Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator Review.
"A great little machine" 2007-04-04
By J. Keefer (Corpus Christi, TX USA)
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
"Surprised!" 2007-05-15
By Natural Cooker (IL United States)
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!
"Don't ignore this one" 2007-01-28
By Guy With Stuff
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.
"Excellent Little Machine" 2007-05-28
By V. Cummings (Saginaw, MI)
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!
"Timer fix - for FD75pr and FD50" 2007-05-23
By J. Rumohr (Seattle, WA)
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.
By J. Keefer (Corpus Christi, TX USA)
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
By Natural Cooker (IL United States)
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!
By Guy With Stuff
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.
By V. Cummings (Saginaw, MI)
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!
By J. Rumohr (Seattle, WA)
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.
