Side by Side Comparison of: Norpro vs Kitchen Active vs Mastrad

This slicer makes quick work of everything from cucumbers to potatoes. I used it to cut a 5 lb sack of potatoes into kettle chips in about 10 minutes. I also used it to slice a bunch of zucchini and oinions to put on the grill and it took me 1/10 of the time I usually spend slicing them with a knife. The thickness of the slices is so easy to adjust. You just twist the knob and you can go from paper thin to about 1/2" thick slices. Add on the slotted blade and you can make shoestring fries or pretty much whatever type of veggies you want to cut into strips. My daughter used it to cut zucchini into spaghetti sized strips and made a healthy spaghetti type dish, using the zucchini in place of pasta. One word of warning though, as I mentioned earlier, this thing is super sharp. It will not discriminate between your fingers and whatever you are cutting. This makes such fast work of slicing veggies, you will be tempted to just hold them in your hand as you run them back and forth at a lightning pace. If you prefer having all of your skin on your fingers to having some of it in your bowl of freshly sliced veggies, I'd use the included holder. Luckily, I was cutting 1mm thick chips and not steak fries when I learned this valuable lesson the hard way.

I bought it slice/chop papaya for papaya salad but didn't turn out so well, so I started using it for other things. I love how thinly you can use this to slice stuff. I didn't have a spiralizer so I used it to thinly slice zucchini and then cut it into strips to make noodles. Amazing! I've also used it to slice ginger, and it is amazing how thin it can slice things. I will update my review as I use it more but so far, I'm happy with what it's been able to do. Please be careful as the blades can be very sharp. It's easy to clean (rinse under water after your done, and if you need to get some stuff out, the tip of a skewer does the trick) and really easy to change between blades. I'm not sure I'l be able to utilize it for all its functions, but for what it's been able to do so far, I would definitely recommend it.

Bought this after getting fed up with my "slice-o-matic".
This is 1000 times better.
All I've done so far is slice with the basic blade. But pulling the "french fry" blades up is easy as pie.
Easy to slice. Easy to clean. Easy to change the blades as well. With what you get for the price, this is totally worth it!

I only wish there was an easy way to store everything together compactly. Other than that it's awesome.

Side note: Highly recommend getting a pair of gloves to use with this.

This is, by far, the best slicer/grater that I've ever used.

The blades are all super sharp and make slicing and grating extremely easy.

In fact, I read the reviews before I purchased this mandoline, and one of the reviewers had promptly cut his finger on it; when I read that review, I thought "Uh huh - got to be careful." Yep, got to be careful with it, because on my second use, I managed to cut my finger and didn't even feel it at first, the blade is so thin.

That thin blade slices tomatoes easily and cleanly, as long as I gently move the tomato back and forth across the blade as it goes through the cut. Only one other slicer I've had cut tomatoes so well, and that was a $120 large countertop slicer that is cumbersome to set up and time-consuming to clean.

Clean-up is very easy, and most of the time I just rinse each part after use and put it aside to drain until the next use - veggies that I've sliced and grated don't stick at all to the surface and wash away easily.

I've used this almost every day since I bought it, and the blade is still as sharp as when I got it, and I still love it.

I had previously purchased a cheaper mandoline slicer with a well known brand name that turned out to be a piece of junk. I wanted a good one but didn't want to pay an arm and a leg so I took a chance on this one. This has turned out to be a very good chance...I am very happy with this slicer. It is very sturdy with several blade options. You can adjust the thickness of the slices, something you couldn't do with the cheaper one. It is easy to keep in place so you aren't worried about it slipping and causing injury. My favorite part is the holder you attach to what you are slicing. It has a floating pin system that moves as you slice so you are never having to lift your hand and it gets down to the last tiny slice...no waste. This thing slices an onion perfectly for onion rings or whatever and gets literally every last piece. It is super sharp so it takes just a few seconds to slice a large onion. Faster than even locating a knife! I haven't used all the blades since I really just wanted it for slicing but all the blades and components are well made, sturdy, very sharp and appear as easy to clean as the slicing blade. I highly recommend this product!

I am hoping on the "zoodles" bandwagon and was in search of an affordable spiralizer. I got one as a Christmas gift and it was much more complicated, it was larger, which took up more valuable kitchen space plus it had a hand crank. I couldn't wait to try this one out as soon as it came and it worked like a charm for zucchini and squash. I can't wait to try more veggies with it and be on my way to a healthier lifestyle.

This is great if all you want to make are zoodles. If you're thinking you can make noodles out of whatever you want, you're going to need to purchase something more heavy duty. Carrots sort of work, but you wont get long noodles like with zucchini. Yellow squash works really well, as I imagine cucumbers would (though I'm not sure why you would want cucumber noodles). Basically it needs to be the exact (or nearly exact) shape and firmness as zucchini. I tried butternut squash but unless the veggie you are trying to spiralize is exactly round, it isn't going to work. I still give it 5 stars because I bought it to buy zoodles and that's all I really need it for, and it does that very very well.

I love spaghetti squash but it's expensive when you consider how much you throw out. I was at a cooking demonstration when I saw them use fancy machine to make zucchini "pasta" and was impressed. The price, not so much. When I saw the Veggetti in the store, I immediately thought it would be a good alternative to that expensive machine and I was right.It's going to sound strange, but the Veggetti works like a pencil sharpener. You put your zucchini (or carrots, potatoes, etc) into the cone and twist. There are multiple blades that will create a pasta like shape as you twist your vegetable through. You will still waste part of the veggie as the core will come out the other side, but it's not much and you can still use this part of the vegetable. It just won't be in a pasta shape. I didn't have any problem twisting the zucchini but I imagine that something harder, like a carrot, might give more resistance. If you suffer from arthritis or other hand/wrist problems, this tool might be difficult to use.The most annoying thing about this gadget is cleaning it but I figured out a trick. IMMEDIATELY rinse to remove the small pieces of stuck vegetable while it's still moist. If you leave it in the sink and the veggies dry out, they will stick and be almost impossible to remove from the small spaces between the blades. I saw other reviewers mention using brushes designed for baby bottles so that might be another option for cleaning.I'll give you my favorite recipe (so far). I made zucchini bolognese. Basically, I put ground beef in a frying pan until brown and drained the fat off. Then I added tomato sauce, and the zucchini pasta (thin side of Veggetti). I only cooked it long enough to be warm. Came out GREAT. I use to use zucchini in my sauce, but I basically just used more zucchini and no pasta. It still gave me that grip on my sauce. Try it with your favorite pasta topping.

I used my for the first time last night. We were halfway through dinner when my husband asked what kind of noodles they were. :) Works like sharpening a pencil. You have to either waste the last little bit or hand chop it up but it is worth every penny and worked like a charm. If you can filed the recipe for CREAMY SUNDRIED TOMATO + PARMESAN CHICKEN ZOODLES online, that is the picture I've included and it was delicious.

Since I started my paleo lifestyle I'm always looking for things to spruce up my recipes. I tried zucchini pasta in the past but it always took my a long time to sit down and cut the zucchini into tiny slices so it is pasta shaped. But thankfully I saw life saving zucchini slicer on pinrest. The first I used this I was amazed at how easy it was to use.The zucchini looked exactly like pasta except it was green. The brush provided with this defiantly helps in cleaning it.My friends now want one so I'm probably going to purchase this again for them.

I've only used it on zucchini, but it really worked great!!

Love this. My family can't live without it! Dices veggies to the perfect size for all kinds of dishes, and the slicer attachment is perfect for fajitias or any other sliced veggie dish. I love the cleaning claws that it comes with and it is dishwasher safe. We use it at least a couple of times every week. It is not indistructable but for us it is indispensible!

I did my research before purchasing this item. The last one I had (different brand) broke after several uses, so I wanted to make sure I got something durable. This item is very well made. It is a thick plastic and very durable. The handle can be removed and it has a locking mechanism for the attachments. It chops very well and is easy to clean. I am very satisfied and would recommend this item to others.

This has been tentatively on my wish list for some time, and I decided to finally purchase it and I love it. Now I finally have little even squares of onion, carrot, celery, peppers, potatoes, etc. in seconds. It's easy to clean. If you don't care about those little even squares, keep chopping on your own and feel fine about it. Crazy perfectionists will love it. Can't wait to make homemade alphabet soup.

I use a lot of onions in my curries. So it usually take me a good 15-20 minutes of dicing the onions including lot of tears, which makes it the dreaded job to do before cooking. I don't mind the work but i do mind the tears. Now with lesser time on hand than before there were times I would search for recipes without onions. But then I cannot escape a lot of times and then onions do take up a big chunk of the prep time. So I researched for some and decided on this.Now for the actual product:Cons: It cannot cut anything big. I put half of each quarter of an onion at a time. For this size it requires less force and the chopper slices them easily. Anything big would require more force. I am yet to try anything other than onions(I mainly bought it for onions).It does not lessen the tears.Pros:Though it does not lessen the tears, it greatly reduces the duration I have to suffer. I can slice up 3-4 of any size onions within 2 minutes, making it my most favorite in kitchen. Despite not able to fit in bigger stuff, Its design is nice and sturdy. I saw many of these and went for this because I din't want the plastic handle to break.Other stuff to consider:Cleaning: Cleaning is easy for me as the comb they provide helps a lot. Then I soak the blades in soap water for 5-10 minutes and then wash them with water and they are ready for use the next day.Replacement: Not sure about this, but I believe they have no replacement parts, which I don't mind, if this one serves my purpose for an year, its well worth it for me.On the whole what I was looking for to cut my onions. the blades dice and slice the onions beautiful, unlike other products which mush them.

I'd been looking for a decent chopper and slicer for awhile. I was astounded by the commercial for the Slap Chop, and new I just HAD to have one. Long story short, it did NOT work, jamming on the first try with but a single baby carrot. This one works right every time. I do wish the chopping and slicing holes were a bit larger. As is, I sometimes have to cut things in half because the entire potato or what have you won't fit in the area. But that's super easy to compensate for. I eat a salad every day, and that his made my salads FAR easier to make, and more enjoyable, since I can easily add carrots or radishes or anything really. I'm really sick, and my hands shake, so being able to use this easily really won me over. And there are tools for cleaning the blades without having to worry about cutting your fingers. The entire set comes with 11 pieces, and it's a bargain. It's better to spend the little bit extra now, than to buy a cheaper one that breaks, which a LOT of them do. Once you start using this, you'll use it all the time. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Thanks so much for your time folks. Sincerely, R.A. McDowell

SPECIFICATIONS: The two dice grid-blade options are 6mm x 6mm (1/4" x 1/4") and 9mm x 9mm (3/8" x 3/8") and the slicer cuts 6mm (1/4") wide halved slices. The total cutting area of the squircle-shaped blade insert is ~73mm x 73mm (2 7/8" x 2 7/8").SALSA AWESOMENESS: I make a lot of fresh salsa (pico style), and cook with a lot of fresh produce, but find the chop-chop-chopping to be tedious. With a little prep, such as trimming, peeling and quartering/halving, the Norpro makes quick work of pico ingredients, uniformly dicing raw (firm) tomatoes, onions, and peppers.IT CUTS: The unit also works well with raw potatoes (note, this isn't a french fry maker - smaller pieces are required), carrots, and is great with celery (whereas, my food processors fights with the strings and tends to create a mush). Chopping apple quarters down into slices and sticks is easy with the Norpro.IT WON'T CUT: The Norpro fails on skinless tomatoes (cooked or raw) and dried items (e.g. sun-dried tomatoes, dried peppers), and soft produce like heirloom tomatoes. They don't cut well, and make more of a mess than is worthwhile.CLEANING: The handle has a clever detach mechanism (as do the pusher piece and blades), so cleaning is straightforward. Debris can be trapped in the intersection of the blades, which is the hardest part to clean. UPDATE: after using this tool for longer, I've found the blade intersections to be challenging to clean. Some materials are easier to remove dry - others when wet; its a bit of trial-and-error.USAGE TIPS: If you're slicing apples, always place fruit skin up in the slicer; for something like a mushroom, I've found placing them in cap-up to be the least messy/wasteful (debris can accumulate in the pusher). In general, you want the most resilient part of what you're chopping facing the pusher and the softer part facing the blades. Also, if the hinge mechanism sticks, food-grade mineral oil can be used as a lubricant (don't use vegetable oil, as I initially did).6-MONTH UPDATE: The stainless blades started to rust after regular use. It's difficult to extract all the water from the seams after washing, but Norpro replaced them for free.2-YEAR UPDATE: After a few years of regular use, the most-used blades became dull, necessitating substantial force to slice and dice. Still, the plastic components show no wear (aside from UV yellowing). I made a request to NORPRO to sell the blade inserts separately, since they'll dull long before the other parts fails.3-YEAR UPDATE: The second set of blades have dulled, but the rest of the Chopper is holding up great; I can still use it, though I need to push harder now.REPLACEMENT BLADES: Norpro Customer Service sells replacement blade inserts - $8 for dice, $7 for slice (Shipping and handling included in the US). They also sell replacement pushers. The durability of tool, combined with the replaceable wear parts make this an easy 5/5 stars buy for me.

Great little product. Not industrial grade but treat it will care and it will last.

The one thing I don't like is the "grabber" which is used to told the item-to-be-sliced in place. It has 4 prongs that are meant to enter the item to hold it in place. However, many times with potatos (my primary use), the "grabber" came free leaving the potato flying free and my fingers (due to downward pressure) in risk of being sliced by the blade.

This mandolin was a great gift for my husband. I think that it isn't the most amazing one on the market, but I love that it has so many attachments and different ways to slice and grate and prep food for your endless meals. I know that people are complaining about there not being some rubber handle or something but I don't think that has any effect on the tool itself. I am super happy with this purchase.

UPDATE 12/3:
I have now purchased this mandoline twice and I am so thrilled with it. This was a great gift for my mother and she is having so much fun making different recipes.

I should have known better than to get a mandoline, but after watching one too many Top Chef and Master Chef episodes, I bought one anyone, lured by the idea of paper-thin, perfect, beautiful slices of all the vegetables I could get my hands on.

I was so excited when it arrived and read all the "WARNING: Extremely Sharp!" warnings on all the pieces.

"Yes, of course it's sharp! Duh! That's why I bought it."

Put it together and started upon my vision of uniformly sliced cucumber pieces...and within 6 slices, I had also sliced off the tip of my finger.

After waiting for the bleeding to stop for over an hour and then a visit to the ER, I packed all the pieces back into the box and have not touched it since. I now wince every time I watch the chefs and wannabes on TV use one so quickly.

5 stars for delivering on its promise of sharp cutting, minus 1 star for missing finger piece.

First, I would like to say that Mandolines are not for the novice cook. Yes they are sharp and yes you could do some damage to your fingers. If they were not sharp they would not do the job. This isn't a reason to give a product 1 star.

I recently devolved an allergy to white potatoes and miss potato chips. My purchase was to make sweet potato chips and this mandoline does a whiz bang job with sweet potatoes( you know how tough they can be to cut with a knife). I nocked off a star because I did not like the pusher that came with it. I instead use one that came with one of my other mandolines that would not adjust down to slice thin enough for chips. Blades are not replaceable but are sharp enough to last for quite a while. I comes with enough attachments to warrant the price.

Update:
I bought a second one for my sister who is a novice cook. Along with the mandoline I bought a pair of cut resistant safety gloves for her to use when slicing. She has a dog that has food allergies and plans on making dehydrated sweet potatoes sliced like fries. For her she wants to make sweet potato chips and zucchini strips for veggie lasagna.

Handy to have when you don't want to drag out the big food processor. I mainly purchased this to be able to slice potatoes thin enough for microwave potato chips, something my processor could not do.
UPDATE: Follow the reviews that tell you to use the guard, I read but did not follow when slicing squash. Being a long vegetable I thought I would be ok til about half way down and then use the guard, WRONG! Sliced a small chunk out of my pinky, ICK! There is somewhat of a learning curve if you have never used one. I had always used a processor or a knife. It is manual but still quicker than a knife and at my age you really don't care (and neither does anyone else) if you're right (or left) boob ends up a little perkier than the other one. ;)

I kept looking at the zucchini noodles in the store, but refuse to pay $6.99 a pound for them. I was doubtful when I bought this product, but have been pleased with it. I have been enjoying the zucchini noodles as a low calorie alternative to spaghetti. I found that bigger zucchini work better than the thinner ones. Now that I have the hang of doing the zucchini, I am going to try some other vegetables. The brushes provided with the spiralizer make it easy to clean. Maybe it's not as fast as the bigger products, but it's perfect for me.

I still use this for certain vegetables, but I've found that in general it's not as easy to use as another tool I have that is essentially just a peeler with lots of metal teeth. If the vegetable you want to spiralize is larger than the opening, it obviously won't work. I like to make zucchini noodles a lot, and i have to make sure the zucchini is a certain size in order to use this tool. I was so excited to see that it came with a cleaning brush, since that was the reason I wasn't thrilled with my other spiky peeler, but the brush is too soft to get in between the teeth and get food out. The best way to go is to immediately rinse and soak the sprializer after using to prevent anything from drying on. One major plus to this tool is that there is significantly less wasted zucchini than with a peeler. With my peeler I have to stop as soon as I get into the seeds, but this tool is much more efficient. Overall, I think this spiralizer is great for veggies that can be more difficult to spiralize, like carrots, but I think I'll stick to my simple peeler for zucchinis.

I wasn't sure how I felt about zoodles, so before investing in a large spiralizer, I thought this minor investment would be worth trying. It's easy to create zoodles, although it's important that a medium sized zucchini is used. Once, I cut down a large zucchini to fit, but without the skin, I ended up with a watery mess. The end and part of the middle is often wasted as well (I just chop it up and add to the dish later.) Overall this is a nifty little gadget, but if I get more serious about spirlizing, I'll probably upgrade to a larger version so that I don't have to worry about the size of my produce and will waste less of it overall.

You get what you pay for. If you're averse to hand turning/non-uniform zoodles, I wouldn't recommend it, but for small servings and someone who doesn't mind putting in a bit of effort (and it really doesn't take that long) it's a great little tool. They include a little brush that you can use to get some of the clinging bits out, which can take more effort sometimes than the actual turning of the zucchini. With how it's constructed, there are some weird cases where it won't get the right angle and you have to try re-angling, but overall, it was a good deal, and if you use it more that a couple of times, it'll be worth the money.

I'm not sure what amazement I was expecting from this veggie slicer, but it did not live up my expectations. Thus far I've only spiraled a cucumber. The small size "noodles" were barely shreds and cucumber water was squeezed everywhere. The larger noodles seemed a little more useful. It comes with a cap to push in your veggie so you don't spiralize your fingers. With the cuke, it just made mincemeat of the end instead of helping me turn the veggie to make more noodles. There is also a fairly big chunk of veggie at the end that doesn't become noodles. Of course you can chop that up and use it for something else, but it would be nice if your whole veggie could be turned into noodles instead of having hunks left over, especially since the reason you are probably using this in the first place is that you want a fancy presentation.

This is a very simple but effective gadget. Received on time as promised. I was skeptical when I held it as it is lightweight and doses not seem like much but it worked! I got delicious zucchini noodles. I chose the side for the thicker noodles and it worked great. The way you insert the zucchini at the top with the little holder didn't work as I thought it should but I found if I just held the zucchini and twisted it worked much better. the only thing I was surprised about is how much of the zucchini was not actually spiraled and I had leftover. I took that and froze it for another recipe for another day so for me it is not a problem. For two of us I used 3 medium zucchinis and that was just about perfect. I could not imagine using this for a large group. Definitely a keeper and I look forward to trying it on other vegetables.

Very nice. Mi e lasted about 3 years with intermittent use. The bottom receptical cracked. I liked it well enough to purchase another one.

If I hadn't gone through 4 of the vidalia chop wizards I wouldn't have tried this. This one seems sturdier. Would have been nice if the inserts were sized so that changing the top was not necessary. There are two odd hollow spots on the clear base that seem to serve no purpose but to collect dirtiness. Would prefer these were not there.

It works as expected and cuts everything perfectly. My only complaint is when you change the size of the chunks you have to change the top part that pushes the food thru as well. Its not difficult but when trying to cook and chop quickly it gets in the way.

Have had my chopper for 6 months or so. Probably use it a couple of times a month. Even if you're just chopping an onion, it's worth getting it out. Even better, chop up a few and a couple of bell peppers; store them in the freezer and pull out as much as you need when you need it. Gave another to a soup/salad-making friend, and she's delighted.

I bought the Norpro after having had three Vidalia Chop Wizards break on me - I finally decided that I was done replacing those every year! So far, I really like the Big Mouth Chopper. The pros: it feels very thick and sturdy, and less likely to break than the Vidalia Chop Wizard (time will tell), heavier duty plastic and sharper blades so it chops much easier than the Vidalia chop wizard. I love the larger storage container - it seems that I can chop a lot more before having to stop and empty. Another obvious bonus is the extra slicing blade, which is a really nice feature. Lastly, the different components come apart, so this is much easier to clean in the dishwasher - this is a big bonus in my opinion. The 2 Cons I have, and the reason for the 4 versus 5 stars, is that the surface area of the chopper is rather small, so you need to cut the veggies a little smaller than I am used to. I also noticed that when I used it to chop tomatoes, it smashed them more than diced them, and I never had this problem with the Vidalia Chop Wizard. It could have been an overly ripe tomato, but will need more time to say for sure. Overall though, am still really happy with this product!

My sister asked for a chopper for Christmas.I found this one and ordered TWO (one for me since I don't have one and have always wanted one and one for her)!One of the specifications we both wanted is that we wanted it to be 'dishwasher safe'. Amazon has it listed as 'Dishwasher Safe' so I ordered it. I just used it for the first time and I noticed that it did not say 'Dishwasher Safe' on the box or the instructions when I used it for the first time. Hhhhhmmmmm....Rather than putting it in the dishwasher to have it ruined, I went to the Norpro website to confirm that it was 'dishwasher safe' and it said on there "Handwashing Recommended."Grrrrrrrr......I don't really mind but now I have a disclaimer to add to my sister on Christmas morning when she opens it.So, needless to say, I'm kind of pissed....not at Norpro. But, at Amazon for misrepresenting it!I've only used it one and it cut my onion very well though! So hopefully the thing will last!

My daughter purchased one of these first and recommended it to me. I wanted to try microwave potato chips and needed a mandoline slicer. The price on this one has varied from $16 to $22 over the past couple of weeks and I was able to purchase at the lower price.

This comes from Norpro which is a reputable company I have purchased from before. There are a variety of blades but I have only used the regular blade which is very sharp and makes quick work of slicing potatoes. It also comes with a juicer attachment. It does unfold and stands securely.

I will say that I do not like the mechanism and the guard that holds the item to slice. It is very unstable and your vegetable (or fruit, cheese, etc) must attach to the four prongs inset in the guard. Most of the potatoes I have used did not fit properly as they were either too large or too small. For me, very few items have fit securely and I find myself using my hand instead. You have to be exceedlingly careful to to slice your fingers!

For use once in a while this is fine as long as I am careful. For everyday use I would definitely purchase something in a higher price range with more safety features.

I'm glad I got the bargain version of a mandolin before plopping down big bucks for one. Just know that whatever you slice has to be pretty firm. Zucchini, potato, apple, carrots are fine...but don't try tomatoes, cheese (unless it is *really* hard), say, cooked meats.

Also, the vertical blades made me think that it could be used for dicing up onions...not so. Those blades are not very sharp. So while I can see how they would be good enough for making french fries (something I've yet to make), they don't work for dicing onions or, say, tomatoes.

So I must say there is nothing *wrong* with this product. It just did not meet my expectations. So perhaps my expectations were out of line...but I just don't want others to make the same mistake.

I bought this for two reasons.....waffle fries and potato chips.
It did a great job slicing potatoes for the chips, but when it came to the waffle fries.....the serrations on the "wavy blade" or whatever they call it are way too shallow for me to make waffle fries. I just get ridges scratched into either side of a potato slice. Boo.....
Works great for the potato chips though, so at least it's not a total failure. Also used it for onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes, and I'm happy with all of the blades. All except the crinkle cut piece of ish that's so shallow I can't make my beloved waffle fries.

The food pusher is REALLY awkward. The pins are recessed, so you have to lift the top up while trying to get it to stick into the food...I'm rarely successful. Got a pair of gloves instead, but still can't get the last piece through thin enough.

But, I'm pretty sure the pins are recessed to keep them from hitting the dull blades, & damaging them. They were sorta ok in the beginning, but became severely dulled in short order. I've never been able to cut anything that isn't very crisp {potatoes, carrots, etc.} The slightest mushiness in a potato, & you'll be there forever struggling with it.

The blades are clearly made out of VERY cheap metal. I had to have a friend use a stone to sharpen the straight blade b/c it won't fit in a conventional sharpener...forget about sharpening the others. The grating blades are ok, but not large enough to use on big jobs...like lots of cheese.

The unit itself is sturdy enough, & I like the recessed julienne blades. They seem to be slightly better quality than the main blade.

So, if you don't have anything less firm than a carrot to cut, don't mind struggling with dull blades & an awkward pusher, it's ok for first time buyers.

The plastic body is reinforced enough for a light duty kitchen tool, although the leg probably will break where the load is entirely on the hinge. The parts fit and lock well, but adjustment parts are light duty. The soft plastic threaded bolt and thin spring will not survive jammed or gummed up food. It has blades to make french fries but the slicer will not survive pushing potatoes through the blades, and the fries will be about 1/4 inches square or less - too small - IMO.
I bought it wanting a cheese grater, never used one before, but with a safety handle, since kids might want to try using it.
For the price, it is an acceptable gamble. I may just remove the french fry blade barrel and the adjusting bolt to make the cleaning even easier in the washer.

I opened this as soon as the package got here today to try it out for my lunch. It came in a little box with simple directions to follow on the outside. The spiralizer is easy to hold and has two different sizes you can use. You just flip it over to change sizes. I've never used a spiralizer so i was not sure what to expect. I tried a carrot and A zucchini. The carrot worked okay but I did not like the core getting stuck in the center of the spiralizer and I had to use a knife to push it through to the other side so as to not cut myself. But it spiralized the carrot ok. The zucchini worked awesomely. The core did not get Trapped in the center. It was easier and worked smoothly. There is steel handle to hold on to to protect your hands from getting spiralizer. Also when you near the end of the food you can push it rest of way with the cap that is provided. Just beware there is a sharp needle like piece to hold it in place and don't pierce yourself. It was a ok to wash. You are provided a small brush to assist which is needed. Overall it works good. This product was purchased at a discount for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I was very excited to get this product - wanting a healthier option instead of pasta noodles for my family. The product came quickly and looked exactly like what was in the picture. The first thing we tried was carrots and were highly disappointed. The carrots were way too thin to use it properly and it didn't work. The carrot couldn't reach the area to cut it. The next thing we tried were sweet potatoes and it was terrible. The sweet potatoes were too big, then too lumpy to actually work. It also took a LOT of pressure to get more than an inch strand. We actually ended up using a cheese grater instead that seemed to work better than this. As a last attempt I tried a cucumber and that worked best.I think in order for this to work properly you need a softer, more evenly shaped vegetable like cucumber or zucchini. Things that were too big, too small, or oddly shaped were hard to use and didn't really work too well. I don't know if I would purchase again due to it not working for the things we really wanted it for.

I tried multiple veggies in this and found that it really only works with zucchini. If you use a zucchini, it cores itself and you only waste the last 3-4" of the zucchini. Don't bother using the handle attachment. It's basically going to just shred the end of your veggie without doing anything else. Not really sure about "coring" the zucchini - the middle of a zucchini is completely inoffensive and felt a little like a waste.Yellow squash or, god forbid, carrots as shown? It's a whole lot of work and some risk to your fingers for a lot of waste. Yellow squash, which really could benefit from a bit of coring, has too much core to fit through the itty bitty hole in the middle of this tool. Carrots are way too hard for this purpose and I gave up after having flashbacks to my last carrot mandolin accident.

I used this as soon as I got it and had zucchini spaghetti that night. It works well, but you have to use it just right. You have to put an even pressure on the vegetable while turning the unit...my hands got tired before I was finished with the whole zucchini. Also, you have to stop several times to cut off the cone that develops on the end as the spirals come out. This is because the seeds and the middle of the zucchini are not included in the strands and you have to cut it off several times in order to use the whole thing.For what this costs it is great and I will continue to use it, but, when I can afford a more expensive one (maybe around $35), I will try to buy one that stands alone and you can crank it.This works very well and is simple to use and is inexpensive. It does, however, take an effort on the part of the user.

I was very excited when this thing arrived, but then the troubles began. It is way too small, even tho I saw the pictures before ordering it, I didn't think it was going to be that small. Due to the size, it has been difficult for me to use it. It doesn't cut vegetables like butter, as other customers had written, it takes strong hands, and not only that, you have to be really careful if you don''t want to end up cutting yourself with the borders. The fist time that I used this spiralizer I cut my fingers three times with the plastic borders that are not properly shaped, then with the blades trying not to waste so much carrot. And that's the other thing, I end up wasting a lot of food using this thing. I tried to use the cap but it is a waste of time, it only squashes the veggies without been able to get more spirals out of it.I am going to keep it because if I don't mind wasting a third part of my veggies, and being super careful using this little thing, I can achieve some decent zoodles and veggies for my salads.

I received these today and used them during my dinner prep. They do work but, you can't use the whole veggie your preparing . About 1 1/2 to 2 " of whatever your using can't get shaved because you have no way to secure it after it gets close to the rim of the funnel chamber . I'm still keeping it because it was another little kitchen gadget that I can use right over the pot I'm using if I want. As long as you know this before you purchase this product. I'm going to see if I can figure out something to use to correct this little inconvenience.

it works good, but i think the blades are getting dull pretty quickly. cleaning it is not very fun because pieces get stuck on the edges of the blades and the little combs don't fit in there. my sister tried it and she was afraid to hit it so hard, said it hurt her hand. not sure if she was just being annoying or if maybe some women wouldn't like that part. personally i think it's fun. all things considered, i only pull this out if i'm cooking something that requires dicing a lot of different vegetables (chili, stir fry, etc.) or if i'm making a salad for guests and want the onion/g pepper to perfectly diced. unfortunatley, during the day-to-day, i don't use it because i don't want to clean it. i should also mention that it's bothersome to store all the different parts.

I give it 3 stars because the cap or cover is hard to put on and take off before and after chopping. When you take the cap off after chopping, food spills all over the place because the cap is hard to take off. It has this third slicer/blade but doesn't have a pusher for it which doesn't make sense, how did they expect us to push the food down to be sliced, with our hands? I'm still thinking if it's worth keeping. Will update

I had a Vidalia chopper that had a wide chopping area and was pretty heavy duty. The hinge section broke so I purchased this one. The chopping blades are way smaller, it's a little more complicated to use, does not have the quality of the Vidalia chopper. Wouldn't recommend t as being the best choice but it works well enough as it is. Would not purchase another one.

Not terrible, just a bit cumbersome. A lot of parts to store - some I am not sure I will ever use. On the plus side, all of it can go in the dishwasher. So far I have used it to chop onions and it did the job. I think I should have just sharpened a knife to make the onion chopping job easier and skipped the big mouth chopper Like I said, not terrible and I can see where it would be helpful - but I do think it is better for small chopping/slicing jobs. Too much effort for large jobs when a sharp knife can provide the same service.

I do not think it is the product that I am not happy with but the fact that I ordered it and knew that I most likely wouldn't use it. I found out that, for myself, it is much faster and easier to simply chop up my onion with a knife. By the time I get the chopper out and ready to use and cut the onion to fit it and chop it and then clean it up.......I'd have had the onion done by hand a good 8 minutes faster. For this type of product and someone who will use it......this one seems to be pretty good. The onions got stuck in the blade somewhat, however.

This is a more than decent chopper. It is probably more solidly built than you might think. It is exceedingly sharp. As long as you don't try to shove half-frozen veggies and what not in here it works very nicely. I have nothing negative to say.You could probably do better with a stainless one but you will pay much more.Also and VERY IMPORTANT! I smashed some of the blades right out of one of the die cutters. Looking back on it it was clearly my fault. The strawberries I put in there were just too frozen and I leaned down on the handle until I broke it. I called the manufacturer and spoke to the nicest lady you'd ever want to meet. She was just awesome and sent me a replacement blade which I received in two days. No flack, no attitude.

Really limited on shapes when shredding or slicing, the attachments are not fun to deal with, and it's really hard to clean out. The only thing this device would do better than average at would to be even slices or whatever very small item you want to make. Otherwise a knife and a hand grater is better and MUCH easier to clean.
Did I mention small? I mean in both ways. You'll get less of an area to grate on than a normal grater, plus having to chop it down to fit the little safety handle. Pain in the neck.
What I had hoped to do, was to use it for long zucchini slices-that was my error in judgement on what it could do. The rest...

I liked all the attachments. I DON'T like the safety holder top of the handle. It looks as one piece, it is but yet it isn't. When you attach your fruit or vegetables I did make certain it was firmly attached from underneath but the part you have your hand over pops up then the fruit/veggies pops out from underneath. I know sounds confusing only example I can give is a very long time ago their was a plastic travel cup that folded many used to take medicine it was like an accordian you can pull it up to have a cup and close to collapse it while still as one piece this is similiar. Make certain you insert the 4 prongs into the large part of your firm fruit or veggie.
My only complaint is the handle, it needs to be modified as I solid piece.

I really liked it at first, problem is it didn't last and I am back in the market for a new mandoline. It is made of plastic and did not even last a year. The grating was ok because the size of grating area was very small. I eventually adjusted but.....
Slicing was another story. It was not a smooth motion at all. It was a struggle to get the blade trough the food. Even eggplant did not slice smoothly.
My problem is I want one that slices and grates but that is pretty hard to find in the expensive slant or V-blade models. Guess I'll just have to get a separate shredder.
So my recommendation. Spend more. You get what you pay for.
Please do not buy this mandoline if you want something that lasts.

I'm not returning this item because I can use the upper body workout. It is a messy companion, with a shredder surface area that is severely lacking-- but since I'm only going to use it once every couple of weeks, I will keep it around until I can get something better for a decent price.

I am sure that those who love this have figured out how to use this more effectively than I have. The directions are laughably poor.

The good: It is cheap and compact, the graters more or less work about as you'd expect; the slicer works with good grasp

The Bad: the safety holder is horrible and undermines any potential this machine might otherwise have. Does not hold things. Very unintuitive and the instructions (again) are horrible. Definitely speaks for the recommendation of getting gloves to use this with. Hard to clean. The blades for fries are very difficult to turn up and down. Only works for a very small band of sizes and requires a kind of force that as often as not ended up with the bit of produce flying away from the blade angrily. As I say, I've got some major technique to learn, but am wondering why I'd want to spend time perfecting my Norpro slicing brilliance, when I'm good enough with a knife and have a set of great kitchen alternatives.

Very difficult to use. A pain in the butt. It will shred, but I almost cut my finger.

It doesn't work with carrots which is why I bought it. I have a big spiralizer that I use for my zucchini but the carrots are not fat enough to use it on it so I thought this would be great for carrots but that was not the case. The blade is not sharp enough so the carrots brake before they can get through the blade. I was very disappointed. It might work with other vegetables, I don't know because I only tried it with carrots. It was a waste of money.

Worked great on zucchini but was hard to use on parsnips and carrots - be prepared for a workout. I also cut myself on it accidentally so be careful. Even with the bit that is meant to help you spiralize the shorter bits of vegetables it's still really hard to do and you waste a lot. Sometimes stuff gets stuck in the thing and it's hard to get out without hurting yourself. Honestly after eating the "spaghetti" that I got out of it I don't think it was worth all the cuts and aches from using this thing.

Okay...I used this little tool 3 times before I decided that it wasn't for me. PROS: it spiralized the zuchinni well up to a point, it is small, easy to cleanCONS; it wastes the entire center of the vegetable that you are attempting to spiral cut...of course you can chop this part upIf the squash, sweet potato, etc. is too fat...it cannot be used with this deviceIf one has any problems with their grip, carpal tunnel or arthritis in their hand or wrist...it will be impossible for them to use this...I don't and my hand was cramping after 2 squashOnce the squash got down to a certain point, the cap that is supposed to aid in getting the entire veggie into the device doesn't have enough gripping power to do much good, and then I found that I was in fear of cutting my knuckles on the blades if I tried to get more of the squash into itAll in all, I was disappointed in this and was surprised that it got so many great reviews. I bought a more expensive one that has a handle and can take any sized veggie in it and really love it.

In concept, this is a fantastic item. In reality, it's a dud. The device clogs up easily, is difficult to clean and while it did eventually produce the veggies in the way we wanted, it definitely was much more hassle than it was worth. I'd look into a different type of mandolin for creating veggie spaghetti as opposed to buying this one.

I loved this spiralizer the first few times I used it. I liked the compact size, and it was very easy to operate. The piece that was supposed to hold the end of the veggies didn't work, it wouldn't grip well enough and spun like a stripped screw. In one review I had read the suggestion of using a fork instead, which worked much better. After only having the spiralizer for two weeks, maybe 6 uses, it stopped cutting properly. The blades at the top of the cone have separated from the plastic, so now some pieces are only scored with a line instead of being cut all the way apart. Very disappointing.

Love how it chops and the container everything drops into, however, the white plastic grid/cubes that press down on whatever you're chopping are NOT durable and after ONLY a few uses has chipped off and into the container along with my veggies. They should not be selling a product that doesn't hold up

I'm very disappointed with this product. One of the parts broke the first time I used it. Also, the chopping area is so small that you have to cut your onion or potato slice into quarters in order for it to fit. By the time you do that, plus the time it takes to clean all the parts, it's quicker and easier to just chop the old-fashioned way.

I put it through 2 days of veggie prep and was dicing potatoes and pushed the steel blades out of the plastic housing, so not real sturdy. I think it would work fine with cucumbers and zucchini, onions but not much else. returned.

I bought this chopper less than a year ago, and really liked it. However, after moderate use ( maybe a couple of times a month), first one of the blades on the larger grid broke, then a blade on the smaller grid bent, cutting into the plastic pusher. After less than a year, I am left with a totally useless chopper. Norpro does not offer replacement parts. Be warned, this product is not very heavy duty and is going to break at some point while you are preparing food. If you do buy it do so with the understanding that it is not made to last. I will not buy another one.

I was experienced with a competetors product. It lasted about 10 months. This product seemed well constructed and reviews were positive. Ordered and received and used it about 6-10 times. Was well constructed (to the eyes). Worked just like the reviews said Some complaints on the food cutting area being too small and I agree. On the last time I used it I noticed a slice of metal in the food. I looked it over and determined it had to of come from the chopper. I was correct. While chopping onions (and they were sliced thin enough) a metal blade had popped out of the chopper and was in the collection container below!! This is a serious problem to be addressed by the company. I have my return address label printed and will mail pronto. They need to see this.

I have had several similar choppers over the years. Comparatively, the Norpro seems to be very well made and ruggedly constructed. The major limitation is that the size of the chopping area is so small that it really limits its functionality. I mainly use a chopper because I have a large volume of onions or other vegetables to chop. The chopping area is so small on the Norpro that even a medium onion needs to be cut up several times to fit. This basically negates any benefit using the Norpro.

This Mandoline earned me a trip to the ER with partial amputation of pinkie on my second time to use it. It is made of plastic and moves around a lot as very light which is what happened to me. It has a guard with prongs which I was not using because it is very hard to get denser veggies and potatoes on the very small and cheap metal prongs. That was a concern when comparing mandolins but the steel one was too expensive although now with cost of ER visit I could have gotten it and probably still had my whole pinkie and nail. I have ordered cut proof gloves now to use while operating this and recommend you purchase a pair and wear them during operation of this kitchen appliance as is very sharp and guard does not work very well for some items. I just wanted to warn potential purchasers of what not to do and encourage extra hand protection while using this very sharp object!

This is truly a piece of crap.

It's amazing how you can take a simple concept of a mandolin, and ruin it.

The first thing you do, is give a blade that ISN'T sharp. Yeah, maybe it will slice a potato, or an apple, but don't try anything hard like a carrot.
Then you take the blades to make fries, and they don't stay upright when you pass them, so you end up with a flat cut rather than fries. It's insane how these blade don't lock in place.
Add to this useless grating attachments.

I'm not a negative person, I usually write very positive reviews, but this piece of junk brought out the best in me.

UPDATE: Tremendous credit to Amazon, for accepting the return of this item!!

I'm having a hard time getting used to this. I have never owned a mandoline before. Trying to fit things into the guard is a pain, and I have had better results just not using the guard. Of course, that is not safe. I have tried tomatoes and they turned to mush. I did carrots and they did ok, but sometimes the slices got stuck in the blade. I'm still not really sure about this product.

Updated review on Jan.16, 2015. I have decided to return this item. After trying it several more times,I found it just takes too much force to cut through anything. The blades apparently aren't sharp enough. I tried to make french fries and in the first place, you cannot use the guard with anything that size. In the second place, it took a LOT of force to get it to cut through the potato, and it would get stuck halfway causing me to back up and try it again. The bottom line is that using that much force WILL result in an injury at some point. I'm going back to using a good sharp knife to slice things.

Wow, I had high hopes for finally slicing cukes or shredding cabbage for slaw. Not possible with this very poorly designed product. The safety holder has for small pins that are supposed to hold the item you want to slice. It is not possible to hold a vegetable in those tiny prongs and drag it across the angled blade. The "Shredder Blade" is laughably small sized holes that my cabbage just skimmed over. The cucumbers where mush and fell to the counter top as the slicer does not fit onto a bowl while you try slicing. I can't imagine trying to pull/push a potato or carrot across the "Wavy Blade", it takes so much force to operate. Again, an awful product, but it arrived timely and well packaged from the seller.

Just use a knife folks. This product is not what I expected. The only blade that seems to work as described is the slicing blade. The grating blade turned my cole slaw into mush and made grating cheddar nearly impossible. Cheese stuck in the blades and a lot of force was needed. I will stick to my box grater for cheese. The "guard" is difficult to use as well. Pieces need to be cut fairly small in order to be held and passed through blades. Im going to keep it because hubby laughed at me when I took it from the box. Im going to pretend it works just because of that! And the slicer is ok.

Doesn't work as described. Wastes most of vegetable. Takes an inordinate amount of time to do even a couple carrots. I've tried several of these (different brands) and they are all pretty much a waste of time. This one, though, is particularly worthless!

Returned after I used it. Probably would work with a zucchini of the right size or a perfectly straight carrot. Takes a lot of energy to spiral slice a carrot. I bought the add on for my Kitchen Aid Mixer instead.

My first "spiralizer" was a bomb! It was exhausting trying to twist and twist and twist the carrots and zucchinni. When half the vegetable is still whole, you have to either try to use the little cap piece to hold on to it, or hold with your hand. Top cap doesn't go down into the tube, so 1/3 of your vegetable will be wasted. Don't use your hand to push it down like I did, or you'll scrape and cut your hand like I did! I guess you get what you pay for.I'm amazed that there are so many good reviews. There are hand-held peelers with a blade for julienne that will do almost the same thing, just not as long as a spiralizer; and they are a lot safer to use. In my case, I decided I wanted a real spiralizer for making vegetable pasta, so ordered the Palermo Spiralizer; and got the Precision Kitchenware peeler/julienne tool for small, quick jobs like garnishes.

Not happy with this product. It cut a zucchini so-so, leaving way too much veggie uncut, and didn't work on other veggies I tried it on. It's messy to clean, even with the brush, and the finger protecting lid tends to just spin on the veggie and make a big mess of chunks falling off. Even when it does work, you are left with a "sharpened" veggie stub once it gets to the position that pushing it any further would damage fingers. Annoyingly cheap and not useful at all.

I purchased this because of the many positive reviews, but I wasn't impressed. My first attempt at using it was with carrots and it didn't go well. My carrots were smaller than pictured, and it took lots of work to get just a few shreds of carrots done. The carrot broke several times, and I ended up cutting my knuckle just as someone else mentioned. I would guess that zucchini would work much better because of its size, but since carrots are displayed in the picture, they should work just as well. I will be returning this and purchasing a better model..

This is not for any kind of noodle making. this equipment does a very sketchy ( at best) job of shaving off the outre layer from your vegetable. To my surprise and dismay, I found myself now with a long piece of carrot the - diameter size of the hole through which I pushed my carrot - in hand after the pass. The resultant shreds -- and they are merely that seemed more like what one gets from a grater run along the length rather than a noodle ... the blade is ok .. good for garnishing something but not for a salad. And what does one do with the stick of carrot remaining?

Researched many choppers, ordered this one, it stinks! Faster just to do it by hand. Veggies, no matter how small you cut them before putting them in this slicer, even peel them, they stick and have to be poked out with a knife. I'm going to return it if I can because I refuse to go through all that work.

I have used it maybe a dozen times and the handle snapped off, rendering it useless. I liked the chopping sizes, but the chopping area needs to be bigger, like the Chop Wizard.I liked this but there is no way to operate since the handle is incorporated into the hinge. I would love to get some feedback from Norpro because finding a customer service connection has also proven difficult :(

The clear plastic base warped the first time I washed it. Now the while top does not fit on it. Its difficult to use because of this. I suspect it would work much better otherwise. But, why make it out of plastic that isnt dishwasher safe?

This device is next to worthless and was assigned to the trash not long after purchase. To light weight and cheaply made to be of any value.

Pieces don't interlock together well, it cuts poorly. I had the Vidilia Chop wizard once, and loved it. This just isn't near the same.

This product worked superbly, then the "hinge" broke completely, rendering the chopper useless. I've used it about two months and would not recommend this item to anyone. Save your money.