Best commercial meat slicer

★★★★★ Nesco Gets It Right. I waited to post a review until I used this slicer a few times. I have cut a ham into breakfast steaks, a pork loin into chops, 2 London broils into jerky strips, and a bottom round roast beef into deli slices. The machine performed flawlessly. I was initially concerned about the manual warning against running it for more than 10 minutes at a time, but not now – it makes short quick work of everything. Nothing I have cut came anywhere close to taking 10 minutes. While there are several competing brands and models available on Amazon, all with well deserved 4+ star ratings, few have the Nesco FS250’s large 8.7″ blade, fewer still have an all metal chassis, and fewer yet have a professional-style metal pusher/handle assembly. After 30 years of managing and owning restaurants, I found those features irresistible. Yes, when it comes to slicers, size matters. A lot. So does power, and nothing in this price range surpasses the Nesco FS250’s 180 watts of power.The ham was cut cold right out of the wrapper. One half-inch thick slice makes a perfect breakfast steak, grill two for a nice dinner, and diced up or julienned they’re great for making omelets and chef salads.The London broil and pork loin were defrosted to a firm, semi-frozen state. I agree with a lot of other reviewers – semi-frozen works best with home slicers. The completely defrosted bottom round roast (3.5 lbs.) was seasoned and put in the oven at 480 degrees for 17 minutes, then the oven was turned off and the meat cooked in the steadily cooling oven until it was cool enough to touch the pan – a perfect rare-medium rare 130 degrees on the meat thermometer. I then put the cooked roast in the freezer for a few hours to firm it up, then cut the strings, and trimmed off the little bit of bottom fat. It sliced perfectly – wafer thin, with almost no crumbling. Between me and the dog, about half of it never made it back to the refrigerator. With everything I cut, the thickness control knob remained as set and the support plaque didn’t bend, nothing wandered or lost setting – slices were uniform – that’s something a few competing machines have a problem with. And the big, sharp blade spins fast enough so it didn’t yank the meat around – the spiked metal pusher kept everything under control.Cleanup is a breeze – everything comes apart and reassembles easily without needing any tools. And there’s just something nice about working with a steel/aluminum product for a change. This machine has a strong, professional appearance – it makes the whole kitchen look sharp. And it performs perfectly for my purposes. Buy it! And live happily ever after.

★★★★★ Buy a Proven Name. I purchased this slicer mainly on the Nesco name. My family has Nesco roasters that have been passed down for generations. Needless to say, I went into this with great expectations. I was absolutely correct. It sliced my roast beef, thin, without issue. I worried there would be “saw” marks in the meat (like a spiral sliced ham), but the cuts were smooth. Cleanup was not difficult. Just common sense when cleaning anything with a lot of nooks and crannies. The price was good in comparison to others from companies with whose names I was unfamiliar. Having worked with Hobart slicers in previous jobs I liked the look of this miniature version. Time will tell about durability, but I take good care of my small appliances and they usually live a long, happy life with me. My rule of thumb is always to try to purchase a name I know and trust. I was totally correct in this instance.

★★★★☆ Overall nice slicer. Overall this is a nice slicer. Easy enough to clean.It does get warm if it’s on for 10 min or so.Couple drawbacks, if the tray was a v shape, it would hold meat better and safer. It’s a bit far from the slicer, so the end of whatever you are slicing will need to be hand sliced or whatever else you want to do. Bacon is a bit difficult to cut, due to size of unit. But we make due.I’d recommend this to someone looking for a decent inexpensive slicer.

★★★★★ Terrific home slicer. I have been using this slicer for a year now and love it. I am in the fabricated materials industry and can attest that the slicer is well built for a home machine. It is easy to clean because the sliding carriage can be removed quickly. The serrated blade, though more expensive to make, means that the blade does not need to be sharpened (just like serrated knives). Motor speed is geared down to give ample torque yet enough cutting speed to do the job without getting dangerously fast. Speaking of gearing, the gears are made of a nylon filled plastic that give both strength and lubricity. There is liberal use of aluminum die castings and polished & bent stainless steel sheet.I have read some comments comparing this machine to a professional unit. Hobart was a customer of mine and the professional units are bult for daily use in a commercial envionment, not occassional use in a home. If it is a professional unit you want, then buy one. If, however, you have the need for an occassional use slicer, I don’t think you will find a better unit than the Nesco on the market.

★★★☆☆ Returning. We bought this slicer mainly for jerky meat. We had issues with it cutting the meat evenly. Probably on par with slicers in the price range but we want something better. Not only did it not make an even slice, it didn’t seem to cut very well. More tore the meat. We even tried partially frozen meat. Bought a Vevor which was more expensive but well worth it! Amazing machine and works great.

★★★★★ Pros: cuts meat thin for beef jerky and deli cuts, motor doesn’t slow down. Good value for the $100-$200 price range.Cons: motor spins slower than commercial units but still powerful for the job.

★★★★★ Es un aparato muy sencillo pero corta muy muy bien jamon casero ahumado que elaborados, es totalmente de uso de casa pero vale bien la pena

★★★★☆ Los cortes salen muy bien, solo que al cortar no se puede poner la mas mínima fuerza por que se alenta y pierde la calibración, pero aún así hace su funcion, solo es acostumbrarse.

★★★★☆ The only experience I have had with a meat slicer is my old Rival with a 6 inch serrated blade. I had this machine for 30 years before giving it to one of my kids. One of the reasons for switching is I want to move up to a larger blade. I like it for slicing beef round roasts and pork loins plus I smoke my own bacon, I then package the meat portions in a vacuum machine for hot pork sandwiches or whatever. The machine seems to be decently made and as other have said very easy to clean, in fact that was the feature that attracted me and it is really so, especially compared to my old unit that needed to be dismantled using a screw driver to clean it, this is as stated by others very easy to clean. I gave it three stars because it has a downside, to me in concern with my machine I got is a bad one. The first test was slicing cooked and fridge cooled pork loins at a thickness of 1/8 inch. The machine bogged down sufficiently enough that my wife looked up and asked if I was jamming it. I said no, I am not even putting any pressure on the blade at all.My first thought was if this is 250 watts they must be a lot smaller in China than here. After I cut all my meat at a much slower pace than my old smaller machine I got looking at it when I was cleaning it. The problem was easy to see, the blade is dull. My old machine had a six inch Solingen blade, it was still razor sharp after 30 years, the blade on this Nesco machine is dull, or at least mine is dull. I literally took the blade off the machine dragged it across the palm of my hand and nothing, it is that dull. That explains the motor laboring to cut. I guess the easiest example is a perry knife one side is sharp and the back side isn’t, my machines blade is the back side of the perry knife. So my options are to send it back and hope a replacement is better, try to find out if a 8.7 Solingen blade or other brand blade would interchange, dont know if they are all interchangeable between machine manufacturers or finally take my box of sharpening hones and see if I can sharpen the existing blade, So my machine is good, the blade is not, even the blade has a wobble of just under a 1/16 inch, if I can’t sharpen/replace the blade I don’t see a long motor life. Others have stated they can cut frozen meat, that sort of makes me think I got a bum blade??———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————I usually don’t do a follow-up, in fact I think this is my first one. I have since sharpened the blade by using several grit stones on the blade edge while running the machine. This has worked out quite well and has allowed me to put a much finer edge on the blade itself. I have also used it since to slice and shave ham, roast beef and pork since sharpening the blade. The machine works a whole lot better and I feel it is now much better value. Mine might have been a stand alone case, but as far as the performance goes I am quite pleased for the money and as such have raised my rating to 4 stars instead of 3.

★★★★★ Excelente producto para el uso correcto. Aunque le ayudaría un poco más de potencia. Pero por el precio no pido más. Excelente calidad