an above average amount of pulp in only this one test. However, it still produced an average amount of pulp in the remaining four tests. This is enough reason for us to not recommend this juicer to those consumers looking to purchase a juicer capable of extracting an almost pulp-free juice right out of the juicer.
Cleaning
The Dash’s chrome body is aesthetically pleasing but is very difficult to clean and keep clean. Sure, it doesn’t get dirty often – it doesn’t actually ever get into any contact with food or juice except by accident. But these accidents do happen – for example, juice can easily spill onto the body during disassembly of the juicer’s top parts (its filter bowl and cover) after juicing. And when these accidents happen and the body gets dirty it’s extremely difficult to clean because of its chrome finish.
Another problem area for the Dash, with regard to cleaning difficulty, is its clear plastic filter bowl. Some models of centrifugal juicers have opaque plastic filter bowls, usually in a dark color (black in most instances). Such filter bowls don’t stain as easily as the Dash’s clear plastic filter bowl and are also easier to clean.
The Dash also comes with the same clear plastic (as the filter bowl) cover and juice container. We can’t really complain about the Dash’s cover being clear plastic as almost every other centrifugal juicer we tested comes with a clear plastic cover also. Even luxury stainless steel juicers by Breville, namely the Juice Fountain Elite and Juice Fountain Duo, have clear plastic covers (although their feeding chutes are stainless steel unlike the Dash’s clear plastic feeding chute). Clear plastic parts on centrifugal juicers do not take repeated use and cleaning well – they stain, scratch, and smudge much more easily than equivalent opaque plastic or stainless steel parts. We talk about the inherent problem (relating to cleaning) of these parts being constructed of clear plastic in great detail in other reviews, like this one.
Another complaint we have regarding cleaning the Dash, specifically, has to do with cleaning and keeping clean its rubber nozzle. Recall that this part is absolutely required for the Dash’s assembly. We found this rubber nozzle to be difficult to clean and dry by hand and we also found it to be dust magnet when the juicer was kept in storage prior to our testing it for review.
Yet another complaint we have with cleaning the Dash has to do with cleaning its filter basket. Most of the centrifugal juicers we tested come with a cleaning brush – a brush the manufacturer includes with the juicer specifically for the purpose of cleaning the juicer’s filter basket. The juicer’s filter basket has razor sharp blades at its center and a fine mesh around its perimeter – these unique characteristics in addition to the fact that it is the central part of the juicer that does all of the processing of produce make the filter basket uniquely difficult to clean – hence why a unique specialized cleaning tool is included with most centrifugal juicers. The quality of this brush often determines how difficult the juicer’s filter basket is to clean. Unfortunately, the Dash’s including cleaning brush is of a distinctly low quality. This made cleaning the Dash’s filter basket much more difficult than it would have been should a high quality brush been included – such as those cleaning brushes included with Breville juicers, for example.
Finally, we need to talk about the positive parts of the Dash’s design as they relate the difficulties associated with cleaning this juicer. The Dash’s pulp container is constructed of a black opaque plastic – a great choice in color and material as it’s both stain resistant and easy to clean. The plastic trim piece on the front of the juicer is also made of an opaque black plastic material. Again, this type of material is very easy to wipe clean and is highly stain resistant. The lid of the included juice container is also made of an easy to clean black plastic material.
Dishwasher Safe Parts
The Dash’s user manual doesn’t overtly state that the juicer’s parts are not dishwasher safe but it does state to “use clean, warm water to wash all the (juicer’s) non-electric parts” and “after washing, (to) use a soft cloth to dry all surfaces”. From these statements it can be inferred that the Dash is in fact, not dishwasher safe which would make it the only centrifugal juicer we tested that can only be washed by hand. We recommend that you always wash any juicer by hand anyway, the same as we did when we washed all of the juicers we tested for review; however, it is of note that the Dash is the only centrifugal juicer we tested for which the manufacturer doesn’t specify that its parts are dishwasher safe.
Cleaning Summary and Overall Score
There are several unique challenges to cleaning the Dash – challenges that don’t exist when cleaning other centrifugal juicers. The Dash has a chrome body that looks great brand new but is extremely difficult to clean and keep clean over time. It also has an extra part that’s difficult to clean and comes with a very low quality cleaning brush. All things considered we have to give this juicer a well below average 2.5 out of 5 for cleaning difficulty.
Ease of Use
Juicing Speeds
The Dash is a two speed juicer like the very popular Breville Juice Fountain Plus, the luxurious Juice Fountain Elite, and seven other centrifugal juicers we tested not manufactured by Breville. The Dash being a two speed juicer means that you’ll have to make a certain choice every time you use it. Do you set it to low speed (by pressing the top of the juicer’s one switch marked “I”) or do you set it to high speed (by pressing the bottom of the switch marked “II”)? You don’t have this choice – this decision to make when you use a single speed juicer. This, in our opinion, makes such juicers easier to use. You do have to make this choice when you use the Dash, which does make it ever so slightly but still harder to use.
The Dash’s user manual instructs that the low setting should be used for juicing “softer fruits and vegetables” while the “high” setting should be used for juicing “harder fruits and vegetables”. Do you know what constitutes a “harder” or “softer” fruit or vegetable as outlined in these instructions? If you’ve juiced before then you very well may. We certainly did when we tested the Dash for review. We could rely on past experience juicing with other two speed juicers to help us to choose with setting to use for juicing with the Dash depending on the type of produce we were juicing. Most new and/or inexperienced users, however, are not afforded this same luxury and will likely have to struggle, at least in the very beginning, through trial and error, to determine which setting is best to juice a particular type of produce for optimal (maximum) yields. Breville multi-speed juicers at least come with a user manual listing specific fruits and vegetables and the corresponding optimal juicing speed for each one. The non-specific general guidelines outlined in the Dash’s manual exacerbate what is already an unnecessary difficulty (having to choose which speed to set the juicer to), in our opinion.
Manual Quality
The manual included with the Dash Premium Juice Extractor is of a distinctly low quality. At first glance it appears to be of good quality due to the fact that it uses full color photos and attractive fonts in its headings and general text; however, the actual information contained within its 23 pages is of a very low quality. Again, we find it difficult to not compare this juicer to all of the Breville centrifugal juicers we tested for review. Those user manuals included with Breville juicers are all highly detailed with clear, detailed instructions to help new users with each and every component of proper use and care of their new juicer. The manual included with the Dash juicer lacks this detail. Instructions are often incomplete and/or confusing. We’ve already highlighted two such instances in our review – recall how the manual doesn’t absolutely make it clear whether the juicer’s parts are dishwasher safe or not and the guidelines outlined for setting the juicer to different speeds are woefully incomplete.
Weight, Power Cord Length, Juice and Pulp Containers
The Dash was one of the lightest centrifugal juicers we tested for review. This makes it very easy to move in and out of storage or from one counter to another in the kitchen. The juicer weighs only 7 lb. 13 oz. fully assembled. Compare this weight to the approximately 13 lb. average fully assembled weight of the stainless steel centrifugal juicers we tested.
The Dash’s power cord length and juice and pulp container volume are listed in the table below along with average measurements in the centrifugal juicer category (Cent. Avg.). For the reasoning behind why we consider these specifications when evaluating juicer ease of use please see this part of our general buyer’s guide.
| Dash | Cent. Avg. | |
|---|---|---|
| Power Cord Length | 48 in. | 41 in. |
| Juice Container Volume | 40 oz. | 34 oz. |
| Pulp Container Volume | 102 oz. | 73 oz. |
Ease of Use Summary and Score
The Dash fails to impress when it comes to evaluating its ease of use. It earns only a 3 out of 5 in the category, mostly because of its multi-speed functionality and its low quality user manual.
Versatility
The Dash, like almost every other centrifugal juicer we tested, lacks the versatility of a slow juicer. As such it scores a below average 3 out of 5 in the category.
Durability
Build Quality and Materials
We consider Breville juicers to be the most well-made centrifugal juicers on the market. As such, it’s only natural for us to want to compare the Dash to Breville juicers in order to evaluate its build quality and the quality of the materials used in its construction. That being said, we observed the parts used for the construction of the Dash juicer to be of distinctly lesser quality than those same parts as they are found on Breville juicers. For example, the clear plastic filter bowl and cover of the Dash juicer are made of a thinner less durable plastic than the plastic used for the same parts on Breville juicers. The Dash’s filter basket is also nowhere close to the quality of that of Breville filter baskets.
Brand Reputation
Not much is known about Dash as a brand. This is of their own doing. The back of the Dash Premium Juice Extractor’s manual lists the Storebound brand and their website – storebound.com. It also lists another website, bydash.com. We visited bydash.com and found that it simply redirects to storebound.com/dash. After further exploring storebound.com we found that Storebound calls itself a “product innovation company”. Essentially, what they do is “work with inventors and licensing partners to create, manufacture, and distribute innovative products…”. What this exactly means is beyond the scope of this review. That which we can take away from this information that is relevant to this review is that Dash appears to simply be a brand Storebound uses to sell its kitchen products. Dash is not itself a company. Storebound is the actual company that stands behind the Dash juicer. The exact origins of the Storebound company, how long they’ve been in business, and how long they’re likely to stay in business are all unknown. What we do know is that Storebound and Dash are both certainly not nearly as well-known and proven brands such as Breville, Cuisinart, and several other brands whose juicers we’ve tested for review.
Quality of Support
The Dash’s manual lists a toll free phone number and the aforementioned storebound.com and bydash.com URLs. Visiting storebound.com we found the same toll free number as well as an email listed for customer support. Dash products are fairly new on the market and as such there’s not much chatter about the quality of their customer service that we could find online.
Warranty
The back page of the Dash’s user manual outlines the terms of a 1-year warranty. Of special note is the fact that the warranty states that upon calling the listed toll free number (to make a warranty claim) “a customer care agent will conduct troubleshooting in an attempt to fix any minor problems. If troubleshooting fails to fix the problem, a return authorization will be issued.” These are statements unique to the Dash’s warranty terms. Other warranties we reviewed (for the other juicers we tested) nowhere make any mention of attempted troubleshooting of their products. Why these unique statements are made in the Dash’s warranty we’ll leave up to your own speculation.
The 1-year duration of the Dash’s included warranty mirrors the duration of those warranties included with Breville juicers. Even the approximately $400 Breville Juice Fountain Duo only comes with a 1-year warranty. It would be remiss of us not to note here that the Dash juicer that we bought for review (it’s unknown whether all Dash juicers come with this perk) came with a warranty card that states that consumers are able to double the length of the juicer’s warranty by registering the juicer online. Thus, should you register the Dash juicer online its warranty’s duration will double to 2 years. Those juicers with a warranty longer than 2 years in the centrifugal juicer category are few and far between. The only such juicers we tested that come with a longer warranty are the Cuisinart CJE-1000 (3 years) and Jamba 67901 (5 years).
Summary and Score
The Dash juicer lacks the high quality of materials and workmanship found in Breville juicers. Does this make it a cheap, fragile appliance? Not necessarily. We were only able to test the juicer for about a month. It would take much more time with the appliance (and many more uses) before we could comfortably say that it is absolutely less durable than Breville juicers. We can, however, say with confidence that we definitely observed it to be made of lower quality materials than Breville juicers. Another big negative for the Dash in this category is the fact that the Dash and Storebound brands are relatively unproven at the time of the writing of this review. Sure, the Dash juicer does come with a potentially 2 yearlong warranty. But what exactly is the quality of Storebound customer service? Will Storebound even exist as a company in 2 years? It’s hard to tell using the limited information we could find about the company online. All things consider we can’t give the Dash juicer anything more than a below average 3 out of 5 for durability.
Value and Recommendations
The Dash juicer normally retails for anywhere between $50 and about $75 online. At this price point its very similarly priced to the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro which normally retails for about $60 and is slightly less expensive than the top rated Breville Juice Fountain Compact which normally retails for about $100. If you’re dead set on spending no more than $50 to $70 on a juicer you might be strongly considering purchasing the Dash juicer, despite all of the negative aspects to this juicer that we’ve outlined throughout this review. Contrary to such considerations, it is our strong recommendation that if you really want to buy a juicer on a budget, spending no more than $70, that you forego purchasing the Dash and purchase the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro juicer instead. If you’re able and willing to spend a little bit more we recommend the Breville Juice Fountain Compact. It was, by far, the best centrifugal juicer we tested for review and is, by our estimation, the very best centrifugal juicer on the market. Are there any circumstances under which we would recommend the Dash juicer for someone looking to purchase a juicer at its price point? No, not really. Its most unique feature is its chrome body which only makes it more difficult to clean. All things considered, we would recommend either options we listed above – either the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro or Breville Juice Fountain Compact – as a much better choice should you be looking to purchase a centrifugal juicer for $100 or less.