Best Mandoline?

[Brsboarder]

I'm looking to get a new mandoline. I'm looking to spend no more than around $55 +shipping.

I'm thinking about:
Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 6 Piece Set
Swissmar Borner V-4000
Super Benriner Slicer
Kyocera CSN-202

Any thoughts or alternatives?

Thanks

[CookingForReal]

K, so the Borner arrived yesterday and I have to say, I am VERY impressed! I look JUST LIKE the lady using it on the youtube video!

Well maybe not "just like", but close enough, LOL!

Sliced an entire Vidalia onion in less time than it took me to peel it, right down to the tiny little leftover root nubbin. Seriously, it took me all of about 10 secs.

I've found that when it seems to "stick" it's because I'm unconsciously putting totally unnecessary pressure on it. If I just lighten up and don't press and kind of waft the thing back and forth, I get these see through onion slices without even realizing I'm doing it.

Rinse it and put it away and I'm done.

Now I'm having to restrain myself from going in there and just slicing every onion and potato I have just because I can . . .

[buttertart]

They are cool, aren't they. That's a good point about easing up on the pressure.

[CookingForReal]

Best kitchen gadget I've ever bought. There is almost no waste with this. In fact I've been tossing the tiny little nubbin of leftover potato in with whatever I'm making - hash browns, cottage fries, that little nubbin is so small it's fine to just toss it in with the rest.

Perfectly safe as long as you use it with the holder, which is well-designed and easy to use. I'll never chop another onion! Now if it would just peel stuff for me as well . . .

[inaplasticcup]

I've had my Benriner for almost a decade, and it's still incredibly sharp. You can adjust for thickness, and it juliennes beautifully. I've never tried slicing tomatoes on it, but it doesn't quite have the shimmy room I think you would need to slice a ripe non-plum variety.

Besides, I'll bet those other ones don't remind you to watch your fingers. :P

[buttertart]

I love that too, v cute. I have always wondered why they called it a Benriner.

[inaplasticcup]

Hmmm... Is that a googlable question? ^-

[CookingForReal]

I can't give you a citation, but it seems to me in my internet ramblings while researching which mandoline to buy, I read somewhere that "benriner" is just the Japanese word for "mandoline".

Can't confirm that at all.

[buttertart]

It might be a stab at a transliteration of the word into Japanese phonemes, but it's not an obvious one. Will research.

[inaplasticcup]

Phoneme - I haven't heard that word in FOREVERRRRR... :)

[buttertart]

Hazards of lifelong interest in languages.

[BigE]

I got an Oxo mandoline for Christmas and I love it. Keep in mind that I haven't changed blades or any of that jazz, but the cutting I've done with the basic blade...awesome.

[jbuttitta]

Oxo mandolines seem to vary greatly in quality. Some folks love them but the one I bought was dangerously dull. If you buy one make sure you can easily return it if you get a bad one

[buttertart]

According to the knuckle-rapping I got from OXO (above), their products are 100% satisfaction guaranteed and you need only contact them to receive a replacement.

[jbuttitta]

I don't want it replaced. It was so terrible I'll never want another. I got a Benriner and I am very satisfied.

[buttertart]

Me too. OXO isn't amused by having their products criticised.

[CookingForReal]

So when you say "knuckle-rapping", do you mean OXO jumped all over you for criticizing, or literally you had your "knuckles rapped" trying to use the thing?

It has had terrible reviews everywhere I've looked. I never even considered the OXO.

[buttertart]

I mean someone from the company posted on CH (can't find it, sorry) to say I need only have contacted them because their products were 100% guaranteed. I had long since thrown it out. The tone of the post was knuckle-rappy.

What I really hated was that the hand guard had spikes in it and when you got anywhere near them they messed up the blade. Useless.

[CookingForReal]

Now that's low! I guess somebody over there wasn't smart enough to figure out that some people might not like to buy your stuff if you're going to be mean about it! LOL!

[buttertart]

I was somewhat taken aback.

[Sydneyeats]

I love my OXO. I must agree the hand guard stinks--but I use a mesh (metal) glove to protect the fingers.

If I had one of the fancy mandolines I would probably slice my hand off.

[Miss Priss]

I'm very happy with my basic Borner V-Slicer, which has served me well for over 5 years. I also own a regular (non-Super) Benriner, but rarely use it, mainly because it's narrower than the Borner and changing the blades requires a little more effort. That being said, if the Borner were to fall apart on me, I'd certainly give the Benriner a whirl.

[scubadoo97]

I can not comment on any of the mandolines mentioned except the Benriner. I own both the regular and the Super. I use the regular more often. I also have a stainless French Bron mandoline which I hardly ever use. The Super Benriner is wider and also has two set screws to set cutting depth. Unless these are set to the same level you could end up with uneven slices but that can happen anyway with uneven pressure when slicing. I am a fan of the Benriner.

[smkit]

I agree that the two screws take a little getting used to, but the slicer is really nice. Btw, Japanese Knife Imports is out of stock right now, but they have a really good price on the jumbo ($35).

[CookingForReal]

I'm in the market for the same type of thing right now and I think I've pretty much settled on the Borner V-1001. I'm also picking up the Borner hash brown grater.

The Kyocera looks too flimsy, and there's a video on Amazon that show how hard it can be too use. It's really small, and apparently there's a ridge that catches your veggies coming back up for the next slice. The guard is also really poorly designed - between the ridge and the poor grip you get on the veggie, that guy had the potato he was trying to slice jerked out of his hand about every 3rd stroke.

The Borner V-4000 has higher edges and is made of softer plastic, so it flexes more and you end up leaving more waste. It dices automatically though - to do that with the 1001 you have to partially slice your veggie first.

Kitchen Audition just did reviews of all of these and they ended up liking the Borner V1001 the best. Here's the link:

http://www.kitchenaudition.com/?page_...

[Brsboarder]

Thanks for the link, although that complicates things. I think I want the adjustability of the benriner but they really didn't like how the large benriner cut tomatoes and julienne. Anyone have real life experience?

[buttertart]

I would advise against the Kyocera model because mine broke quite soon after purchase. I've had my Benriner for over 10 years and it's still supersharp. I love it.

[al b. darned]

Geeze, I don't know what you guys are doing with your Kyocera , but as I said in my original post, I've had mine going on four years. I don't baby mine, and I haven't managed to break it yet. (And I am an ex-sailor. As everyone who has served in the Navy knows, nothing is "Sailor Proof"...in less than an hour a sailor can break, steal, or lose anything.)

I regularly slice onions, potatoes, garlic, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, apples, zucchini,and much more.

Yes the holder is poorly designed, so I don't use it. With all the use I've given mine I can literally count the number of "Oh,sh"...I mean "Oops!" moments on the finger of one hand. This (and any mandoline) is no more dangerous than all those sharp kitchen knives we cherish.

I guess it would also depend on what you need a slicer for. I often dehydrate fruits and veg. For me, the .5 mm setting on this one is perfect for thinly slicing stuff for the dehydrator. I don't need it for anything but slicing, either. For the few times I julienne, have the Kyocera Wide Julienne Slicer.

[CookingForReal]

Mandolines, if used improperly (and not using the holder or a kevlar glove IS IMPROPERLY) are WAY more dangerous than knives. At least get a Kevlar glove if you're not going to use the (admittedly very poorly designed) holder for that Kyocera.

People have LITERALLY sliced off fingertips because they thought they could just whip out a few slices of something real quick without "bothering" with the holder. A really good mandoline will have you down to the bone - literally - before you know it because the slicing goes so quickly and so easily.

I made my choice based on observation and numerous recommendations for and against, as well as the testing (which was clearly and COMPLETELY explained) on Kitchen Auditions. There were too many cons and not enough pros with the Kyocera and the Super Benriner, for my uses at least. My Borner 1001 is on the way, should have it by Friday.

[Monch]

+1 on the Kevlar gloves.

<Sitting looking at nasty mandoline scar on middle finger of right hand>

[MikeG]

+2 on the gloves. I've never cut myself badly with a kitchen utensil of any size, shape or sharpness, but I almost took off a small section of fingertip when I was stupid/foolish enough to use a Benriner while talking on the phone. Oh, and just one more reason to use a glove, unlike with a knife, you're likely to hurt your dominant hand with a mandoline which adds insult to injury if you get a bad cut!

[BobB]

Looks like the Börner V4000 has been replaced by the V7000, which appears to have added a push-button depth adjustment. Anyone have any experience with it? Reviews on amazon.com seem to be mostly positive: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003...

[CookingForReal]

No, but based on what Kitchen Auditions had to say - and showed me - I went with the Borner 1001 rather than either the 4000 or the 7000, both of which have the same design with the weaker plastic and leaving too much waste because of the higher side rails.

[BobB]

Nice in-depth review on that link - thanks. Unfortunately they highlight a drawback of all the Borners, which is their inability to do really thin slices (<2mm). This is something I do with my current cheap-crap mandoline (which I'm looking to replace) - I have a favorite pickle recipe that requires paper-thin slices of English cuke. That's pretty much the ONLY thing the cheap one is good for, but it does do that well.

So now I'm looking for something with the Borner 1001 quality but a fully-adjustable blade depth. And I'm not particularly price-sensitive so maybe one of the higher-end models would be a better fit.

Or maybe I should buy a Borner and keep the cheap one just for that one recipe.

Ah, decisions, decisions...

[CookingForReal]

Yeah, really thin slices I don't need. I'm happy with cottage fries and onion rings, julienned stuff for stir fry, and of course the hash browns (for which I had to buy the separate hash brown grater).

It should be here tomorrow. Maybe then I can get folks to stop coming home with the pre-julienned carrots for salad, LOL!

[RudysEquipment_Supplies]

Out of all those choices the Super Benriner is the best of the bunch. Borner has to many parts in my opinion.Kyocera has the ceraminc blades which is a + but you cant do juelienne with that unit.

[Brsboarder]

It sounds like you would choose something else...is there another one in the price range I should think about?

[petek]

I agree with Rudys on the Benriner.I don't have the super model just the regular.Great deal for $29.95 CAN.

[al b. darned]

I've had the Kyocera CSN-202 for about 3 1/2 years. I wouldn't part with it. It seems just as sharp today as when new. The only thing bad is the guard. I tossed mine, and am very careful when I use the slicer, lest I thinly slice my fingers.

I brought it to a friend's house go slice garlic cloves for the dehydrator. He liked it so much he had me order him one. (He doesn't do computers.) Two other friends of his (also old fogies without computers) also wanted one as well so I ordered one for each of them, too.

I recommend this one.