Neat Ideas Stainless Steel Mandolin Pro Slicer

I've only used this once so far, to julienne carrots. it did a good enough job of that but the absence of an instruction manual was a hindrance. Now I've had vital information about the adjustable prongs in the handle I feel more confident about reviewing this product. A good quality cheaper cutter as far as I can see.It seems to be sharp enough and with a nice solid stainless steel cutting and slicing area. The gripping spikes in the handle extends to about 3 cm to hold vegetables in place, which isn't very obvious at first.It juliennes vegetables to 3 mm or 9 mm and slices to 3 6 or 9 mm thickness - in fact the instructions say you can set the vegetable thickness at 1mm to 9mm for slicing but I have yet to fully test this. The settings are made via a dial on the side which is marked in mm and inches. The dial is pushed in to turn to the right cutting setting. The spikes adjust by pushing the knob on the top of the slicing handle down to hold vegetables in place while slicing.It is a big machine about 36cm long and 16 cm wide (including the knob) and the cutting handle is also quite big - big enough to protect against sliced fingers. The foot of the mandolin folds flat so it can be put away in a cupboard quite easily. It is straightforward to clean as well.All in all I am very pleased with it, and it seems to be a better choice than the same ones with a plastic cutting bed with steel blades set in. It will make delicate matchsticks or french fry sized chips as a julienne cutter and a good choice of slicing thicknesses. The seller was also very helpful in telling about the movable spikes - this was the only bit of the cutter that was't obvious -and would have let me return it if I had remained unhappy. But I don't want to return a nice solid cutter given the sometimes poor reviews of similar but plastic bedded cutters.I'll post another review if my opinion changes. It get 4 stars only because there is no instructional manual.I've just used this to prepare onion and potato for a tortilla; completely effortless, worked perfectly, and took about a minute so I've upped the review to 5 stars. The spikes in the handle retract as you work through the vegetables, which is very clever. It was so easy that I wasn't sure it was cutting 'til I saw the pile of slices. That says a lot for the sharpness of the blade. I think this is an excellent slicer; perhaps not quite perfect slices always but I'm still getting used to using it. Thoroughly recommend and very glad I bought this model as it seems not to have the issues that people have raised in relation to some of the mandolin slicers.

I purchased this item based on price, use and others reviews. I wanted it for slicing fruit and vegetables for drying, as an even thickness is desirable for uniform drying, this was a solutionThere were no instructions supplied, and with all the cautions on other reviews this should be included along with a list of don'ts.having said that it is not difficult to work out the principles of its use.Slicing works well at different thicknesses, and was easily adjusted, variable from 3-9mm, thickness was constant.The chipper also worked well giving even sized chips.The Julienne slicer was difficult at first but with practice I was able to produce acceptable carrot and cucumber strips.It does the job simply and effectively and when compared with other versions economic. It seems solid and should last wellThe safety holder takes some getting used to but it is worth putting in the effort to save your finger tips. larger items may need cutting down to enable them to be held in the holder alternatively get a cut proof glove and hold carefully till the final part will fit in the safety holderOnly a four as no instructions and needed a bit of staraightening of the upper deck to get the plate to lay flat against the thickness rest.

I bought this as I am fed up with spending hours in the kitchen preparing the evening meal for my family of 4. There is no instruction manual which is very annoying, and the first time i used it i sliced my fingers in 3 different places. However once I got the hang of it it was really good, but I have just dismantled it to clean it and I cannot put it back together. I have tried for 3 mornings in a row, and as a woman with 2 degrees I dont think i am exactly stupid, but its impossible! We have not got off to a good start and all the time I saved in chopping veg seems to have been wasted trying to put the blasted thing back together......extremely annoying

The product quality isn't as good as other reviews on the site state.My biggest issue so far is with the detachable rotary element that you must take out if you want to clean it - and you would want to as the foods get stuck under it. Taking it out is easy enough, putting it back in is always a struggle. You have to align a little piece of plastic somehow, by holding on to the knob and the other end of the rotary element with lots of sharp blades on it. Always a mission not to cut yourself doing that. Sometimes in the process of inserting, the little blades get cut into the plastic of the machine. No other words can describe this process better than "PITA".There's another problem of food getting stuck between the body and the main flat slicer; that's not designed for cleaning/detaching, so you have to get to it yourself somehow scraping away stuck cabbage etc without getting yourself cut.Finally, the little blades aren't as sharp as others say - the carrots don't go through it as smoothly, requiring faster movement thus increasing the risk of cutting yourself.Overall, you will end up with your veges sliced, but potentially with a bit of a mess. Also the laborious cleaning task will await you shortly.