Philips HR 1858

I like gadgets, some things I buy (the ice cream maker, candy flosss maker, milk shake maker etc)get used once and put into the cupboard and forgotten. I'd fancied having a juicer for a while, new gadget and I like fresh juices. I was in Makro and saw the Phillips HR1858 on Special ,it was about £50 (incl VAT), the list price is £99.99 although you can get for around £65. It was a pure impulse buy.

So my new toy and I arrived home ...
...way home,to get some fruit to juice. Like al ittle kid I ripped open the box to get at the contents.

It came with what looked like a really useful instruction book, fairly well written, although there were acouple of extra bits of paper with two lines of information on each. It ws if they'd written the instruction book, had it printed and suddenly realise that they'd forgotten something. It was all printed on recycled friendly (so ... more

I like gadgets, some things I buy (the ice cream maker, candy flosss maker, milk shake maker etc)get used once and put into the cupboard and forgotten. I'd fancied having a juicer for a while, new gadget and I like fresh juices. I was in Makro and saw the Phillips HR1858 on Special ,it was about £50 (incl VAT), the list price is £99.99 although you can get for around £65. It was a pure impulse buy.

So my new toy and I arrived home together, only pausing to call in at Saindsbury's, on the way home,to get some fruit to juice. Like al ittle kid I ripped open the box to get at the contents.

It came with what looked like a really useful instruction book, fairly well written, although there were acouple of extra bits of paper with two lines of information on each. It ws if they'd written the instruction book, had it printed and suddenly realise that they'd forgotten something. It was all printed on recycled friendly (so very eco friendly). There was also afree book written by Jason Vale (one of the god' in juicing apparently ) - on how to lose 7 pounds in 7 days and they weren't talking about sterling...Were they trying to tell me that I'm fat and need to lose weight...

I've actually read the book from cover to cover. Apart from a few rather bizarre and incredibly expensive juicing recipes it is full of some nice recipes and some really helpful tips about using a juicer. I've never actually owned one before. The two most importand tips I think are firstly don't put it in a cupboard. If you do it'll be like the candy floss maker, you'll forget about it and never use it. So mine lives on the work top next to the Kenwood Chef mixer. Secondly and most importantly always clean it as soon as you've used it. It is actually really easy to clean the Juiicer, you dismantle it rinse some of the bits under hot water, the filter takes a bit of scrubbing with a plastic brush. Wipe the machine down job done in about 4 minutes. The instruction book gives a detailed breakdown of how to clean it. If' however you don't do immediately and let the pulp dry it takes ages gto get it off.

It also has a Manufacturers' 2 year guarantee. You need to keep the original receipt in case of a claim under the warranty.

The HR 1858 is a whole fruit juicer which basically means that unless its a large piece of fruit/vegetable that most stuff can be juiced whole. It saves messing about cutting it up. Most , with the exception of things with thick skins - oranges, pineapple, grapefruit etc, is juiced with the skin on. I have to say I wish that it could handle oranges with the skin on but it can't. There are certain types (not many it has to be said) of fruit that it can't handle. there's a list in the instruction book but its' basically bananas, mangoes, papaya, avocados and figs). Apparently its' all to do with the startch in them.

The juicer has a 650watt motor, so its' actually quite powerful. It works on a centrifuge. It get an incredible amount of juice out of both fruit and vegetables. It seems to be really efficient in that way. When i've emptied the pulp container, the pulp feels almost dry.

The juicer is two speed, the lower speed tends to be for soft fruits raspberries etc with the higher speed for harder fruits and vegetables (apples, celery etc). There is a list in the instruction book. The instruction book also, rather helpfully identifies which vitamins are in which fruit/vegetables. As you may have gathered it juices fruit and vegetables. I've made some really flavoursome (that's a nice word) mixed fruit/vegetable juices.

The Juicer is heavy it weighs just over 4.1kg (around 9Llbs), it also has suckers on its' underside to secure it to the work surface, to stop it moving when it juices - it can vibrate a bit. The problem tho' is that it can be quite difficult to move sometimes, it could be difficult for someone who is elderly or disabled.

It is also quite high, 38 cm (15") so you need quite a bit of height clearance both to store it and also to use it.

Getting back to the box. The Juicer is, as usual - the campaign to cut down on packaging starts here!!! - well wrapped in polystyrene and plastic. It comes in a number of different bits. The Base unit, which is the heavy bit which in my case is white plastic but you can get this model in stainless steel. A separate pulp collector that is actually really useful. It holds a lot of pulp, around two litres in volume - which is a lt of fruit and vegetables. It's unlikely that you'd need to empty it mid juicing.

A jug for collecting the Juice. This holds 2 pints and has measuring markings on the outside. It aldso comes with a lid a foam separator (you have to click them into place - its' all the instructions). A Juice collector (basically it colects the juice from the filter and funnels it into the jug), a Filter, a lid with a feeding chute and finally a pusher.

After reading the incredibly easy instructions. I washed the washable bits and assembled it. Now as I've said before I am not mechanically minded but this is a doddle. Assembly takes thirty seconds. You put the juice collector onto the base, put the filter into the top of the collector, twist it in, put the pulp collector onto the side, put the lid on, secure the lid with two really easy big white clips. Put the jug underrneath the spout and its assembled. Switch on at the plug. Job done.It takes longer to type it than it does do it.

The actual juicing is a doddle, its' all in the instruction book, but basically you just drop the fruit/veg in and push it though slowly (you get the most juice out that way) or even just put another piece of fruit in (that pushes the one beneath into the filter). I've juiced all sorts of stuff and produced some really great juices. I didn't ever realise how nice pear juice was. The Juicer comes with a pusher to feed the fruit/veg into it. There is no way that smal fingers could get anywhere near the business end of the Juicer. It does make a bit of noise when its' juicing- but that's half the fun - you can hear it happen. Kids love to have fresh juices made. It is great to see the look on a 3 year olds' face when you present him with a jglass of strawberry juice (well strawberry with a bit of pear to sweeten it) and then have to show him how it works because he tells you tha it can't be strawberry because you eat strawberries.

It also vibrates a bit but the suckers on the underside hold it secure.

It's a healthy, and cost effective, way of producing extremely nutritious drinks (even the sugar in the fruit is the right sort of sugar).

Do I use it. Yes. at first it got used every single day, if it moved I tried juicing it. After a while I calmed down a bit and now I use it on average three or four times a week when I create a super healthy drink of apples, Carrots, Apples,Celery, Oranges, Pears and Beetroot. Finishing the juice off by adding some dried Spirulina (a superfood). It takes great.

The only genuine criticism of the juicer is that I have is that I have to peel the oranges. It is possible to buy juicers which take unpeeled fruit but they cost lots more. It is actually the best impulse buy I ever made and probably one of the best buys. I would recommend the Juicer to virtually anyone, just be aware of the weight.  

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