I imported this Nesco 75PR dehydrator to Brazil, so I can tell you how it behaves in very humid climates like we have here, where we get normally 90% air humidity, specially in the summer. I bought a power consumption measuring device to attach between the dehydrator and my power source to check how much power it drains. I guess this data possibly may interest you. Many people say the power consumption is not high, but how high/low it is? I have done some tests and I think I have the answer for different situations. Energy in Brazil is not cheap so this is an important topic for us to discuss. And, of course, nobody likes to shred money and the environment, regardless of energy taxes.
First, lets talk about performance:
Only in a few ocasions I could dry something with less than 12 hours using a moderate temperature and thin slices. This is why I give this product a 4 instead of a 5 stars. But a 4,5 or 4,7 stars would be more fair, since this dehydrator has a lot of good points and we live in a very humid area, in the sea coast. And, the manual covers the "worst drying period possible" as being coincident to ours. In other words, they are not lying when they affirm that something can dry between "6 and 18 hours". We sit right in the 18 hours extreme. Be aware that this may be your case. Evaluate this point before buying a unit. Fruits: unsliced bananas can take 24-30 hours to dry to a flexible texture (we call this "banana passa" in Brazil, that are made in an industrial scale using gas dehydrators and constant 70 Celsius). The drying temperature is between 60 and 70 Celsius. Thin apple slices can take between 12 and 18 hours to get a leathery texture. Maybe if you let it more time it can eventually be crunchy, but be very aware that crunchiness is NOT an easy thing to achieve using dehydrators, because commercial fruit chips normally are made using fried fruits in coconut oil. I also had the fantasy of making homemade banana chips. Well, they get to a chewy point and taste quite good, anyway. (If that serves as a solace...). Meat: Didn't try it yet. Peppers: dried Jalapeños got an undesirable brownish color. I think the temperature cicles got some peaks that cooked the pepper instead of only drying its remaining water. I think if you are willing to put some peppers in a dehydrator, you should use very low temperatures, those used to dry herbs and other fragile stuff. I followed the 135F and it was a bit high, possibly.
Now, about the sound and physical attributes:
This unit is QUIET. VERY quiet. I can not believe some people say this dehydrator makes some undesirable noise to the point that they need to put them in a room far from their bedroom otherwise they couldn't sleep! I am VERY sound sensitive and I can assure you, the sound will not bother you. I can even watch TV close to the dehydrator and I only hear its noise if I mute the TV. Not an exaggeration. A fact.
Weight, appearance, height: Very discreet. Very light. Did I say VERY light? The gray and white marble finish fits incredibly well in any room, like it's camouflaged, hard to explain. It just looks like another generic thing or pan or tupperware that you have in the kitchen, not a thing that a boring friend or neighbor will come and say "WOW, WHAT'S THAT THING?" You know how boring is that kind of people, but they won't bother you, I assure you. I bought 4 more trays (9 in total) and it still feels light. I can carry it with 9 trays full of bananas with ease. (if that matters: 67 bananas).
Cleaning: easy to clean. Dehydrated fruits leave virtually no residue, they stick very lightly to the trays and can be easily pulled out. Not a single banana or any other fruit like apples got stuck in the trays to the point that they couldnt be removed easily with the fingers, and entire, not in fragments.
Power consumption: Ok, here we go. (Room temperature: 28 Celsius) With 9 trays full of fruits: 1st hour: 650 Watts (average). 2nd to 5th hour: 380 watts (average). After 6 hours: 360 Watts (average). Total consumption per run long: 31 hours, 7,16 KWH (average: 231 watts). Temperature set: 145F (63 Celsius). With 5 trays full of fruits and/or fruit rolls, in a temperature set of 135F: 1st hour: 301 Watts (average). After a few hours, it dropped to below 200 watts average. Explanation: the first hours take more power because the machine is heating the trays so the thermostat rarely turns off. After a few hours, the thermostat only activates ocasionally to refresh the temperature, since the trays are already heated and only need a maintenance to keep the warm air flow. When the electric resistance turns off, the measure of wattage reads 28 watts, that's the power consumption of the fan (negligible). Conclusion: the shorter the run, less efficient it will be, because whenever it warms up the trays, you are removing the foods from them. Long runs are more efficient, so I guess its better to make a full charged dehydrator rather than little runs with little quantity of food. Just an opinion without any scientific claim.
I can not say anything about durability of this Nesco dehydrator, since I bought it recently. I will update this review if anything unexpected occurs, or if I have any important thing to add, like new food experiences, et cetera.
To finish this review, I'd like to apologize for my awful English, I had a hard time writting this because I am not a native speaker, so tell me if something sounds odd or particularly unusual, I can clarify your questions in the comments section. I hope this humble review can be useful for you. Thank you very much for the attention.
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From the manufacturer
NESCO FD-75A, Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator
The NESCO FD-75A Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator dries your favorite foods in just hours. With Converga-Flow drying action, air is forced up and across the trays where it converges in the center for quick, even, and nutritious drying. The top mounted fan prevents liquids from dripping into the center. Instead of purchasing store-bought, the NESCO Snackmaster Pro allows you to enjoy dried fruits, jerky, veggies, and more right from home. This model includes 2 Fruit Roll Sheets, 2 Clean-A-Screens, a sample of jerky seasoning with cure, and a recipe and instruction book.
Features
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600 Watt PowerheadGenerates maximum speed and quality for dehydrating foods safety. |
Adjustable ThermostatAllows user to dry different foods at proper temperatures (95°F - 160°F). |
Converga-Flow SystemProvides even heat distribution without having to rotate trays. |
Features
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BPA Free Drying TraysMade of high-quality food grade plastic. Each tray provides 0.8 sq. ft. of drying space. |
Expandable Up To 12 Drying TraysIncrease the overall drying area by expanding your dehydrator with additional trays. |
Recipe BookletGreat recipes, tips, and tricks to help you get the most out of your dehydrator. |
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| FD-37A | FD-75A | FD-80A | FD-1018A | FD-1040 | |
| Wattage | 400 | 600 | 700 | 1000 | 1000 |
| # of Trays Included | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| Max Tray Capacity | Expandable Up To 7 | Expandable Up To 12 | Expandable Up To 8 | Expandable Up To 30 | Expandable Up To 20 |
| Temperature Control | Fixed | Adjustable Thermostat | Adjustable Thermostat | Adjustable Thermostat | Digitally Controlled |
| Additional Accessories (By SKU) | LM-2-6, LSS-2-6, WT-2SG | LM-2-6, LSS-2-6, LT-2SG | SQM-2-6, SLD-2-6, SQT-2 | MS-2-6, SLD-2-6, TR-2 | MS-2-6, SLD-2-6, TR-2 |
| Approximate Size, Inches (L x W x H) | 13.5 x 13.5 x 9 | 13 x 13 x 11 | 14.5 x 14.37 x 9.75 | 14 x 14 x 10 | 15 x 15.5 x 9.5 |
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 5, 2015
Style: DehydratorVerified Purchase
I bought this dehydrator sort of like many people did: after reading the things you can do with it, I got all excited, thinking, "I'm going to dehydrate EVERYTHING and it's going to be amazing!!!" Of course, in reality that doesn't really happen. When people say you'll use it for a while and then it will collect dust, I totally get how that could happen. Fingers crossed, it hasn't happened to me yet.
So, from my point of view, I see a number of excellent things about this dehydrator and one main problem. Let's start with the good stuff.
So far, I've used the dehydrator to make a couple of batches of each of:
- Apple chips (thin apple slices soaked for a few hours in a combo of lemon juice and cranberry juice, then dried)
- beef jerky (this dehydrator comes with a starter park for jerky, plus I made my own marinade the next time)
- chicken jerky
- bacon bits (the ends and "bad cuts" of my own home-cured, smoked bacon, finely chopped, cooked, and then dehydrated. best bacon bits you will EVER taste)
- sweet potato dog treats (just sweet potatoes sliced lengthwise and dehydrated. Healthy, and she goes NUTS for them)
- chicken jerky dog treats (regular, inexpensive frozen chicken breast cut into strips and dehydrated, she goes nuts for those too).
The jerky is better than the packaged stuff by a pretty wide margin. There are all sorts of ways to modify it to suit your tastes, of course. My wife didn't care for the fruit dehydration at first because she was expecting crunchy apple chips like you can get at the store. They don't come out like that. They're still pliable and soft. The benefit is that all of the vitamins are still intact, whereas if they were baked to the point of crunchy, all of that good stuff goes away. You also need to grow accustomed to the relatively small yield -- slicing three whole apples and dehydrating them results in about one sandwich baggie worth of apple chips! Three pounds of meat going in will get you around one pound of jerky. So don't think you're going to make your own jerky to save money. If you're lucky you might break even (not including the time and effort, and not including cost of making the marinade or the electricity used to run the dehydrator all day). The real benefit is the flavor and lack of preservatives, etc.
It comes with five trays, but you can use as few as four (I don't know why you need a minimum of four, and I wish you could just use what you need). It also comes with a couple of inserts for small things and fruit leather type stuff. There is no power switch, you just plug it in and it starts going. The temperature can be dialed in from 95ºF to 160ºF as printed on the top (remember that problem I mentioned? yep. see below.)
The temperature seems to be pretty consistent from top to bottom. It uses a system that circulates the air not just through the middle, but also out along the edges via hollow walls on the outer circumference of the trays. It seems to operate similar to a thermostat. The fan is always on, but the heating element shuts on and off depending on the internal temperature of the unit. Once the temp falls below a certain threshold, the heater kicks back on to get it into the right range. You can tell when this happens, but you really need to be listening in order to hear it because it's very subtle.
So, I love it. What about that problem I mentioned? Well, I have tested the actual running temperature of the dehydrator against the printed values on the dial, and they're not even close.
I used several methods to determine the temperature:
1) A [[ASIN:B000OCKHGQ Mastercool Digital Infrared Thermometer]] pointed directly into an exhaust vent (see photo) with the dial set to the maximum 160ºF.
2) A long wire probe connected to the above thermometer, which I mounted near the center of the dehydrator on the third tray (routed up through an exhaust vent so as not to introduce any error from external air coming in where the wire is inserted). I ensured that the probe touched nothing but air while reading, and watched the values at both the 135ºF setting and the 160ºF setting. (see photos)
3) An analog metal probe thermometer placed deep into a lower and an upper exhaust port.
4) A digital metal probe thermometer ([[ASIN:B00GRFHXVQ Lavatools Thermowand]]) inserted into both the upper and lower exhaust ports
In all cases (except #3, which responded too slowly) I was able to see the lower temperature at which the heater kicked on, as well as the upper temperature at which the heater turned off (in theory, this would be right around the number printed on the dial). The numbers were effectively the same in all tests.
- At the 135ºF setting on the dehydrator, the actual temperature maxed out at around 120ºF, at which point the heater turned off and the temperature dropped slowly until the heater came back on.
- At the 160ºF setting (maximum), it was the same story but with an actual temperature topping out at around 135ºF.
What concerns me is this unit's suitability for jerky -- the minimum recommended temperature for any meat is 160ºF when making jerky. I'm not too terribly concerned about the beef jerky because I routinely eat beef at a much lower temperature than that (though it does make a good case for refrigerating the jerky in this case), but the chicken jerky could have gone pretty badly!
It could also be that it's just mine that has this problem, I don't know. But for me, part of the reason for getting this model instead of some of the cheaper ones is because of the adjustable temperature. And now it looks like it has to be on maximum pretty much all the time anyway? Hmm...
Without the temperature issue, it would have been 5 stars. But this drops it significantly, because that's HALF of it! Heat and air.
So, from my point of view, I see a number of excellent things about this dehydrator and one main problem. Let's start with the good stuff.
So far, I've used the dehydrator to make a couple of batches of each of:
- Apple chips (thin apple slices soaked for a few hours in a combo of lemon juice and cranberry juice, then dried)
- beef jerky (this dehydrator comes with a starter park for jerky, plus I made my own marinade the next time)
- chicken jerky
- bacon bits (the ends and "bad cuts" of my own home-cured, smoked bacon, finely chopped, cooked, and then dehydrated. best bacon bits you will EVER taste)
- sweet potato dog treats (just sweet potatoes sliced lengthwise and dehydrated. Healthy, and she goes NUTS for them)
- chicken jerky dog treats (regular, inexpensive frozen chicken breast cut into strips and dehydrated, she goes nuts for those too).
The jerky is better than the packaged stuff by a pretty wide margin. There are all sorts of ways to modify it to suit your tastes, of course. My wife didn't care for the fruit dehydration at first because she was expecting crunchy apple chips like you can get at the store. They don't come out like that. They're still pliable and soft. The benefit is that all of the vitamins are still intact, whereas if they were baked to the point of crunchy, all of that good stuff goes away. You also need to grow accustomed to the relatively small yield -- slicing three whole apples and dehydrating them results in about one sandwich baggie worth of apple chips! Three pounds of meat going in will get you around one pound of jerky. So don't think you're going to make your own jerky to save money. If you're lucky you might break even (not including the time and effort, and not including cost of making the marinade or the electricity used to run the dehydrator all day). The real benefit is the flavor and lack of preservatives, etc.
It comes with five trays, but you can use as few as four (I don't know why you need a minimum of four, and I wish you could just use what you need). It also comes with a couple of inserts for small things and fruit leather type stuff. There is no power switch, you just plug it in and it starts going. The temperature can be dialed in from 95ºF to 160ºF as printed on the top (remember that problem I mentioned? yep. see below.)
The temperature seems to be pretty consistent from top to bottom. It uses a system that circulates the air not just through the middle, but also out along the edges via hollow walls on the outer circumference of the trays. It seems to operate similar to a thermostat. The fan is always on, but the heating element shuts on and off depending on the internal temperature of the unit. Once the temp falls below a certain threshold, the heater kicks back on to get it into the right range. You can tell when this happens, but you really need to be listening in order to hear it because it's very subtle.
So, I love it. What about that problem I mentioned? Well, I have tested the actual running temperature of the dehydrator against the printed values on the dial, and they're not even close.
I used several methods to determine the temperature:
1) A [[ASIN:B000OCKHGQ Mastercool Digital Infrared Thermometer]] pointed directly into an exhaust vent (see photo) with the dial set to the maximum 160ºF.
2) A long wire probe connected to the above thermometer, which I mounted near the center of the dehydrator on the third tray (routed up through an exhaust vent so as not to introduce any error from external air coming in where the wire is inserted). I ensured that the probe touched nothing but air while reading, and watched the values at both the 135ºF setting and the 160ºF setting. (see photos)
3) An analog metal probe thermometer placed deep into a lower and an upper exhaust port.
4) A digital metal probe thermometer ([[ASIN:B00GRFHXVQ Lavatools Thermowand]]) inserted into both the upper and lower exhaust ports
In all cases (except #3, which responded too slowly) I was able to see the lower temperature at which the heater kicked on, as well as the upper temperature at which the heater turned off (in theory, this would be right around the number printed on the dial). The numbers were effectively the same in all tests.
- At the 135ºF setting on the dehydrator, the actual temperature maxed out at around 120ºF, at which point the heater turned off and the temperature dropped slowly until the heater came back on.
- At the 160ºF setting (maximum), it was the same story but with an actual temperature topping out at around 135ºF.
What concerns me is this unit's suitability for jerky -- the minimum recommended temperature for any meat is 160ºF when making jerky. I'm not too terribly concerned about the beef jerky because I routinely eat beef at a much lower temperature than that (though it does make a good case for refrigerating the jerky in this case), but the chicken jerky could have gone pretty badly!
It could also be that it's just mine that has this problem, I don't know. But for me, part of the reason for getting this model instead of some of the cheaper ones is because of the adjustable temperature. And now it looks like it has to be on maximum pretty much all the time anyway? Hmm...
Without the temperature issue, it would have been 5 stars. But this drops it significantly, because that's HALF of it! Heat and air.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
田村 雅史
日本語の説明書もつけてくれたら親切なのに
Reviewed in Japan 🇯🇵 on December 19, 2021Style: DehydratorVerified Purchase
Biktokai
Muy práctica y accesible deshidratadora
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on April 10, 2017Style: DehydratorVerified Purchase
Biktokai
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on April 10, 2017
Nesco, de la cual yo nunca había escuchado salió en todas las reseñas de mejores aparatos. Definitivamente no es algo profesional y no es un Excalibur que siempre salió en primeros lugares, pero tampoco cuesta lo que estas máquinas, alrededor de 6 mil pesos.
Existen dos principales formas de ventilación en las deshidratadoras la superior y la lateral, la lateral brinda una deshidratación más pareja entre las charolas y hace que se aproveche mejor el aire caliente, pero también son más caras. La otra es la ventilación superior que es más barata pero tiene como desventaja el hecho de que las charolas de arriba siempre se deshidratarán primero, entonces tocará ver si se acomoda lo que se vaya a distribuir de manera que lo más tardado sea lo de arriba y lo más rápido lo de abajo. Si se va a deshidratar lo mismo a través de las charolas quizá haya que irlas cambiando de posición.
Esta Nesco tiene la peculiaridad de ser un "híbrido", ya que la ventilación es superior pero se dirige hacia unos canales laterales para que haga un efecto de ventilación lateral. Definitivamente es mejor, pero todavía existen diferencias entre las charolas de arriba y las abajo.
Hasta ahora he intentado con mango (lo mejor a mi parecer), kiwi, pera, manzana, betabel, calabaza y naranja.
La deshidratadora trae 5 charolas y dos extras para hacer rollos de fruta (roll-ups).
Recomendaciones:
1.- Cuida los espesores, frutas con mucha agua es mejor más gruesas ya que si no te van a quedar una obleas que se romperán y no disfrutarás.
2.- Ten cuidado de los tratamientos que tendrás que hacer para frutas que se oxiden mucho como la manzana y la pera, con una solución de agua y limón bastará, suena más complicado de lo que es.
Ventajas:
1.- Muy práctica y sana
2.- Fácil de lavar
3.- Excelente relación costo beneficio.
4.- Bastante portátil.
Desventajas:
1.- No trae temporizador por lo que habrá que estar contando el tiempo manualmente y estar presente para cuando haya que apagarla (se puede solucionar con un timer de pared, pero igual se agradecería esta inclusión, modelos más baratos como el de Hamilton Beach lo trae)
2.- Deshidratación un tanto desigual, habrá que modificar el orden de las charolas durante el proceso.
3.- Gasta una cantidad considerable de luz.
Images in this review
Jesus Beltran Aranda
lo mejor
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on March 18, 2021Style: DehydratorVerified Purchase
