The Juiceman Jr Juicer has been around since the 1990’s and is a favorite in many households. This revamped version of the Jr Juicer, the JM400 is a modern counterpart to those early 90’s juicers.

With a 700 watt motor, stainless steel exterior, two speed LCD control, and childproof safety switch, the Jr is all grown up now.

So what’s it like to use one? The JM400 Jr is quick and easy. Like its big brother, the Juiceman Juicer Pro JM503, the redesign process was well thought out by the designers. The slightly larger than average feed chute means less pre-chopping which translates to less time spent in the kitchen getting your juice ready.

It’s a centrifugal juicer, which means it is quick and easy to take apart, clean, and set up compared to single gear, twin gear, and masticating style juicers. While not quite as fast at juicing as the Breville Juice Fountain Compact (also priced at $99), it is still quite fast and manages to juice a much larger variety of produce than the comparable budget Breville model.

It’s 2 speed controls allows for a low speed when juicing soft fruits, berries and citrus along with the standard high speed for juicing harder fruits and veggies.

It’s a centrifugal design, which are typically fast and easy to use and clean, but don’t extract quite as much juice as pricier and slower twin gear, single gear, and masticating juicers. Centrifugal juicers also have a tendency to heat up the juice slightly, so you will experience some slight enzyme loss compared to other styles.

However the Juiceman Jr Juicer isn’t the worst at juice heat, especially when compared to the cheaper $30 juicer brands.

So what about cleanup time? Like the Juiceman Pro, the Juiceman Jr is an easy-breezy clean up. There are very few parts, they are all dishwasher safe, and very easy to remove and reassemble. The stainless steel body, a luxury in this price range, cleans with a damp cloth. It means an end to white plastic juicer housing stained orange from carrots! We love stainless steel on a juicer, and are very pleased to find it in an under $100 model.

Our final tally for ease of use? We give the Juiceman Jr Juicer JM400 a maximum five lime review rating out of five possible. It is intuitively designed, easy to use, easy to clean, and easy to assemble.

Juicing Performance

So, how does the Juiceman Jr Juicer perform? For an under $100 model the variety of produce that the Juiceman Juicer Jr JM400 handles is impressive. Most juicer reviews we do in this price range reveal a common hangup: the inability to handle soft fruits, berries, greens, citrus, and sometimes even standard hard veggies.

The Juiceman Jr on the other hand actually does what it says it will. It manages to squeeze juice out of difficult greens (excluding wheatgrass which often needs a dedicated wheatgrass juicer). It also handles soft fruits and even citrus.

Compare this to two other comparably priced juicers, the Magic Bullet Juicer and the Breville Juice Fountain Compact, and you’ll see why it’s so impressive. The Magic Bullet (currently on our Don’t Buy Warning list) handles citrus and fruit but strains under common hard veggies like carrots. The Breville Juice Fountain Compact handles hard veggies like a champ but fails to do soft fruits, berries and citrus.

The Juiceman Jr in comparison, is quite versatile. It does get hung up on the softest of all fruits, the notorious berries, which many juicers struggle with. It manages to juice them, but often the berries end up coming out seeming more like a puree than a juice.

If you’ve got your heart set on the Juiceman Jr and you absolutely must juice berries, you can work around this issue by alternating a handful of berries with a handful of harder fruits or vegetables.

All in all, it’s wide range of produce capabilities makes it a top choice in the under $100 category. It handles this wide range due to it’s 2 speed function which is something lacking in the Breville Compact which is a 1 speed juicer.

So what about juice yield? Fairly good. It’s much better at extracting juice than bargain basement $30 models, but doesn’t hold a candle to a pricier single gear juicer, twin gear juicer, or even a masticating juicer. But that’s to be expected with a model under $100. It does have a tendency to produce a lot of froth and foam, and it heats the juice more than its big brother the Juiceman Juicer Pro.

The final tally? It beats out the competition when it comes to juice performance in this price range! Despite a bit of froth and warmth in the final juice, we’re going with 5 limes out 5 for the performance juicer review rating.

Durability

How durable is the Juiceman Jr Juicer? You won’t find many complaints of motor burn-out in this revamped model. Its 700 watts are strong enough for all the hard veggies you want to throw at it. It’s a nice upgrade because many juicers in this price range have much lower wattage motors (excluding the Breville compact which equals it at 700 watts).

The Juiceman Jr is a little less durable feeling than the Juiceman Juicer Pro. It’s got standard stainless steel cutting blades instead of titanium coated, a 700 watt motor vs. 1000 watts, and 2 speed settings instead of 3. It’s also got a lower price tag by $80 though and the trade-off will be worth it for folks looking for an inexpensive but versatile juicer.

One feature we particularly like is the stainless steel body will retain it’s “new” look for years to come. No stained orange casing for this juicer! You can proudly display it on your countertop full-time and it will hold its weight against your other stainless steel appliances.

Durability drawbacks include the pathetically short 1 year warranty and the lack of easy replacement parts from its parent company, Salton. Replacement parts can be found at online shops, but ordering straight from Salton can be a bit of a nightmare. Expect out of stocks and slow, slow shipping.

Also, with this company, since they introduce upgrades to their Juiceman Jr and Juiceman Pro juicer line regularly, parts for your juicer may not be available 10 years down the line. This downfall makes the Juiceman line a good option because they are durable, but bad when it comes to owning a juicer “for life”.

So, even though Juiceman Juicer Jr JM400’s have a great good track record when it comes to durability, we’re still deducting 1 lime due to the replacement part issue and short warranty. The final word for durability? We give the JM400 Jr Juicer 4 limes out of 5 for our durability review rating.

Who should Buy the Juiceman Jr Juicer

The Juiceman Junior Juicer JM400 is a sassy little juicing machine with an amazing juicing capability when it comes to variety. It’s not the strongest beast on the market, but for the $100 juicer reviews category its a feisty contender. We definately prefer it to the t.v. infomercial Magic Bullet juicer. It also comes out on top when compared to the $99 Breville Juice Fountain Compact.

It’s sassy and cute in stainless steel, has a decent motor for vroom power, and has reputable durability. Most folks don’t expect a $100 juicer to last for 10 or more years, and the Juiceman Jr Juicer actually does last that long for many.

While it doesn’t compare to higher end juicers for juice yield, juice heat, and durability, it makes a strong showing in the inexpensive $100 category. It’s good for budget-minded shoppers looking to buy a juicer for casual juicing, or for people wanting to try out juicing for the first time.

Serious juice enthusiasts may want to look further, especially if you are interested in juicing wheatgrass or putting the motor through a marathon run of several quarts of juice every day. But for casual juicing several times a week we give the Juiceman Jr Juicer a hearty two thumbs up.

The final verdict? 4 1/2 limes out of 5!!!

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