Metaltex Rotomac Herb and Vegetable Manual Chopper with Moveable Blades, Metal, White, 5.51 x 5.51 x 4.72 cm

You need this!
Fantastic little piece of kit. I have had a couple of electric mini choppers in the past so was unsure about this one. Far more efficient all ingredients are chopped to the same size and it is so easy to use. Unfortunately it’s No help if your trying to get rid of your bingo wings as it takes so little effort! After reading other reviews I put a piece of clingfilm over the top to protect the lid as you can’t immerse the lid in water. So pleased I chose this one , IHave been chopping everything in sight and its great fun too.

A Good Little Chopper With A Temporary Feeling….
Do yourself a favour and watch the video on here regarding the Zyliss Easy Pull Manual Chopper. The Metaltex Rotomac appears to be a smaller version. This is a very effective manual food chopper but you need to be aware of several things. The measurements on Amazon UK are totally inaccurate: Measuring 11.5cm height by 12.5cm diameter and weighing 344grams, the Metaltex Rotomac can only handle liquids such as water up to 400ml without the rest of it leaking out the lid when it has been added to the bowl. There are no measure gradients on the bowl other than vertical lines in the plastic which have been added for structure/durability and they do not provide a suitable measurement – try it with liquids over the top of the line and when the blade is activated the liquid will start to flood out the sides.I already own an electric Tefal Food Express for shredding and slicing but it doesn’t chop, hence my purchase.With this award winning contraption, the Metaltex Rotomac “Herb and Vegetable” chopper is aptly named. It performs better as a chopper than anything else I have tried despite the claim that it can be used for milkshakes.It just about chops an onion. Two if you are lucky to have small ones to hand. Two to four average carrots chopped in half will fill this bowl completely. It chops so quickly that it takes me no time at all to prep all vegetables for either a stew, casserole or even home made soup. It is great for those who have no time for chopping manually. But…This hand sized mini chopper cum-manual food processor isn’t all that well thought out in my experience. The lid can’t be immersed in water but rather can only really be cleaned with a damp cloth. Quality PVC plastics to the touch but to a point. The adjustable blade can be moved between a ratio of 2 to 180 degrees. WHY that is the case I’m not sure but the blades are very sharp and a standard fixed 180 degree position would be far better and easier. There is very little difference to the performance quality when the blades are moved to the suggested positions in the user manual for example and though the promise of everything being cut occurs, I have found larger lumps of “matchbox” sized vegetables left over with the suggested angle of the moving blades.So at times it no better than an electric food processor where chopping is concerned.At least there is a handy and permanent fitted blade lifter at the top of the blade tool, so although there is the danger of cutting yourself you can always rely on picking out the blade provided that the plastic flap at the top isn’t covered with food prep. You get a blade cover too and it is easy to slide on provided you don’t lose it.But THEN I looked online at various videos in terms of actual usage – the user manual is made up of barely any English words but plenty of colour photos of what kinds of foods can be prepared with the Metaltex Rotomac. It isn’t exactly self explanatory.AFTER reading the manual and watching videos I soon realised that you’re not supposed to put one hand on the lid to keep it down, pull the half size bangle with its pull back string and let it go. Do that and the handle will smack your other hand resting on the lid! Instead you have to keep your hand on the lid and the other hand on the pull release bangle and let the spring mechanism pull back WITH your hand still on the bangle handle.PERFORMANCE wise I have been shocked as to what this little chopper can do. It chops cabbage with ease, as does onions, celery, garlic, carrots and even raw potatoes – but like some European juicers you have to at least slice or chop vegetables in half to fit in the small capacity bowl before coarse to fine chopping can begin. The user manual gives a fair to true indication of how many pulls your hand has to pull and rewind back per coarse to fine consistencies of various food prep when used.. This is a great little chopper once you get used to it and i can see it would be worthwhile if you go camping or even caravanning and you don’t want to use electricity; there’s even a rubberised ring on the base to keep the bowl gripped to a surface – but you still have to hold your hand on the top of the lid with every requirement and would probably have to tape the lid down to the bowl if moving. At least the design is space efficient.The OTHER DOWNSIDES to this Swiss designed contraption is build quality and a fair bit of hand muscle required. Gripping both the lid might be difficult despite the round stripe pattern of hard plastic on the top. Gripping the bangle handle is a bit easier but it is like holding onto a cheap kite. I find it is bad enough trying to chop a raw, hard potato with a knife on a chopping board and even if there are two blades in this manual food chopper design, a fair amount of muscle strength is required from both of my hands to generate ENOUGH power to get the blades moving. Already from chopping carrots, the bowl has began to discolour too and even when dishwasher washed there’s still a hint of orange colour to my plastic bowl. Like the lid the blade has to be hand washed, which is another pity.If this product was on sale in the U.S you can be sure it would come with a more practical air tight seal lid.. But looking past that, at least everything is contained in terms of the blade being already fitted and ready to be used at a moment’s notice. It just needs a bit more thought given the ferocious spring loaded rope and feeble feeling half bangle style handle.Already the rope on mine holding the bangle has started to fray, so its only a matter of time when the half moon bangle handle may eventually snap off. Perhaps it is cost effective at £15 but anything more and you may as well go electric or try for another brand. It remains to see how long this one lasts. This review originally got 3 stars; it gets one more star because it is quicker to use than a food processor with various bits and bobs. (c)NR2 2015

Brilliant!
Probably the best kitchen gadget I have ever bought! Works superbly well – just don’t overload it with ‘hard’ vegetables such as carrots. Tomatoes and onions chopped for salsa – divine and so quick and easy. Can’t recommend highly enough.

Slicer
Great little gadget

Best kitchen utensil I’ve ever bought. Bit tricky to clean but no biggy. Very good!

Très pratique et très facile d’utilité.