Slice It(TM), The Express Mandoline Slicer. New 2015 Model! 8 Function Slicer Set. 4 Interchangeable Blades Included.

Things to know about a mandolin: They are very sharp!! This one comes with an ingenious "safety" food holder that pierces the food just far enough to keep it steady yet still slice. Use the "safety" and you won't spoil you dinner with skin and blood. The adjustment for the thickness of slice is infinitesimally dialed between about -1/16th inch (yes! minus 1/6th inch - but, flesh can still be cut even though the cutting blade is below the cutting surface) to just under 1/4 inch. Then you get to dice your food with built in "cross cutting" blades. You dial "up" the two separate sets of blades to dice your food with two different setting: 1/4 inch and 3/8th inch wide. The Grill it has legs at the up blade end (where you start your cut) that are pulled down and have a ?neoprene? foot that holds to the counter and helps stop slip. The "down" blade end has various notches to hold the rim of various receptacles. Both ends have notches. If you don't fold out the legs you can use this flat on top of a bowl.In the end, you can slice, dice, chop or shred any food ( meat is more difficult than vegetables) as long as you pre-trim your food to 3 1/2 inches wide - the width of the cutting surface.I love my mandolin and use it most days for something. My only disappointment lies in the dicing function, in that it is not perfect and takes a lot of practice and doesn't work on all food. But, in the end it does a very good job at slicing and keeping my hands away from the blade. I only cut myself when I went to wash it and slid my finger into the -1/16th blade.About washing the Grill it mandolin: IMMEDIATELY! rinse your mandolin after cutting your food, it is very hard to clean the blades when dried on food is stuck to very sharp blades - it shreds sponges just like food.

The blades are very sharp, which helps a lot when I'm slicing soft-skinned foods like tomatoes. It cuts well, but, with starchy, thick vegetables like potato, it can get stuck on the blade if you don't cut it at the right speed. The safeguard is helpful only if it can get a grip on the fruit/vegetable you're trying to cut. For example, the guard works on tomatoes and oranges, but it's difficult to use on irregularly shaped things like sweet potatoes or ginger. I've also noticed that the blade can get detached if you go too fast with the slicing or use a bit too much force. I'm just a short, 115 lb Asian girl, so it's not like I go Super Saiyan on the device. It's a tad worrisome, seeing as how the locking only works about 60% of the time.I've made potato chips and fries with the slicer, with the chips being more successfully cut than the fries. Maybe I was trying to cut them too thin, but the julienne occasionally will not go through the potato completely. It works fine for carrots, though. I'm enjoying the pull-out container that holds all my cut veggies/fruits. It's pretty useful and keeps my counters clean.I haven't used the grates (just because I don't eat cheese that often), so I can't say anything about that.All in all, here's a rundown:PROSSharp bladesEasy to understand set-upEasy to clean (provided you don't leave it out so the food dries on the blades)Useful for consistent slices/julienneFlexibility in terms of thickness of slices/julienneTransparent bodyCONSLocking mechanism doesn't work 100% of the timeSafety guard only works on vegetables/fruits it can hold on toSome vegetables can get stuck on blades

As other reviewers have noted, the blades are very sharp and it works fabulously when cutting up hard fruits and vegetables.I've given it four stars because, for the price, it is very good. But I'm not grading on a curve here--I've taken off a star because it feels cheaply made. The plastic seems thin and not very sturdy. I haven't tried, but I imagine that if I knocked it off of the counter, it would break when it hit the floor. Also, as others have observed, you have to be careful with the finger guard; it can easily fall off if you are not using it carefully. So look: it's a $20 mandolin -- for $20, you're getting something that can slice the heck out of stuff, but it's still only a $20 gadget.A bunch of people have complained about the size of the french fries, but don't worry about that. The ideal french fry size is 1/4 inch square, which allows you to get the crisp outside and light, fluffy interior. You can do 1/4" fries on this device. First, attach the slicing blade and set it to the thickest slice -- it's about 1/4 inch. Slice your potatoes lengthwise. You now have long, wide, 1/4 inch thick potato slices. Now, do one of two things: grab a stack of the slices, turn them on their side, and run them through the slicer again -- you now have 1/4 inch square fries. Or, take your potato slices and make the final 1/4 inch cut by hand (I usually do this). Either way, this device has saved me a ton of time from cutting the fries by hand. It's a real time saver.

It works okay. The biggest problem is that the same function that allows you to change blades also causes the blade plate to slip out in the middle of cutting.Edit: If you hold the bottom, it really isn't a huge problem. I make mashed potatoes much more often than i used to because this helps SO MUCH.

It goes together easily, and remember, it's VERY sharp! Slices amazingly even slices, julienne blade is great. Just remember, buy a set of those no-cut gloves and keep your fingers and hands protected. My only complaint is the blades tend to slip off the container, but you can remedy that by holding the opposite hand over the end of the container to keep it from slipping off.