Consumer Reports: The best and worst juicers for your money

NEW YORK (WABC) -- If you want to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet, juicing is an easy option. Sales of juicers topped 1.5 million last year, and Consumer Reports tested more than a dozen to find out which ones are worth trying and which you should forget.

"In addition to juicing performance, we pay close attention to how easy these machines are to use and to clean," Consumer Reports' Dan DiClerico said. "If they're really hard to use and clean, you might not take them out as often."

Consumer Reports advises to look for a juicer with a wide-mouth feeding tube, so that there's less chopping and prepping.

"In general, our tests found that the very inexpensive juicers, $50 or less, tended to be lacking," DiClerico said. "They really fell to the bottom of our ratings."

Additionally, most of the cheaper ones don't extract as much juice as the pricier machines. And a $40 West Bend's smaller feed tube requires extra prep work.

But some expensive juicers aren't the best choices, either. For example, a $500 Kitchen Aid that rates excellent for juicing comes with a substantial number of parts, all of which will have to be cleaned after you enjoy your drink.

A better, less expensive option is a $300 Breville. It features professional touches like stainless steel, a wide-mouth feed tube and a container for juice. It's also very easy to clean.

For far less, Consumer Reports also recommends a $100 Juiceman. It delivers a pulpier juice than the Breville, and while it's not all stainless steel, it has many of the same conveniences, like a wide mouth and a juice container.

Another option is a blender, which Consumer Reports also tested. The very best is also very expensive, with the Vitamix Professional Series 750 checking in at $650. However, the $200 Dash Chef Series Digital also did a good job blending up icy drinks and smoothies.