29 December 2012

Product Test: Philips HR1871 Juicer (30 March 2012)




Juice to your health

Thanks to Andrew Baber from Fleishman-Hillard for giving me the opportunity to product test the Philips HR1871 Juicer. After watching a few videos by the ambassador Jason Vale I was familiar with what it could achieve. Its construction is sturdy and parts are easy to put together and take apart. The power of the juicer had no problems juicing whole carrots and apples that could fit in the large chute. The real test for me was how well it washed up. It's promoted as a quick clean and achievable within a minute but in real world testing I found this not quite achievable and closer to two minutes. The reason being I'm trying to empty the pulp into a small bin so it takes time to be careful and clean. If you have a small sink this doesn't allow you to do as quick a hand wash than having a large sink because you need to be more careful not to splash water all over the place like a dolphin. Having little bench space to put parts out to dry can also be a time and space challenge. The biggest cleaning challenge is the metal filter sieve. Videos will say you can simply rinse easily under water but I never found this effective enough to actually get all the fruit and vegetable pulp out of the holes. I needed to use a cleaning sponge to give it a fairly decent scrub to do a proper job.

Here's a great demonstration video of the juicer in action by Appliances Online. The only downside of the video is that it actually doesn't show it being cleaned after use. A review by Choice gives it 4 out of 5 stars. If you like juicing fruit and vegetables for a healthy drink then this juicer will definitely perform well. Whether you keep using it after time will come down to how much you like washing it up. Even if you can achieve the one minute wash up it's still washing up to be done. I'd love a juicer that can self clean itself after use but perhaps I'm dreaming.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Easy to use, Powerful, Simple design to take apart and put back together, No need to peel or cut most fruit and vegetables except oranges, Nutrient rich drinks, Tastes good, Healthy end product
CONS: You still need to clean it after use, Spout prone to drips after juicing, Takes up a fair amount of bench space, Makes a fair amount of noise when juicing
MUST TRY: Using it as often as possible for healthy drinks
VERDICT: It's a powerful and easy to use juicer but will still require washing up after use. 
Most fruit and vegetables can be juiced whole, although oranges need to be peeled 

Large chute can handle a lot at one time


Whole apples can be juiced if they fit in the chute


The metal filter is the most time consuming part to clean but relatively easy with a bit of scrubbing with a sponge or brush. I couldn't achieve a proper clean by simply running under water.

Pulp is fairly dry and easy to clean out. Much easier discarding in a large bin than a small one.

At times some bits would get stuck in the central cutter which can be a little tricky to clean out. A toothpick would do the job.

Serving up juice in a wine glass makes it more special


3 comments:

Unknown said...

ohh good timing with this blogpost Simon! I was thinking about getting one of these juice machines the other day but I hesitated because of the amount of cleaning up. In saying that, like you said, it seems easy to use considering you don't need to feel or cut most of the fruit.

Milktea Eats said...

love the looks of this juicer, im in need of a juicer like this as well, need a big chute!

Simon Leong said...

hi shanshan, if you wanted to borrow mine to try it out let me know. i'll also be doing another review on the juicepresso cold press juicer in case you're looking at those types of machines.

hi milkteaxx, the large chute definitely helps to cut down time since you can feel so much through it.

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