VIVAX SJ-150: Cheap Cold Press Juicer Review

Long ago I've heard about these "slow, cold press juicers", and of all the benefits which they could offer. Unfortunately, that did not motivate me enough to spend 89,273,761,282,423 $ for mere curiosity on their efficacy, so I put those curiosities in the drawer with the rest of the stuff from eBay for which I have no practical use - the fact which did not stop me from ordering tons of them.

And one day, glorious Chinese factories have started to manufacture these things, only 2365 times cheaper. I don't doubt that materials used in these copies are probably far inferior to those used in the expensive original ones, but frankly, I don't care much for that now. I will care of course when it breaks and falls apart, and I assume that will happen about 2 days after the warranty deadline expires.

VIVAX SJ-150 Cold Press Juicer: Currently the most cheapest one (about 120$)

My first attempt to make a juice with VIVAX SJ-150 failed miserably. Things were looking promising in the beginning - I was first squeezing a pineapple, and everything seemed to work fine. There was some juice coming out of one tube (the right one on the pictures), and some dry pulp coming out of the other tube (the left one on the pictures). Then, after adding an apple, a pulp tube congested, and the efficacy of the whole thing went down miserably.

My second attempt to make juice with VIVAX SJ-150 failed miserably. First I was squeezing some kale leaves, and everything seemed fine. Then, after adding apples (déjà vu), same problems occurred as for the first time. Small pulp-ejaculation tube congested again, and nothing was coming out of it. Auger was trying to push out the pulp, but he failed miserably. The strainer was full of wet pulp, which looked miserable. And at the end, when we try to sum up these stories, it seems like they are somewhat miserable ones.

Then it hit me. In order to get far less miserable results, you need to follow some rules with these cold press juicers:

1. Chop all the ingredients into smaller parts, and don't push them down the feed chute unless absolutely necessarily. 
2. First add softer ingredients.
3. Then add harder ingredients.

Following these simple rules made results in the third attempt truly excellent. You can check out the whole process in pictures below. 

Assembling the juicer part 1: Base

Assembling the juicer part 2: Adjusting the bowl

Assembling the juicer part 3:
Throwing in the strainer and the spinning brush

Assembling the juicer part 4:
Adjusting the hopper/feed chute

Assembling the juicer part 5:
Adding the juice (transparent)
and pulp (black) containers

First ingredient: A medium-sized apple

First ingredient: medium-sized apple chopped to smaller pieces with seeds removed

Assembling the juicer part between 3 and 4:
Found an extra part lying around: Squeezing Screw/Auger.
Apparently we might need that :)

First ingredient squeezing results

Second ingredient: A somewhat-larger-than-medium-sized apple. 

Second ingredient: A somewhat-larger-than-medium-sized apple chopped, seeds removed.

Second ingredient: Squeezing in progress

Second ingredient: Squeezing results

Pulp so far 

Third ingredient:
Fairly-sized carrot

Third ingredient:
fairly-sized carrot in perspective

Third ingredient:
chopped to smaller pieces

Work in progress

Third ingredient: squeezing results

Fourth ingredient: Kale

Fourth ingredient Kale chopped to smaller pieces

Work in progress with fourth ingredient (kale)

Fourth ingredient (kale): squeezing results

Fifth ingredient: Another carrot, with size perspective

Fifth ingredient: Another carrot, chopped, with size perspective

Fifth ingredient: squeezing results

The End: Resulting pulp from 2 apples, 2 carrots, several leafs of kale

Final pulp quantity in perspective

The End: Disassembling the juicer, removing the hopper

The End: Disassembling the juicer, removing the hard-working auger

The End: Disassembling the juicer, removing the strainer and the spinning brush

Resulting juice in the container detail 

Inside of the bowl, pulp ejection tube detail

The bowl detail

The strainer and the spinning brush bottom detail

The strainer and the spinning brush detail

The Result from squeezing 2 apples, 2 carrots and several leaves of kale: more than 500 mL of fresh juice

VIVAX SJ-150 Cold Press Juicer The Good

1. Excellent squeezing results.
2. Pulp is very compressed and fairly dry.
3. Small amounts of pulp.
4. Quieter than centrifugal juicers.
5. Not too many parts for cleaning.
6. Value for the money.
7. Decent quality.

VIVAX SJ-150 Cold Press Juicer The Bad

1. You still need to clean all the parts after use ("Self cleaning" marketing is rubbish.)
2. Irritating motor noise.
3. Pulp tube could easily clog if not following instructions from this review.
4. Only 1 year warranty. Sounds particularly suspicious when taking into account planned obsolescence.

Should you buy this thing? If you are looking for a way cheaper alternative for typically ultra-expensive cold press juicers, don't look any further. This is your guy. Or a girl.