Zulay Kitchen Cast-Iron Orange Juice Squeezer - Easy-to-Clean, Heavy-Duty, Professional Citrus Juicer - Stainless Steel Lemon Squeezer - Manual Citrus Press & Orange Squeezer - Orange Juicer (Black)

Got this next-day - nothing like instant gratification. It arrived double-boxed, plus Amazon's shipping box, though Amazon's tape just barely held. Because of its off-size and heavy weight, Amazon should triple-tape it.I just used it this morning, so I will modify my rating over time if necessary.First, why I bought this. After all, I have a very nice Omega Juicer I've been totally pleased with for over a decade, still going strong. But it's overkill and time-consuming for a quick lemon or orange juicing, plus cleanup. It's excellent for a lot of juicing, but not quick one-offs like this citrus press. And I recently decided to dump sodas in favor of iced lemon-water, and also to drink a mixture of lemon/olive oil/honey in hot water first thing in the morning. You get older, mortality is tapping you on the shoulder, and I want to say Not Yet. I wanted something quicker and easier for use in these specific circumstances.After checking the reviews on competing products, I found the Zulay to have more people with a higher top rating than others, so sprang for it. I also liked the way it looked built and considered the pros and cons in reviews. I was afraid I'd have buyer's remorse: yet another kitchen gadget? But instead, I became convinced it was exactly what I needed and I'd actually use it.Pros:1. It really is easy to clean the removable stainless steel parts. Just turn to unlock them from their little notches and they come right out. If you have a sprayer - that might be all you need.2. They don't intend for you to remove the upper aluminum cone: just spritz it with a little water, wipe off. Easy.3. While it does take a little more effort than I expected to finish squeezing the press, it's not bad. I'm pushing 70 and I can do it.4. It certainly appears to be built to last a lifetime. It is solidly made. I love things that look over-built.5. I bought the "gray" cast iron look instead of the painted ones. I'm not confident of any paint on most surfaces where food can come in contact with a kitchen device, and in addition, my taste in colors might change, or my kitchen colors might change. And I personally like the industrial/commercial look it has. And pretty as it might look, I would stay away from the chrome. While chrome technically doesn't rust, the underlying steel or cast iron will, and you're talking a wet environment in the kitchen, along with citrus acid.6. I didn't realize it had a lifetime warranty. I like that, even though I know that "lifetime" really only means the lifetime of the company. Nevertheless, it gives me confidence that the company stands behind their product. Just register it.7. Pomegranates! I'd never even considered there was a better way to deal with this fruit. I'm looking forward to trying this. Some decent reviews here on this interesting application for this press.Cons:1. Zulay really should include a cheap Allen wrench to adjust the screws. I already have a set, but if you don't, you're going to want one. Mine arrived a little loose, and it will probably take some time to adjust the screws to my liking for both ease of travel, while not flopping down, but without being too hard to press. The one video showing it dropping like a rock is because the screws were loose: it's not a fair concern. At any rate, ease of travel vs the difficulty of the actual press requires the Allen wrench. That's going to vary according to the customer.2. As even the videos show and nearly everyone has said, it will tip unless you use your other hand to steady the rear of the base. I don't find this a big deal, and it's not much effort to steady it that way. Suction cups would probably be adequate, as another competitor has - but then you have to unstick the suction cups, if this press doesn't have a permanent place on your counter. Mine will stay out while at home, but I'm still happy that it's easy to move rather than more stuck to the surface. And in my particular case - I'm going camping with it in my little trailer, so it needs to move when not in use.3. I would like to see Zulay make the upper press cone which comes in contact with the top of the fruit, stainless steel as well, and removeable. This could be a notch-and-turn similar (if a little more tight) to the bottom 2 pieces. Despite assurances to the contrary by the health system, I'm not comfortable with aluminum and food, plus aluminum warps easily if stressed. This is a personal opinion, but I'm sharing it anyway. However, the cone is designed for the fruit and not likely to get warped, and it only is in contact with the top of the fruit, which you're likely throwing away.4. Another reviewer mentioned misalignment. This is rather interesting, and I've taken pictures to try and show what's happening. Basically, it is misaligned at the top of the travel, until you reach the point where you're actually pressing on the fruit, at which point it is almost perfectly aligned. So, yes it is - but no, it isn't, lol. So - Top of Travel = handle all the way up. Bottom of Travel, handle fully pressed down. It IS off just a touch, at least on my unit, but having seen it in action, I don't see this as much of a defect.None of these cons are worth taking a star off for. Taken altogether, I might take a half-star off for them. But none of them came even close to being deal-killers, or make me wish I'd bought something else.So, if you're in the market for a citrus press, or perhaps a pomegranate press, and you think you'll use it a lot, I'd say it's worth the investment. I intend mine to be twice-daily - and now that I've bought it, I need to justify the expense, lol.

I bought this juicer because I was tired of dealing with the deficiencies of my old juicer - a 1950's era Juice King. The Zulay extracted every drop of juice with very little exertion required. The comfortable handle allowed me to squeeze dozens of oranges without causing soreness in my hand. And the relatively deep cup of the Zulay retains all of the juice that sprays out sideways when pressure is applied. The increase in yield I experienced was a pleasant surprise. I was able to get 22 quarts of OJ with the same amount of oranges that had yielded 16 quarts when using the Juice King.I also like the heavy weight (for stability) and the sturdy construction (for performance and longevity). For a juicer that does such a great job and should last forever, a $70 price tag is an excellent value.

Fantastic product! Well made heavy duty construction. The lever mechanism makes easy work of large tasks. Low fatigue. Does a really great job at juicing pomegranates. We have a small pomegranate orchard and make pomegranate jelly. Pomegranates are very labor intensive to harvest, prep and juice. This juicer made the juicing portion of the job much easier. I chose the copper colored juicer. It has a nice rustic antique look to it. The construction and weight help it to stay put on the counter. The lever action is so smooth and easy, it didn't take much muscle to juice a pomegranate. It gives you a lot of power behind your own muscle strength... It actually requires very little muscle strength to use it. It also is not a noisy machine. It moves effortlessly, smoothly and quietly up and down. Never even broke a sweat on the massive amounts of pomegranates that we had to juice. I had bought a juicer years ago and it wasn't very easy to use. I decided to buy a second one to get some help from the family with the juicing process. Turns out the old juicer was such a pain we scrapped it all together. This one juicer worked faster than trying to have two people using one bad juicer and this awesome new one. We ended up just using it with one person loading and squishing the pomegranates and the other one dumping the pomegranates out in a bucket for the chickens to enjoy. I'm probably going to purchase another one for next year. That will really be time saving!