BenrinerHorizontal BN-8W Spiral Vegetable Slicer, White, ABS Plastic

This was bought as an experiment to see if Spiralising veg would work for me in a recent drive to eat more healthily. I watched some tv and online demos, most seemed to be quite big, plastic and with lots of bits - and a fair bit of food wasted. I bought a vertical one from Lakeland but found it too hard on my hands to use, plus very awkward to have to keep on disassembling/reassembling it when doing a good quantity of veg, so it went back.Then I saw this. It seemed expensive but to have good reviews and also, to be small and neat. I did contact the seller to ask what to do if UK customs duty was applied, and had a very polite reply that if that happened, all I had to do was take a photo of the form and send it to them for a refund. It came much quicker than I expected. Once I had worked out how to use it (not so good at following directions) it has performed well.It is well-balanced, sturdy and neat, takes only a moment to set up, swop blades or clean. Most importantly, my hands are strong enough to use it. Be careful of the blades, they are super sharp. There is no bowl to catch the veg noodles (or their juice), so I stand it in a shallow container, on a damp dishcloth to keep it all firm - job done. The veg tried so far are potatoes, cucumber, carrots - all great. Takes up very little space and is easy to store - the blades are safely in a little matchbox sized storage box. Glad I have it, sure it will last a long time.

I was really concerned when the package arrived as the box was really small and light!I should not have been worried at all! The spiral cutter is quite small, but pretty robust. It is made of nylon and the blades are really sharp. There are 3 blades and they cut really well.Slight markdown on starts because it is quite hard to hold it still while you are turning the handle. It could really do with some suckers on the feet.I had tried another model before which was a lot bigger - I prefer this one as it fits easily into a small place in the cupboard and doesn't take a huge amount of room!I did a large red cabbage on it - made easy work of it. Despite the dinky size this cutter can cope with every size vegetable. Carrots have to be cut in half or they are too tall to fit into the gap.There is much less waste with this cutter compare to the other I tried which left a wasted core of about 1 cm wide - which is pretty useless when you are doing carrots! This one wastes a tiny stub just at the end when the spikes get too close to the grip spike and you have to stop!All in all, very happy with it. Delivery was just under 2 weeks I think

Having spent weeks reviewing reviews on Spiralizers I came full circle back to the Benriner and am happy that I did so. Many reviews say it feels flimsy, and to a certain extent it does however the ABS and Nylon frame is obviously strong and will stand up to considerable usage. The main blade is SHARP and the accompanying serrated blades are substantial as well as replaceable – which is a definite plus over the other models I looked at.Cleaning – I recommend using a brush as the fixed blade is – as mentioned – very sharp and those little bits can be a bit tricky to get out.The price – yes it is more expensive than some of the others, If you shop around prices vary considerable and was lucky enough to find one through Amazon Warehouse for an acceptable price. I view this tool as an investment well spent and we haven’t stopped using it since its arrival. Our salads are fuller, and the Courgette spaghetti a delight.

Having read all the other reviewers who complained about customs duty I decided to play safe. It was a few pounds more expensive, but I chose a "fulfilled by Amazon" seller and, as I am a Prime member, it arrived the next day.It seems sturdy enough (we've tried potato, carrot and zucchini so far). With the root veg, I find I need to apply a reasonable amount of downwards pressure (so I am glad I chose a vertical blender). It is certainly easier for me to use on a lower work surface (or standing on a step), but I am quite short. There doesn't seem to be too much wastage (about 0.5cm). The Berliner slices very finely (I think I might have preferred a slightly wider blade). The blades themselves are easy enough to swap over but, annoyingly my model doesn't have blades that are marked to indicate front and back, despite what the instructions say.

Listed as a professional item but in reality a bit of plastic, poor tolerances, with some small blades. It might be used in commercial kitchens but it doesn't match up to the standard / quality of my other pro kit. I buy good quality kit and believe in paying for it because in the long run it normally works out cheaper. In this case I do not believe that this is worth the price charged and I have been very disappointed with the seller's performance and the need for import duty to be charged (Amazon resolved this after raising a claim). Additionally, the length of item that will fit under the turner is small so you need to chop everything into short lengths - which does result in more wastage. The effect achieved is generally good but no better than many of the cheaper machines out there. I believe in this preparation methodology but recommend another (cheaper) machine to get there.