OXO Good Grips Good Grips Garlic Press

These two garlic presses seem to be the most popular on Amazon right now, and since I've used both, here's my two cents.

OXO: this is a much easier press to use, requiring far less hand strength. It's also the easiest to clean (just flip it backwards and the red plastic head cleans itself). Mine has done just fine in the dishwasher top rack. However, it can't handle unpeeled cloves, and does have a tendency to break at the hinge every 2 years or so (I used it almost every night). It also leaves slightly more unused garlic residue inside.

Zyliss Susi Deluxe: I bought this after breaking my third OXO. It requires substantially more hand strength to use. It can press unpeeled cloves, but you have to squeeze quite hard to do this. It is slightly harder to clean than the OXO (use an included attachment), but still much easier than other garlic presses. This one leaves practically no unused garlic residue inside. I've only had it 4 months, so I can't comment on durability yet.

Overall, I'd get the OXO if you have arthritis or if your hands aren't strong, or if ease of use and cleaning are very important to you; just plan on replacing it every couple of years if you use garlic every night. I'd get the Zyliss if you have strong hands and don't want to peel the garlic cloves, or if the breakage rate (or leaving behind a tiny quantity of garlic) bothers you. I'll probably stick with the Zyliss, but I'd buy my mom the OXO (and replacements).

I hate to bad-mouth OXO because I like the rest of their products. They cannot be beat for ergonomic comfort, and in that respect, the OXO Good Grips Garlic Press is no exception. The handles are extremely comfortable to grip, and with very small garlic cloves, minimal pressure is needed to crush them with this press. However, I have owned two of these OXO garlic presses, and both of them have broken while simply pressing a medium-sized garlic clove. The first time this happened, I though perhaps I had just gotten a defective press, and I optimistically purchased a second. Imagine my dismay when three months later, the exact same thing happened to the second press. Although this product looks big and sturdy, unfortunately, looks can be deceiving.

Great features (the comfortable grips and self-cleaning) but it is not durable at all. Hinge broke while crushing a small clove of garlic and the press was less than 3 months old! Certainly not overused nor abused by any means. Even hand-washed despite the fact they say it's dishwasher safe.

The press "looks" like good quality stainless steel but I've never seen stainless "snap" like this one did. I know of two other family members whose OXO presses broke at the hinge, too.

So, I will not be wasting my money on this brand. I'll go with a true stainless steel press until this manufacturer can improve on this one.