Didn't read the directions at all before i used it. Never needed to look at them after i played with it for a few minutes. Very simple to use.So far I have only used this for peeling apples and potatoes but I plan to use it for pears and cucumbers (the peels give me heartburn). I'm sure i will find other uses for it.I really like that you can just slice and core without peeling.If you make several passes over an apple you are left with a ton of "shredded" apple which is great when you want it cut very fine for making things like apple sauce and apple butter.It cuts an apple to the perfect thickness for dehydrating. Once your done spiral cutting and peeling you simply make one cut through and you have apple rings, a second cut gives you halves. 4 total cuts gives you quarters and so on...I was very impressed with how well the corer part works. Just make sure you line the core up straight when you put it on the prongs.Next time i need grated carrots i will just run them through without the corer and make strings. I hate grating anything.Normally i leave the skin on potatoes but when you can them the skin falls off and looks terrible. Next time i plan to save the peel to make fried potato skin strings with dinner. A side dish from scraps. "Waste not, Want not."I used the corer/slicer attachment to cut potatoes for home made chips and it was perfect. It cores the potato and rather than waste the centers, i chopped them into pennies and froze them for another meal. "Potato Pennies" would look really pretty in a canning jar or potato soup.Someone else mentioned hash browns, we don't eat them in my house but we love potato cakes and this would work well for that too.I read where some complained that it won't stick to their counters. It does stick to mine but the counter is very tiny and in a place that is extremely inconvenient. I laid a dish towel on my table and placed my heavy ceramic turkey platter face down onto the towel. Then i attached it to the plate. The plate was large enough so it didn't rock and the towel stopped it from sliding. A heavy dinner plate would probably work too but my Corelle plate was too light and kept lifting because I'm a little aggressive.There were a bunch of complaints about the quality but i am not disappointed. It is obviously less expensive than other models i have seen but it is of good enough quality to get the job done and well.The peeler i received came with a black plastic handle, the one pictured has a wooden handle. I wonder if this is a different model than the ones others have complained about since i am not having any of the same problems.