Magimix Le Duo Juice Extractor Chrome/Charcoal Finish

The Le Duo Juice Extractor is small and stylish enough to leave out on a work surface all the time (which should encourage you to get your daily dose of juice), and the powerful motor does a good job of juicing just about anything.

The juicer bowl fits over the base and locks firmly into place; there are no latches or arrows to remind you how to unlock it and it does lock very firmly so you need to push hard to get it off again. The spout on the side lets the juice pour straight into a jug or glass--though it's not quite high enough to fit a pint glass under.

There are two attachments that fit on top of the juicer bowl: a press for citrus fruits and a juice extractor for any other kind of fruit. The citrus press has a large cone for grapefruit and a smaller cone for oranges; limes and lemons are a little too small to juice effectively but the press is strong enough to let you push down firmly on an orange to get all the juice out.

The juice extractor has a fairly narrow feed tube so you'll need to chop apples and pears into quarters. Push them down the feed tube and the juice pours out almost immediately; the grater shreds the fruit finely and centrifugal force pushes the pulp up against the fine mesh at the side, straining the juice into the bowl. It copes well with fibrous produce such as pineapple, melon or even ginger, and it filters out pips, stalks, skin and seeds. The weight of the motor stops the juicer moving around unless the basket gets really full, and the speed of the motor presses the juice out of the fruit, leaving you with fairly dry pulp to scoop out.

Cleaning is the tedious part with any juicer and you do need to scoop out the pulp before it dries on, but the spatula fits perfectly into the basket so you can get the worst out very quickly. All the removable parts are dishwasher safe if the pulp does get stuck on; even the spout comes out of the bowl if you need to clean it so you're ready to get juicing again quickly. --Mary Branscombe

Speaking of the basket, if you are a greedy beast like me and like a good few glassfuls at each go (I'm talking a pint or more here depending on what you're juicing), you may need to empty the residue basket mid juicing as it can get pretty full round the edges and vibrate horribly across the worktop and leak a bit.

And don't chuck away the spatula to clean out the basket either as you'll need it handy to scrape out the leftovers to your compost heap before giving it a wash. You have to do this part pretty quick as if leftovers dry up then it's fairly ugly to clean all the nooks and crannies in the basket when the leftovers have cemented themselves to everything.

On the design side, it would be easier to dismantle if someone had the foresight to put some grooves or handholds onto the thing to get a good grip to pull it apart. This was a real down point initially as it was very stiff until used a bit. Now I've got my own technique but ask anyone else in the household to take it apart and they'd probably fail miserably. It is not at all intuitive and no guides or arrows are to be seen on the juicer itself to help out.

Yes, I could have bought a juicer that took a whole apple in one go without having to chop it into quarters to fit in the feed tube but this is not really much hardship. I did contemplate a juicer with a separate residue basket too but I'm glad I didn't as I've since read up that they don't produce so much juice. (Purists would argue you should consume the residue too but I'll pass on that.) Also, this one works on centrifugal force so maximises the juice output and hence nutrition content which is what I'm after.

The citrus part is very good and quick. 5/6 medium oranges will give over a pint. You need to press down on the citrus press top whilst the motor is running to get most of the juice out but you never hear it complaining.

The spout perplexed me initially and the first few goes the juice spewed out the middle of the machine until I realised I hadn't got the spout open! You'll be able to fit a pint jug underneath the spout but not a pint glass (too tall).

Conclusion. All in all, it wasn't the cheapest but it's been reliable, efficient, looks good and the juices taste even better! (Have a gawk at Micheal Van Straten's SUPER JUICE book for some yummy ideas- even the book looks good!; the recipes with Le Duo are not too inspiring) . Instructions are concise, and the juicer robust. Once you've made friends with your juicer and keep him somewhere you can access him easily and you'll not be disappointed.


Just the best !   April 11, 2003
Mr. C. B. Gregory (Odiham, Hook, Hampshire England)
43 out of 45 found this review helpful

A solid juicer which feels like it will last for ever with its powerful motor. Results are superb and much better than our old unit. I am not sure how this happens but the juices, apples, oranges as well as the excellent recipies (jncl carrots) in the accompanying manual are just superb. Only drawback is that the cleaning is a chore, so make sure than you don't want to make just one glass of juice. Some may find the weight an inconvenience too. Really pleased with our purchase.


Excellent   January 9, 2006
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

I bought this juicer as it was one of the most expensive and the old saying 'you get what you pay for' is true. This juicer is simply excellent. Not only is it easy to use but also easy to clean. The only slightly annoying thing is none of my glasses are short enough to fit under the spout so have had to buy shorter ones which don't tend to hold very much juice before you have to swap it. However apart from this the juicer has been well worth the money. I would recommend to anyone, in fact, I have bought one for my mum for her birthday!


wonderful healthy drinks   March 26, 2004
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

EXCELLENT...is the first word that comes to mind. Very simple to operate and clean. The extractor and the citrus press are both efficient at providing a good quantity of juice. Straight after using remove the very dry pulp with the spatula provided; rinse under a running tap and put in the dishwasher, as easy as that ! I do have Michael Van Straten's book Super Juices as well as the recipe book that came with it but have so far just used the fruit and veg that I already had and made some lovely drinks, that all the family have enjoyed. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good quality well made juicer.


Nothing but good juice !   February 2, 2004
21 out of 24 found this review helpful

we have had nothing but great juice out of this machine, it's quiet, quick and easy to clean, the juice pours out into a jug and it's then a simple case to scrape out the pulp and bung the whole thing (almost) into the dishwasher.

the only minor problem is the citrus press, it spins too fast, I would prefer it if it was about half the speed and then it would be easier to press the fruit down by hand rather than use the plastic press which is awkward.

but, I discovered last night that if you just take the outer skin off a lemon or orange, you can just juice it in the normal way!

it's great and I've just sold one to my parents as well !!