Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I promised someone I'd come back and review the model 250 when I got mine. Here's the update--it works just as well as the old model. The table clamp is better, but the way the screen attaches is worse, since you have to grab onto it to take it apart now. It leaks just as the old model did, but a little less. All in all though, it works like a charm and turns out a beautiful job with little work. The review below still stands for the newer model. I can a LOT of tomatoes. This year I did 30-50 pounds a week, all summer. My old process: wash tomatoes. Cut slits in the bottom of tomatoes. Dunk tomatoes in boiling water. Once the skins split, dunk in ice water. Peel the tomatoes. Cut out the core. Cut off green shoulders. Cut off bad bits. Put tomato in saucepan. Crust tomatoes with potato masher. Cook down the tomatoes, process in water bath canner. This takes ALL DAY. Then a friend took pity on me and loaned me her Victorio Strainer. It's at least 30 years old, probably older and still in great shape. The first time I used it, it was like the heavens had opened and angels began to sing. Here's my new process: Wash tomatoes. Cut off bad bits. Cut tomato in half or quarters. Run through the strainer. Cook down and process. DONE. The resulting puree is gorgeous and seed and peel free. I can use tomatoes with blossom end rot--just cut that bit off. I can use all my cherry tomatoes that I could never preserve before. There is almost no waste--after you run the tomatoes through once, dump all the peels and cores back in and run them again. You'll be shocked at how much more juice and pulp comes out. The resulting waste is almost dry. I had a gallon of waste from 50 pounds of tomatoes. This thing is completely amazing. It does leak a bit. Don't know if that's because it's old, or it's the nature of the beast. I DO NOT CARE. The screen is a bit of a pain to clean. I DO NOT CARE. This thing is so much faster and so much better than doing it all by hand, these small annoyances are nothing. We also did 100 pounds of Concord grapes for juice with this, and it was awesome. I'm here to buy my own so I can return the one I'm using. Oh, just save yourself the aggravation and buy the accessory pack while you're here. Once you start using it for something like tomatoes, you'll look around and want to do grapes, or salsa, or pumpkin... better get those accessories now.