I don't have personal experience, but everyone I know who does says the full sized Breville is far and away the best. The crank kind that fasten to the table are also excellent. Are you using English limes (the lemon sized dark green ones)? Or Mexican limes (the jawbreaker sized light green ones)? For the small ones, I'd think that something like the Breville that pulps as well as juices would be better than the press kind, crank or no.

Thanks, pl1log...there are several full-size Brevilles. Here's the Google page that shows the pics:

http://www.google.com/search?q=breville+juicer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___US335

I use the large, dark green limes.

I'm linking a very interesting read on a lime juice taste test by bar tenders that I found in my search...I'm easily distracted but I love stuff like this. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Interesting lime juice taste test

I may be naive, but can you buy lime juice? That's what I do - it's in a squeezy bottle and holds about 16 ounces of lime juice. It keeps for a long time in the fridge. Is the store bought lime juice not as yummy as the freshly squeezed lime juice?

Have you tried a press type juicer? I did an entire bag of Key limes with one and wasn't looking for something electric. Mine is a different brand, but similar to this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: citrus juicers

Adrienne: Here are the ingredients of Realime Juice:
Lime Juice from concentrate (water, lime juice concentrate), sodium benzoate (preservative), lime oil, sodium metabisulfite (preservative).

I can taste the additives. It's just not the same as fresh. Same for lemon juice. I did use Minute Maid lemon juice in the freezer with absolutely no additives - I just wish they made lime juice, too.

lascatx: That's the type of press I have. I was awakened by a strange pain in my left arm all the way down to my hand and I thought I was minutes away from a heart attack when I remembered it was from pressing 60 limes. Whew! :)

Melaska, thanks for that link.

I love my Braun Citromatic, which is used to juice massive quantities of limes in the summer. Stay away from the cheaply-made Cuisinart.

Agree that the bottled stuff is yucky.

A little $20 electric juicer will do limes or other citrus as fast as you can cut them in half. Search black & decker juicer at walmart for one example. The monster $200+ juicers are if you are trying to make juice from carrots, apples, rutabagas, turkeys, and stones. They are a pain to clean and store. We have two, bought by SWMBO during various health kicks. We keep giving away the big Jack LaLanne one, and it keeps being returned. Apparently "free" is too expensive for that thing.

warmfridge: Do you have to press down hard to juice?

johnliu: Thanks...I pretty much ruled out the monsters. I already have a small Black & Decker electric juicer that I have to push down on in order for it to spin. I'm just wondering if it's much better than the hand press I used yesterday.

Melaska,
The Braun is so easy to use that it's fun. :-) I don't feel like my arm went to the gym afterwards. My old Cuisinart required a dysfunctional workout...so glad I got rid of that thing.

I second warmfrige's advice not to consider the Cuisinart. That thing was a PITA for me too! I'm still looking for a good one that you don't have to push too hard on and that has a good spout/juice capture area. I used a cheap one that had a tiny spout and didn't have an area to recess in your container for catching the juice. About 1/4 of my juice would end up on the counter and under the juicer. When you're doing 20 or more limes or lemons that makes a difference! BTW, the fresh citrus juice is so much better than bottled!

What the heck is swmbo????

Cracked me up the first time I read it too. She Who Must Be Obeyed. LOL!

lol Thanks. I had no clue.

Summerfan, SWMBO is a goddess-like leader of a fictional primitive tribe in the 19th century novel She. It stands for She Who Must Be Obeyed, which was more recently popularized by the fictional character Rumpole of the Bailey, who called his formidable wife that (pronounced "Swimbo"), behind her back. John, similarly, refers to his wife that way, though, from what he says, she sounds rather nice. :)

Melaska, thanks for the great link. I love reading odd stuff like that!

And that being the case, maybe the best compromise is the crank style one after all. There's repetitive motion, but not really elbow grease.

Lascatx, that's the kind of juice press I bought for pressing the excess water out of spinach for strata!

How about getting the most juice. America's Test Kitchen once had a video about how slicing a lemon from tip-to-tip produces much more juice than slicing it across it's middle. Then they just juiced it on one of those typical juicers. Best of luck.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

pl1log - that's the one I had pictured in my mind but hadn't come across it yet. Looks like this would be a good one to store on a work shelf in the pantry since it's so tall. Does it need to be anchored? Here's the pic in case anyone else wanted to see it:

John...I will definitely stay away from all 'pain to clean & store' types. I will only need it for limes so it can be a simple but sturdy juicer.

dan...I'll have to look up that video from ATK - sounds very interesting. They're always coming up with cool stuff like that. I'm a real fan of their "Cook's Illustrated" magazine.

Thanks!

I LOVE to make fresh lemonade - so I got an citrus attachment for my kitchen aid food processor. It's kind of a press with a rotating center. I actually don't use the press, just (very carefully) hold the lemon over the rotating center. Works very well for me as it's rind-only when I'm done!

Melaska, I'm more familiar with the kind that clamps to a bar and has a visible ratchet. The Hamilton Beach (pictured) looks like it's heavy enough, and the stand looks securely designed. That's why I linked it. There are a lot of flimsy looking ones of the type. If you want something smaller, try www.citrusjuicers.com -- for a lot less than Amazon! I can't find the one with the ratchet, though. They may not make them any more.

I do have the Breville. It's packed away during the remodel and I cannot wait to be able to use it again. It is powerful and does a great job -- it's fun to use. And very fast. It takes three or four times as long to get everything ready to put through the juicer as it does to actually make the juice. The only drawbacks -- it's big, takes a lot of storage space, and it takes some time each time you use it to get it really clean afterwards.

I have one of those tall citrus presses with a ratchet--it lives on the counter during orange season and resides in the pantry when the season passes. No, mine doesn't need to be anchored! Works best with smaller citrus--great for my Myers Lemons and Key Limes, not so great for grapefruit.

It's decided!

Thanks, pl1log - I really appreciate your input.
Sayde & beachlily - thank you for your recommendations.

Told hubby about the Hamilton Beach & he said "Order it! Today!" SO looking forward to getting it...thank you, everyone, for making this decision so much easier. It usually takes a long time for me to decide on whatever I'm going to buy. My son-in-law still teases me about the time I was researching my digital camera...charts & everything. Two months! And that was just for one of those sub-compact models! :)

I for sure did not think I'd get a non-electric juicer but the Hamilton Beach fits every criteria I have.

Thanks!