Housewares Reviews

I owned this Rice Cooker for about 6 months. After some helpful tips I finally found out how to make perfect rice with this thing.
1) throughly clean your rice before putting it in the Rice Cooker.
2) Let the 1.25 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice.
3) Let the rice soak for 20 minutes before you power on the thing.

All in all, for $... this is a good deal, but this cooker doesn't last. Give it 1 year and it will die on you. My advice is to go for a more expensive model if you want something to last. If you want to experiment with a rice cooker then snag this one. better yet, get the 3 cup version for $...

Over and over and over I see everyone complaining about these rice cookers burning rice. Well you know what they are supposed to burn rice! I had one of these for 3 years and each and every time it would burn rice on the bottom and sides. All my friends had various kinds too and they also burnt rice each and every time. I expected it to, just like cooking rice in a pot thats what allowed the rice in the middle to cook properly. Also don't worry, you don't ever eat burnt rice unless of course you sat there and scrapped the burnt stuff off the sides.

These cookers work fine for cooking rice, but expect to have to soak the pan in water for a few hours and scrape the burnt rice off. Also if you are timid about burnt rice stop complaining when you only spent 30 dollars. To get no burnt rice everytime you are going to have to fork over 150 dollars at least for the fuzzy logic ones and they are worth every penny.

After reading all the negative reviews this rice cooker received, I felt the need to stand up and battle back! This rice cooker is simple to use and the clean-up is a breeze. Simply measure out the amount of rice you want to use and rinse it thoroughly prior to placing it in the pan. Add 1 1/2 cups of water for EVERY cup of rice you measured out. Place the lid on top, plug it in and push the "cook" button. Done! Shortly afterwards the alarm will go off and your rice is cooked. I suggest stirring it immediately, covering it and leaving it stand for an extra 5-10 minutes.

I just cannot relate to all these complaints about "burnt rice" and having to scrape it from the sides! For the price it's simply a no-brainer! The 10-cup feature is a bonus too! I love making rice for big groups and I always offer to bring some type of rice dish to any potluck!!!

There are plenty of choices for other rice cookers on this website and in the stores but I just don't see the need to spend more $$$ when this rice cooker does the job!

I've had my Omega 1000 juicer for about a year. I used it around 30 times when POOF! That was it, the motor burned out. Then I spent five minutes on the Web to discover that it's a "1/3 horsepower" juicer. That's a little less than 250 watts.

Other models like the L'Equip 110.5 Mini Pulp Ejector Juicer (rated better and less expensive than the Omega 1000) put out 600 watts. Even the Omega 8005 produces only 1/3 horsepower.

If you go to Bizrate.com, on the page where the 8005 is displayed, it posts a power rating of 1/3 hp. Yet if you click on the "What's this?" next to the "Power" heading, you're told:

"Power: Determine the wattage rating on the juicer. If you're juicing hard produce, the more watts, the better. A motor rating of 450 watts or greater is recommended."

Translated to hp, Bizrate.com recommends a bit more than 1/2 horsepower as the minimum acceptable hp. Shame on me for not spending the time to research this before buying.

I'm not abusive with mechanical devices. I was grinding a tough material, parsley. That's supposed to be OK. I let up evertime the RPM's slowed significantly, i.e., I was careful. Bizrate.com's advice is right on the mark: 250 watts (1/3 hp) just isn't enough. Don't buy this or any sub-.5 hp juicer unless you're juicing material that's already soft.

I bought this juicer after doing some research, and reading several positive reviews. Now I wonder if these people really are using their juicer on a daily basis or just once a year.

I have three problems with this Juicer:
1) The spout is very small. I have to cut up my apples into 6 pieces before I can feed it through.
2) After one glass of juice, I have to clean it out and remove the pulp.
3) But the biggest disspointment was that it started rattleing and making such a HUGE noise, that I had to turn it off.
I called the company and they said that sometimes the spout it to close to the blade. They suggested that I send it in, of course at my expense.

I am shopping for a new juicer, one that ejects the pulp and I dont have to clean in-between juicing.
I would not recommend this juicer.

My experience is limited to the Omega 1000 and 4000. Both are very good machines, but one of them has some distinct advantages.

As the other reviewers have noted, this machine is very solidly built & should easily outlast the 15 year warranty. In fact, it might outlive the 4000.

Why? Because the 4000 is so much more pleasant to use that you will use it more, because the operating principle is a little different.

Both machines have a chute that you feed fruits & vegatables into. At the bottom of the chute is a stainless steel disc/blade that grinds up the food into a pulp.

On the 1000 model, the pulp is thrown out by centrifugal force into a drum that is just like a washing machine drum - it is perforated stainless that traps the pulp on the inside and allows the juice to strain out. Just like on a washing machine spin cycle, it is possible to get the contents out of balance so that the whole machine shakes & makes a real racket! This is very easy to do on the 1000 if you load apples or other foods with skins, because the skin will often stay intact so it has to go on one spot on the drum, throwing it out of balance like a pair of jeans. There are some "tricks" that help in this case, such as saving some carrots for this emergency. Many times feeding a carrot will stop the shaking.

Another consequence of the "spin-cycle" approach is that after you have feed a few pieces of fruit, the pulp in the drum can clog, trapping all the juice inside. This happens especially when you try to juice bananas, pineapple or strawberries. I am able to do strawberries & bananas with the 4000 as long as I alternate fruits. The bananas still goo up the insides, but a couple slices of apple get things flowing again. With the 1000, it was a lost cause.

The model 4000 works differently because the spinning drum is cone-shaped, which forces the pulp to ride up the sides of the drum for a brief period & then it flies out into a pulp ejector chute. This means the 4000 never gets the shakes like the 1000, and also the drum stays much cleaner, which allows you to keep juicing much longer. For example, this morning I juiced apples, carrots, celery and grapes in that order on both the 4000 and 1000. Although in both cases I got exactly 12.5 ounces of juice, the juice from the 1000 had no grape color and less grape flavor, because a thick layer of pulp had built up on the inside, which absorbed most of the grape juice.

The other advantage of the 4000 is that it when you turn it off, it stops in just a few seconds. On the 1000, it continues to spin for much longer because of the heavy food in the drum, dribbling all the while and sometimes walking across your countertop!

So I give 5 stars to the 4000, and only 4 stars to the 1000. The 1000 does have an optional citrus juicing attachment that is rather nice. If you can't stand pulp, the 1000 also accepts some very inexpensive coffee-filter-like filters that virtually eliminate pulp from the apple-carrot-celery etc. types of juices and make cleanup easier. You really can't use them with tomatoes, strawberries, etc., because it will clog instantly.

Cleanup is pretty easy on both, once you get the hang of it. The only tricky part is getting the pulp out of the strainer. I use a stainless scrubby pad gently on both sides, which seems to work well on both models.

The 1000 is better than I am describing, but loses a star for occasional vices.