It’s a part of our culture. One of the most enduring Ronco products. It looked simple enough. But has anyone ever used one or see someone use one? It actually looked like a neat little low-tech gadget. Just wondering how effective–and durable–it really was IRL.
It was a reasonably effective little widget, but plagued by design flaws – the upper segment had to be held in place manually and driven STRAIGHT down, because it had a bit too much leeway to sway back and forth.
It was also fairly easy to cut yourself.
Cleaning the thing was a major hassle – it had to be disassembled, and had lots of niggly little parts that had to go JUST so, or the thing wouldn’t work. I recall thinking of using it once or twice, realizing I’d have to wash it afterwards, and just saying “hell with it” and using a knife instead.
Nowadays, food processors or better-designed little chopper-gadgets have long since taken the place of the venerable Veg-O-Matic.
Yes, used one and cut myself on it too.
I much prefer it’s cousin, the Bass-O-Matic.
Got one as a gift once. Used it once, and went back to using a knife. Interesting idea poorly constructed.
I disagree, sorta. It pits your weight against a solid surface. There are a number of similar devices that operate sideways and they pull themselves apart. It’s limited as a food processor but it does what it does very well. If you are making vegetable chunks for soup there is nothing else that does it so well. They wash just fine unless you leave them lying around until the food hardens. Then it’s a hopless.
I find the Sledge-O-Matic™ far more versatile 
I have one, but I have never used it. Someone gave it to my mom years ago, but she was never going to give up her trusty knife. After she died, I asked my dad for it. One reason being that it has sentimental value, the other reason being that I am a Steve Goodman fan. It is still sealed in the original box.
I never go anywhere without my Hedge-a-matic[sup]TM[/sup] You just never know when you’ll run into a knight demanding a filet of shrubbery…
We had a veg-o-matic and it was pretty cool, in its day. But mom wouldn’t let us use it…too sharp.