Customer Reviews

Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator

5 star:		(361)
4 star:		(101)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I had been researching dehydrators for months and finally decided on this one. I am happy I did. I have dried veggies, fruits, made jerky and fruit leathers so far. It is easy to use, has great recipes and works well. It is nice to be able to give the kids snacks that are not full of sugars and things no one can pronounce. I only wish it had a timer. I will probably use a regular timer and plug it into that.

Pros: *fan not in bottom of unit - allows for more uniform drying
*temperature control
*size - fits nicely on a kitchen counter
*availability of accessories
*ease of use

Cons: *no timer
*no on/off switch - you have to unplug the unit to turn it off

Very impressed with this unit. Don't waste your money on a lower cost dehydrator that lacks a fan or variable temperature. I have made about 6 batches of jerky and each has turned out great.

Pros:
Can expand the number of trays
Temperature selection
Fan to circulate air

Cons:
No timer - this is a serious bummer
Trays aren't totally dishwasher safe - heat will warp the plastic.

I was so surprised at how well this dehydrator works
expected it to work okay but not this good!
I put 5 pounds of beef to dry, expecting it to take at least a day.
5 hours later and it was done!
This was thicker sliced than the paper thin I usually do
on top of that!
I love that the heater and fan are on the top
that makes clean up after jerky
a breeze.
My sister just bought one too and is very happy she did.
We both contemplated on buying the Excalibur one but
this by far is a better deal for your money.
I have had it a week now and have used it almost every day.
With the excellent quality of this dehydrator I expect to get
many , many years of use out of it

Update...
over a year later and we found that we needed more than one dehydrator, so we purchased another one of these with extra trays, screens.
we were hooked on dehydrating...so easy and no food spoilage!
We found ourselves needing even another dehydrator to keep up with all the
fresh produce and meats that we would purchase in bulk to save money.
This time we bought an Excalibur 9 tray with timer.
I have to say, we should of just bought another Nesco American Harvest
FD-75PR. The Nesco dehydrated the corn faster than the high priced Excalibur and I found I did need to rotate the trays in the Excalibur,
because the foods on the back of the trays dried faster than the foods on the front of the trays.
So ...if we need another dehydrator down the road we're sticking with
Nesco American Harvest FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator and putting the extra cash we save in the bank!

This is one of those items that does exactly what it says it's going to do and does it without a fuss. It's simple to use (even I haven't screwed up anything with it yet) and works extremely well. So far I've used it to make both beef and venison jerky and both have been delicious. This is a fairly large appliance and if you are counter space challenged you won't want to leave it out all the time. But it works so well and the things that come out of it are so yummy you won't want to put it away. The outside cleans up easily and the drying trays themselves require a little more effort. The mesh design of the drying trays (think air circulation) gives a lot of surface area for things to stick to so they just require a little more work. Be warned, when you use this your home will be filled with the delicious aroma of whatever you are making. Be prepared for salivating dogs that are unwilling to leave the kitchen and fantastic dehydrated food.

OK, this is my first dehydrator so I can't compare this to other units but so far I'm truly impressed! I made my first batch of beef jerky in about four hours and it was delicious! I also made some chicken jerky for my boxer (one of the main reasons I got this unit) and it works great for that as well. I can't wait to try some new stuff!

I've seen a few comments concerned about power consumption so I figured I'd post my findings. This is a 700 Watt unit but remember that appliances controlled by thermostat don't run at peak power the whole time. I tested mine for 4 hours at 160 degrees and it used 1.68 kWh or an average consumption of 420 Watts per hour. Current cost of power where I live is around 10 cents per kWh so this unit costs me a little over 4 cents per hour. If I run it 10 hours a week, I'm looking at around $1.82 per month. I saved more than that making my first 1 lb of jerky!

As others have said, clean-up is a piece of cake especially with the clean-a-screens - I recommend going ahead and getting enough of these to cover each tray. I didn't have to do any rotation and the jerky was done evenly throughout. The fan is quiet - like white noise and the unit puts off a little heat but only right around where it is sitting (where else is the air passing around the food at 160F going to go?).

I guess a timer would be nice but I can pick up a timer at the hardware store. It even helps dog-sit as my boy wouldn't leave the kitchen the whole time it was going...

January 2011 - I've now had this dehydrator 2 1/2 years and it is still going strong. I really don't use the clean-a-screens anymore, I just use the dishwasher to clean the tray's and bottom - you just have to make sure you select "air dry" so the trays don't get damaged. I'm up to 9 trays and for me that's as many as I'll probably ever need. It is nice to know I could add 3 more if I needed to and I have no doubt it would work perfectly with 12 racks. This thing has paid for itself many times over and continues to produce great tasting treats!

I LOVE this dehydrator! My dehydrator went into overtime at Christmas when I used it to make Beef Jerky, and Dog Treats for my family and friends! This machine gets the job done qickly. Some of the great features of this are:

1 - do not have to rotate trays
2 - has adjustable tempature dial
3 - dries quickly w/ no buring
4 - durable trays
5 - small footprint
6 - able to locate accessories easily
7 - material, the dehydrator does not yellow like some other makers

NESCO to me means quality and wouldn't expect anything less from this company! This is an excellent price, just make sure you get all your accessories at the same time because you will need them once you get going!

I have to say I am impressed with this machine. I made the mistake of buying a Ronco dehydrator and threw it out after 2 uses. I just got done making 10lbs of beef jerky and I have to say it came out delicious. Only took about 4 hours to actually dehydrate! The only negatives I see with this machine is A. No Timer. It would be nice to have it shut off automatically. And B. While the fan does evenly distribute the air to all 5 trays, It doesnt distribute it evenly along the trays. Another words, the jerky that is closest to the outer part of the trays will dry faster than the jerky closer to the middle.Therefore you have to check the jerky and after awhile, you have to take the jerky thats done out and move the jerky from the middle and move them to the edges. Slight pain, but worth it. Therefore the 4 stars.

A correction - I once owned the FD-50 version of this dehydrator. It sadly got washed away in a flood.

For all of you who want a timer: Go to the hardware store and buy an outlet timer. This is what I did with the FD50 and it worked great.

If you really need a dehydrator, this is a good one (although I've never used any others, so I can't really compare them).

I have made dried fruit and veggie 'chips', fruit leathers, turkey jerky and even tofu jerky. Everything has come out fine although some items took 12 hours to dry completely (which apparently is the norm).

The unit does generate a small amount of heat in the immediate vicinity, and I wonder how much energy it uses (probably not much, but if you use it a lot, for hours at a time, it may add up).

HOWEVER, after a few weeks I had to really ask myself if I NEEDED a dehydrator. Except for the jerky, it's proably easier to buy dried fruit than to dry it myself, and the price differential isn't that great. My favorites are dried apples and bananas and neither come out the way they taste store bought.

In addition, it's not always as easy as just slicing the fruit or vegetable and laying the slices on the trays. Many items require pre-cooking or pre-treating, so it can be a time consuming process.

I've become addicted to the turkey jerky, so the dehydrator turned out to be a good investment (it's impossible to find jerky made from ground turkey on the market!). But before you buy any dehydrator, decide if you really need it and if it wouldn't be easier and cheaper to buy dried food. If you intend on making jerky of any kind, a dehydrator will no doubt pay for itself in short order, but if you're getting it mainly for fruits and veggies, you might come to a different decision.

My wife wanted this model of dehydrator because of the temperature control feature (most dehydrators don't have it) and it turns out that's a pretty important thing to have. We're still experimenting with temperatures/times for different foods but there is definitely a fine line between too hot and just hot enough.
Would be five stars for this model if it had a timer built in too (the other important factor in drying being time).