Avantco SL512 12" Manual Gravity Feed Meat Slicer - 1/2 hp

Writing to speed up the search comparisons for everyone. The boxes typically ship with some cardboard damage because the package is VERY heavy and it is easy to damage the box in shipping. You will understand when you pick the box up with a friend off your porch. The adjuster to my meat slicing depth operates off a plastic cam wheel under the unit and mine was broken when it arrived. I am betting the mfr. ships these set hard to stop vibration which makes them prone to break during shipping. If yours comes and the depth adjuster seems to not work check the cam. Webstaurant did great, I sent a picture of the broken part and a replacement cam was sent but you must figure out how to replace it. Some quick QA for the low end home/recreational user. Can Read More

We have owned an Avantco SL713MAN for some time, recently upgrading to an automatic slicer. Note that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the Avantco. In fact, it's quite the opposite. We moved to an automatic slicer for efficiency, but the Avantco has served us well and will be moving to a lower capacity spot. What I can tell you about the Avantco is that A) it is durable and B) it is a joy to work with. In regard to point A, the Avantco has stood up to commercial abuse for 1000s of hours. It has needed maintenance, but one should expect as much. Blade replacement and machine lubrication are easy to handle yourself (directions clearly walk one through the process). Through the hours of work, the Avantco still looks new and, more importantly, functions as such. As to point B, having a unit function near flawlessly whenever Read More

I operate a BBQ restaurant we needed a slicer for Brisket. After searching the local restaurant supply business and needing a good quality product we chose the SL512 12". Price was within our budget and delivery was only 3 days. The package was damaged but slicer was in good shape. After using the slicer to slice 320 lb. of brisket, at one time, which took several hours of use, slicer held up well. Clean up was easy just requires a few tools, as mentioned in other reviews. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a medium use slicer. CM Smoke Artisan BBQ

I was a little nervous about buying this slicer because i didn't know much about this brand. But I'm glad i took a chance it is very good quality I thought it was going to be light but it has some good weight to it. Ive had it over a year now and still works great. I am definitely a fan of the Avantco slicer.

Product came damaged. The box looked great but when we removed the slicer from the box the depth indicator under the knob was shattered in the bottom of the box. Poorly constructed out of cheap thin plastic. I purchased the added warranty through Kitchen ready and filed a claim the day after it arrived and still have received NO contact. I cannot find online here where to file a report of the damage the product had when We opened the box. SO frustrating that you spend close to $1,000 on an item to have it come damaged and just sitting there unable to be used.

Having only used Hobart and Globe slicers during my 40 year culinary career, I was a bit hesitant to purchase something different for my new business. My experience is in large hotel and country club Garde Mangers. But given the size of my semi-retirement business and the potential use, I decided to take a shot on this lesser expensive Avantco 12" slicer. It's been two months and I do not regret the purchase at all. This slicer has been excellent. It slices meats and cheeses like a champ. The only time the blade slows down is when I try to force thick Chef Salad sized Swiss Cheese slices through. So, I take my time with that and it works as effectively as the Hobarts and Globes of the world. Cleaning any slicer is always a pain. This slicer takes a bit of time to clean but once I came up with a Read More

We purchased this slicer as an upgrade. We use this slicer primarily for slicing smoked beef brisket. We needed a slicer that could handle large amounts of meat. The first time using it was amazing, I sliced fifteen 15 lbs briskets (cold) in a very short time and I was very pleased with the performance. From the moment I unpacked it I knew I had purchased a quality piece of equipment. Ordering & receiving: The slicer arrived by freight truck on a pallet and packaged very well in a wooden box. I received excellent communications from the freight carrier and set up a time to receive. The driver called 15 minutes before delivery and arrived on time. Unpacking & set up: With the use of a hammer crowbar unpacking was quick and simple. We placed the slicer on a sturdy stainless steel table, washed the slicer down & sterilized ready for Read More

This slicer is disappointing. I was hoping for something with more power and speed. We have been using it for cheese and some meat, but the low power causes it to bog down and It had a hard time recovering it’s speed.

Why pay thousands for meat slicers, when you can purchase this Avantco slicer! I have owned very expensive slicers in the past and not a one compare to this one! I highly recommend!

Poorly constructed. Just a little over a year and it's falling apart already. Knob which holds the carriage slips and is double threaded, which makes it twist off (leaving only the screw in place) but doesn't allow the carriage to come off. Ridiculously hard to clean this thing because of its design. Despite the claims, it will stop when slicing a block of Swiss cheese. Would not recommend or buy again. But that seems to be the norm for Advantco products overall.

It saddens me to do this, because we had such high hopes for this slicer. I will try and summarize my experience as fast as possible. We did an exhaustive amount of research prior to deciding on the Advantco SL512. Our main consideration when choosing was product capacity (how big of a piece of meat it can handle). My wife makes her own bacon and the pork bellies are big. We needed a slicer that could do 11" minimum. This slicer met that criteria according to the website. We ordered Sunday, Wednesday Fedex drops off the wife's new slicer. So far, So good...... That's when the good stopped. I'll list the problems/defects/inadequacies below. 1) Arrived with multiple scratches/dings 2) Blade will not spin when turned on (yes its plugged in). Moves about 1mm then binds on something and doesn't move again. 3) Blade is actually in contact with the blade guard, assume this Read More

I'm having trouble adjusting the cutting edge height for my slicer. The knob goes 0-4, but then feels like it runs into a lock. What am I missing here? Is there a lock on the height control knob? I'm a beginner with a meat slicer and have tried to push, pull, twist on the knob but I'm feeling defeated. Can someone help me out by giving me some pointers, the manual is less than helpful on the matter and I can't find anything online. The videos just tell me how awesome it is, but I have yet to feel that excitement. Help, please. I just want to cut some ham and bacon.

We needed a heavy duty, commercial meat slicer but only for occasional use so we didn't want to spend a lot. For the price, this is exactly what we were hoping for! It does the job perfectly and is easy to clean too just as a commercial one should. The only issue we had was trying to clean around the blade guard. So we decided to take the entire blade off every time we clean it to be sure. Also we had to get a Berkel cover for it that is a little over-sized since I couldn't find one specific to this.

I wanted to wait atleast a year and post a review, I have sliced about 100,000 pounds of meat and still not a glitch.. I am on my third blade but besides that defintely got my moneys worth... Is there better slicers out there... of course. But for the money etc it hit the mark. If you are trying to run this more than 4 hours a day don't be cheap and get a bigger model. But most of these reviews that are negative come from cheap owners who buy the cheapest model and expect it to be the best piece of equipment ever...

I purchased this slicer for personal use, I have used it several times and it is doing everything as I expected.

Item was received scratched up missing screws and broken handle.

Fine for cheese and bread not the best deli meat. Hard to handle and small room for larger meat

Great slicer well built

It’s a good thing it comes with 2 sharpening stones! It took one stone to get [ so called] razor sharp blade sharp enough to cut butter. Other than that it seems to work alright.

What a big bang for your buck! I’ve been using this in my food truck for almost 3 years to slice my tomatoes, onions and shaves my prime rib and marinated meats perfect. It excels at most tasks but kind of sucks for cheese. It’s not a you get what you paid for, you get way more.