Philips itself is the World’s No1 Juicer brand so when I heard that the Philips HR1861 Whole Fruit Juicer has been a best seller for over 2 years and has been winning lots of top awards I decided to check it out further:

The first thing I wanted to look at was the number of 5 star ratings that it had received from happy consumers who had already bought and used it and I wasn't disappointed there as it had received over 450 reviews and over 65% percentage had given it 5 stars and, equally, only 13% had given it below 4 stars. It certainly seemed to be living up to it's reputation with it's users but I wanted to make sure the Philips HR1861 covered all the things that I think make a good juicer.

Is It Easy to Clean?

The most common complaint about juicing is the washing up afterwards. The downside with juicers is that they have a fair few number of different bits that all have to be cleaned and the Philips HR1861 is no exception there but it does make the job really quick and easy to do. It comes with a brush to loosen up any pulp from the filter which really only needs minimum effort and then a quick rinse under the tap and the job's done!. It is also dishwasher safe but it’s so quick and easy to clean that I personally don't think that this is really necessary however I suppose it's nice to know that you could do that if you’re in a real hurry and wanted to just drink and run!

How Much Time Do I Have To Spend Chopping?

The other chore with juicing is having to cut up the fruit and veg into small chunks so they fit into the tube but you don't have to worry too much about this with the Philips HR1861 Whole Fruit Juicer because it can take whole fruits, all they need is a quick wash. When I say whole fruits I mean fruit the size of apples and oranges, you will still have to cut up fruits such as pineapple and melons but the chunks can still be quite large – as long as you can squeeze them into the tube. You don’t even need to core a pineapple just cut a thick chunk, remove the skin and cut into about 3 or 4 wedges. You'll probably want to peel your oranges too but that's nothing to do with the Philips HR1861 it's because the peel is quite bitter and will spoil the taste of your juice - just thinly peel with a knife to leave as much as the pith intact as possible.

Will it Give Me Lots of Juice?

The Philips HR1861 gives you lots of lovely juice from your produce as it squeezes the fruit and veg almost dry. I understand this is due to the powerful 700 watt motor coupled with its patent protected mesh filter but as long as it works do we really need to know this?

Is it Pretty?

What good would any of the above be if it looked plain ugly in your kitchen? Well, because of all the above, I might just forgive it if it did but I have no worries on this front either because the Philips HR1861 Aluminium Whole Fruit Juicer, to give it its full name, is made from a treated aluminium which makes it hard wearing, stain proof and stylish so will carry on looking good just sitting on your work top!

So What's The Downside?

I'm really struggling to come up with something here and all I can say is that the Philips HR1861 Whole Fruit Juicer isn’t the cheapest juicer available on the market but then because of all it has going for it I can't say that I would really expect it to be!