My parents have had one for ages and it's held up for my entire life.
Forget using it without the clamp, clamp it down to a table, lay out newspaper or something first because it's going to make a mess. The peels go everywhere. The juice goes everywhere.
Even still, no quicker way to make apple pie from scratch, the thin slices are perfect for it. If you're going to put the raw sliced and cored apple out to guests put a light bit of lemon juice on it so it doesn't brown.