PL8 Professional Mandoline - Versatile Slicer with Adjustable Straight, Waffle, and Julienne Blades, Extra-Wide Stainless Steel Deck, Safety Hand Guard, Non-Skid Feet, and Space-Saving Design

I am really pleased that I purchased this mandoline.The things that I like about it:Blades are built in which is a great safety issue, they are adjustable, has a secure handle, is lighter in weight but stable, has a nice wide surface, easy to clean stainless steel surface. It's easy storage as it folds up. Sometimes I will place it in the dishwasher.Regarding the Hand Guard be sure there is no food blocking it. Sometimes I don't use the Guard, but I will slow down to a crawl when it gets to a certain point.This mandoline is doing the job my food processor could not; slicing 'Large' tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cabbage for shredding, and eggplant into strips. It makes excellent slices size slices to your liking.I would recommend this product.

I recently purchased this item, and overall, I’m quite satisfied with it. The quality meets expectations, and it performs as described. It arrived on time and was well-packaged. While there might be minor areas for improvement, it serves its purpose well and offers good value for the price. I would recommend it to others looking for something similar.

This mandoline is every bit as beefy and beautiful as it looks, and it is very stable. The incorporated blades are important to me because I tend to cut myself when cutting anything at all and drop my knives a lot. Hopefully this will save my toes. By necessity, I’ve gotten very good at jumping away from falling knives and box cutters. All ten toes can testify. When first examining and testing the blade-closed position for storage I did manage to “catch” my finger in the gap between the closed blade and the deck while examining it for storage safety. No injury, but I did breathe in sharply and expected to see a cut. This is something to keep in mind. Even with it closed, be very careful.I was concerned that the combination of buttons and pull knobs would be a pain, but they are quick to manipulate while being well-made and placed. All of the knobs and buttons work easily, but are also quite secure and don’t feel flimsy. In fact, there is nothing about the PL8 1000 that feels flimsy. It feels and looks quite professional. The rear leg is also sturdy and beefy, easy to open or close, and the incorporated handle has a nice cushiony covering that feels durable. The designers did a good job with this mandoline. The only thing that would make it better was if it was all stainless steel. As a life-long klutz, I feel sure I will drop it at some point and it may break due to the non-metal parts – buttons, body, etc.The PL8 comes in sturdy, protective box with useful quick-start information on the back. It is well-packed for shipment. The price-point was a concern to me, but after seeing and using the PL8 1000 I think the price is spot on. I did a quick review of the manual, but it is so short that, while it was informative to a degree, it doesn’t give you anything thing more than the operational basics. The manual could be expanded bit to include a few tips, suggestions, and techniques without much trouble. The manual is quite small and the English portion is a very short five pages, but there is also a Spanish language version at the back.One thing that concerned me before purchase was the food handler guide. Since it’s attached in the picture I didn’t think it was removable. It is and that will aid when slicing tomatoes since a good cut requires a zig zag approach on a diagonal blade. It removes and reattaches easily when needed for use or cleaning. The guide also has nubs at the top and bottom to facilitate holding the veggies when cutting lengthwise. Nice. I got a cutting glove for the times I’m not using the guide. Today for testing I used a nitrile glove. Not great protection, but better than bare skin.Likes: the incorporated blades, the many choices in sizes and types of cuts, the professional quality and appearance, the speed of processing, the overall design, and the metal deck and legs. Clean-up was super easy. A rinse with my sprayer and I was done. I also like the video that shows the various things that can be done. I am slower and less clever at present, but that will change with continued use.Video found here:http://progressiveintl.com/products/professional-mandolinehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjR-s5egilUDislikes: the food handler and the guide – especially the handler (zero surprise). If you lift the guide up to place food the handler falls out with a clatter so remove it first or hang on to it while lifting. The metal spikes hinder more than help. They are too few and don’t really seem to help while holding the food, even with the guide. Even then they don’t retract automatically and will come in contact with the blade if you are not careful. When not using the spikes and using the guide it works fine except that you have less cutting control. It seems to me the spikes on the handler should be spring loaded and offer at least five or six. I think I will mostly be using the PL8 1000 without the guide and handler, but with my cutting glove as I suspected before receiving. After a bit of research, part of my issue with the food handler may be my fault due to lack of experience. Time will tell. I still don't care much for it though.For me this mandoline is a learning experience. It is my first and it will take me a bit to learn the possibilities, but nonetheless it is a quality tool. I already dropped the food guide and it didn’t break – very encouraging. I will update this review and the stars once I know more.

After way, way (WAY!) too much research, I bought this mandoline 3 years ago. Mostly I got it to thinly slice onions so my eyes didn't leak out of my skull every time I had to do that. Which sounds dumb, but I tell you, when I slice onions it feels like I'm being pepper sprayed - my glasses get spattered with tears, and I have to repeatedly stop to wash my hands and face just so I can slice the darn things with my eyes open. Anyway. I sure have used this thing a lot! It's great for slicing or julienning all kinds of foods, and makes it go super fast. Great for every day, but a godsend for holiday cooking.* There are 4 thickness you can use: 1 mm, 3.5 mm, 5.5 mm, and 7.5 mm. Or ~1/32", ~1/8", ~1/4", and ~1/3".* Cut things straight across, or in wavy waffle cuts.* Raise one row of julienne blades or two, depending on how matchsticky you want your food cut,I use it to super-thinly slice apples to make apple chips, cut lots of squash to saute, slice carrots to simmer, slice and julienne a lot of veg at once to throw in stir fry (keeping them in separate containers in the fridge means dinner comes together in, like, 15 mins), slice up those previously mentioned onions before I caramelize them in large batches, and slice even more onions to keep in a container in the fridge to throw in stuff while I'm cooking. This device is my personal sous chef, and I don't have to pay it anything! I really use it at least once a week, so worth the money I paid for it.One day my partner used it and the guard slipped off the base, which chewed up a little part of the plastic, but I sanded it down and it all works just fine. Like a rebel, I don't always use that guard anyway, but I'm stupidly careful and have yet to cut myself on it (knock on wood!).The bad? It's a little hard to get small ends of veg out of the nooks and crannies of the underside when I handwash it. But even then, it's not THAT hard. I just had to think of something that I didn't like about it, and this is all I could come up with.I hope it never dies, but all things do. So when it does, I hope this thing is still being made so I can get another one.