Juiced in Time (Magimix Le Duo Chrome Juice Extractor)

Member Name: izzywizzy

Product:	Magimix Le Duo Chrome Juice Extractor
Date:	10/01/04 (3113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Heavy duty, reliable motor, five year guarantee, easy to clean

Disadvantages: Expensive, need to empty the pulp regularly if juicing large quantities

It has been an absolute joy to own this machine, which was bought as a replacement for a Kenwood juicer.

HOW IT WORKS
The Magimix Le Duo works like a large centrifuge, spinning the fruit at high speed and extracting the juice through tiny holes in the outside of the spinning drum. The base of the drum has serrations to cut up the fruit, and fruit is put in through a tube in the transparent lid. A plunger is provided to push the fruit down through the tube so that it is broken up by the serrated base of the drum as the drum spins.

The base and sides of the drum are made from a heavy grade stainless steel, the rest of the accessible parts are plastic and the chrome model has a chrome finish on the outside of the machine. The lid is made from a transparent plastic. The plunger is a a dark coloured plastic. The plunger is hollow and can come apart for cleaning (although this is not really necessary).

EASE OF USE
Extremely easy to use, the juicer can cope with 500g (a pound) of fruit at a time, before you need to remove the pulp. I have successfully used it to juice apples, pineapple, gooseberries, raspberries, apricots, grapes, and even coconut to make coconut milk! I never liked apple juice before I tried it with this machine - its fantastic (my husband bought a load of windfalls this autumn and used the juice to make cider, which was lovely). We also juiced 27 pounds of blackberries. When juicing large amounts of fruit, I have found it necessary to let the machine cool down for an hour after juicing about 7 pounds of soft fruit. There is an auto cut out to prevent the motor over heating, but my machine has become quite hot on occasion and I didn't wait fot the cut-out to operate.

It is essential to empty the fruit pulp regularly. If you continue to add fruit to the machine, eventually it starts to vibrate and becomes unstable. It will then begin to rotate and wobble across the work surface. If this happens hit the st
op button, remove the fruit pulp, replace the lid and away you go.

You need to chop large fruit (for example, apples should be quartered), but you don't have to remove peel, apples cores, stalks, etc. since they are all removed from the juice in the sieving process. Some people think pips should be removed from apples if the juice is going to be served to children, saying that the pips release cyanide. I do not believe this is necessary. The pips are not ground up in this juicer, but are left whole in the pulp. I certainly don't believe commercial companies go in for pip removal when making huge quantities of juice!

CLEANING
The simple design makes it easy to clean, and Magimix even provide a tool for removing fruit pulp so that you can continue to use your machine without having to wash it all up each time you empty the pulp. Compared to my old Kenwood juicer, the Le Duo is a dream to use. It has fewer parts to wash up and they are much easier to clean. The hardest bit to wash up is the drum since small pieces of fruit pulp can easily get left behind. I have found that it helps to use the pulp removing tool to remove fruit pulp from the inner surface of the drum while turning the drum slowly under a running tap. The other pieces are all easily cleaned with a washing up brush, with no difficult nooks and crannies to get into. The spout is cleverly hinged so that it can be opened for cleaning.

My one gripe is that the parts can't be put through a normal dishwasher cylce (they require low temperature and non-abrasive detergents). Having said that, the juicer parts are easily cleaned with a soft cloth or washing-up brush in soapy water.

WARNING
Watch your fingers on the inside base of the drum when taking apart for cleaning - there are some very sharp little serrations.

RELIABILITY
There is a heavy-duty commercial grade motor with a 5-year guarantee, although I don't think you'll need the gua
rantee! The machine seems to be very sturdy and well put together.Spare parts are readily available - magimix machines are built to last and to be repaired (very refreshing in today's throw away society!). Try the following webpage for spare parts for the le duo: http://www.spares2go.co.uk/browse/LE_DUO/Juice_Ext ractor/MAGIMIX/m144/p4617.htm

USER'S MANUAL
Comprehensive and full of imaginative ideas. There is a user manual, guarantee, order form with a list of attachments and replacement parts, and a separate juicing recipe booklet with lots of great recipes.

ACCESSORIES
Comes with a citrus press attachment that has two differently sized cores, so that you can squeeze everything from lemons to grapefruit. The citrus press has a lever arm to hold fruit while the central core spins, extracting the juice. With my old juicer the fruit was cut in half and then held with a hand onto the spinning core. This is fine if there is only one piece of fruit to juice, but if you wanted to make a jug of orange juice you would end up with vibration white fingers! The lever arm is great. It holds the fruit in place for you and saves your fingers (it also means my fingers don't get so dirty :-) The attachment is very similar to the citrus press that comes with Magimix's 5100 food processor. In fact, the cleaning tools for the two machines are identical.

COST (prices correct 4th January 2004)
Now for the bad news. If you want to buy one of these beauties, it'll normally set you back £119 (Comet) or £118 (John Lewis). You can save about £20 by going for a white one instead of the chrome model (white £99.95 Comet, £99.50 John Lewis). If you're really lucky, you might be able to get one on sale. The best price I could find today is £99.97 from Amazon. Most high street shops will charge you around £119.

COLOUR
The machine is available in various colours, including chrome, white, blue, cream and mustard yellow. Ther
e is otherwise no difference between these machines apart from the price.

SUMMARY
This machine is nothing like those cheap juicers we've all seen in the supermarkets (such as my old Kenwood JE550). It oozes quality. It is heavy, robust, repairable. It is a joy to use. It is, in my opinion, worth every penny of its admittedly hefty price tag. If you want to do some serious juicing, this is the machine to choose.

Summary: