Yes and no. It is quick to pull apart and rinse everything. The screen takes a while to scrub depending on your personal threshold for 'clean enough' as invariably the screen holes will start to plug with food fibers and can take a lot of effort to clear (the included brush does not cut it), but that probably varies depending on what items you juice. I juice every morning and clean the juicer immediately with hot water, soap and a good amount of elbow grease to make sure all parts are clean. Despite that diligence, the problem I found is there are many nooks and crannies for food particles to accumulate despite vigorous washing. Every so often I need to do a 'deep clean' and disassemble more than usual to remove and/or prevent mold building up. This includes removing the yellow silicone wipers from the Auto Cleaner, the center silicone gasket and the gear at the bottom of main bowl (Philips screw driver required). Removal is fairly straight forward but is not covered in the manual. It is not fun to find black gunk hidden in your supposedly clean juicer. Tip: If you do find a mold buildup on the silicone parts, you can soak them in a strong bleach solution to remove. Bottom line, I like the juicing capabilities a lot, but the amount of effort to keep it clean is greater than with a horizontal juicer (like the Omega J8006) that has many fewer parts in contact with the food and less places for crud to build up.

how does this juicer work on vegetables like cabbages and beet roots?

This is the first masticating juicer I have had, so in comparison to the centrifugal ones I previously own -its great. With beets you will definitely get more juice, however with the cabbage I would say its about average. If you havent already I recommend you check youtube for comparisons. There are also some great tips on how to get the most from vegetables such as cabbage, kale and spinach.

We would like to juice, softer foods like pineapple, pears, oranges, grapes along with our greens, will this work well for those items?

It juices all of those items excellently. I juiced pineapple, greens, carrots and beet the other day. One of the videos about juicing I watched on YouTube recommended this juicer as the best for fruit. I have found that for best results, the trick is to alternate items when juicing.

Can you put frozen, rock-hard fruits or veggies in this machine without possibly damaging it?

I haven't tried it. The auger is pretty tough but I cant see how juice will be extracted from frozen material and would imagine pulpy fruits like strawberries and the like will simply get mushed and not juiced. These are probably better off blended. If you want more info try this site, they have some great reviews. http://www.discountjuicers.com/omegavrt330hd.html

ASIN	B00434JINO
Best Sellers Rank	#388,085 in Kitchen & Dining ( See Top 100 in Kitchen & Dining ) #371 in Single Auger Masticating Juicers
Blade Material	Stainless Steel
Brand	Omega
Capacity	4 Pounds
Color	Silver
Customer Reviews	4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,599)
Date First Available	September 14, 2010
Department	unisex
Finish Type	Silver
Global Trade Identification Number	00737416035004
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer	No
Item Weight	18 pounds
Item model number	VRT350
Manufacturer	Omega Juicers
Maximum Power	150 Watts
Model Name	Vertical Low Speed
Number of Speeds	2
Power Source	Corded Electric
Special Feature	Portable
UPC	737416035004
Voltage	110 Volts

VRT350 Vertical Low Speed Juicer, Silver

Details

Description

Specifications

Common Questions