Side by Side Comparison of: Nesco vs Hisen

There are so many highly rated dehydrators available on Amazon, I honestly didn't know where to start. I finally decided to take the plunge and buy Amazon's best seller. I am glad I did, and I am already very pleased with this machine. Very easy to use, easy to clean.The day I got it, I did my first batch of beef jerky that I had marinating for a couple of days in the fridge. After about 6-7 hours, the jerky turned out perfect. The extra tray capacity of this machine (up to 12 total) is a major bonus. This dehydrator comes with 5 trays... I purchased another 2, and I am glad I did. Out of the 7 trays, I used 6 of them for one roast's worth of jerky. I plan to buy a few more trays soon for even more dehydrating space.Five stars.

My wife loves beef jerky and constantly was buying it retail. She would spend anywhere from $5.99 to $8.99 for 2.5-3.0 ounces. It was making me crazy she was spending $33.00 minimum for a pound of jerky. You just don't really notice it because of the amount you buy at a single time. I had to put my foot down and ban the purchase of jerky. I bought this and went out and bought 3.5 pounds of London Broil and using the Nesco FD-75A I was able to make 2 pounds of jerky. for $13.75 (buy one London Broil get one free at the supermarket). The starter spice kit that came with is very tasty and easy to do and you can purchase additional spice kits from Nesco or from open country who makes the spice kit. I made a batch of hot and spicy jerky using a recipe on Youtube as well. There are a ton of Youtube videos to help you get started so don't let being a complete novice deter you. I spent some time reading the questions that were being asked in the FAQ section so I'll put some of those here in my review.It comes with 5 trays, It has 3 packs of spice and cures enough for 3 pounds of jerky. The "cure" is a sodium and nitrate base to preserve freshness. If you make a bunch of jerky I would use it, If your family are jerky addicts then it won't last long enough to spoil. The fat in the meat is what goes rancid and causes jerky to spoil. Yes, you can store in the refrigerator or freeze. It will last longer if you vacuum pack it. It is 600 watts and has variable temperature settings. It does Not have a timer nor an ON/OFF switch, and you can wash the trays in the dishwasher BUT turn the Heat Dry OFF!!!!! It operates on 110 volts with the standard US plug, so If you live in Europe or anywhere else you may or may not have an issue using a plug adapter. Yes, you can dehydrate fruit, veggies, flowers, and spices. Yes, you can dehydrate some meals but they have to be cooked first and dehydrated separately. No, its not a freeze Drier. No, it's not noisy, my unit runs at 57 DB (normal conversations are 57 DBs)Hopefully, this will help some of you that are on the fence.

What can I say. Newcomers makes one of the best Pro Food Dehydrators ever made. The design of having the heating elements at the top makes clean up a breeze. And the technology of having the fan at the top and the perfect air circulation makes all the food dry at the same time. Well built machine with plenty of room foe very affordable expansion, which I plan on doing. Made my first beef jerky. Wow, was that good. Planning on dehydrating fruits and bed goes out of my garden also. I also make my own homemade spaghetti sauce. Can't wait to try out dehydrating that and freezing and taking up less room in the freezer. Another great machine by Nesco.

We use this for dehydrating apple slices so far and they come out perfectly. We slip them into zip seal bags and store them in the fridge until we are ready to eat them. Good for car trips and sweet snacks in the evening.

Been using this unit twice a week for several months to dry the pulp from juicing to make dog treats. Add a little flax seed, use a melon baller to form the treat and 24 hours the dogs have a treat they can't get enough of.

I received this as a father's day present and it's amazing. I've dehydrated so much already in the week since I got it. My wife is getting annoyed that it's constantly running and I'm spending all our extra money on ripe in-season fruit and vegetables to dehydrate. Best so far has been dehydrated watermelon. I'm new to this dehydrating thing, but this seems like a great starting point. I can't wait to start making jerky. Oh, i wish I had two of these.

Love it but I have notice most things I dehydrate take way longer then expected

Takes much longer to dehydrate then advertised. Nearly twice as long if you use the recommended recipes. Which doesn't need to be set at their drying recommendations. Some learning curve.

Pro: Just did my first batch of Hazelnuts, I think they might have needed a few more hours but Im just learning and the dehydrator seems to work great!Con: No on/off switch. Just plug in and got. Not a big deal, still a good product.

This is the second one I've owned if that tells you anything. Works like a charm. The heating element finally gave out after eight years. I feel like I got more than my money's worth. I wish it were a little easier to clean the trays, but I don't think I could come up with a better design. I soak the trays overnight in the sink and use a dish brush on them in the morning. I'd give it five stars if the trays were a heavier grade of plastic, but they sell replacements. Depending on how much you're going to do in a single batch, I'd get 2-3 additional trays right away. I use it almost exclusively to make chicken jerky for my dogs so I don't have pay exorbitant pet store prices or feed them that Chinese crap with who-knows-what in it! Slice 1/4" strips and leave it on 160 degrees for two days. Seven trays (it comes with five) will do ten pounds of chicken in a single session. Your dogs will go crazy for it and you'll feel good knowing that you're giving them something healthy. Definitely recommend.

I'm new to dehydrating. I wanted to increase the nutritional value of our families meals as well as preserving the harvest and taking advantage of sales. I've found that I can dehydrate and then grind up kale, carrots and other nutrition-packed foods then put a few tsp of the powder in all sorts of sauces (spaghetti sauce is a great place to "hide" nutrition"), soups and stews. I've had it for about 6 weeks now. For the first month, I used it 2-3 times per week. For the past 3-4 days, it has been running almost non-stop. I've done apples, bananas, bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms, carrots, yellow squash, kale, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes and celery.I like the fact that it has the adjustable temperature control and the fan is on top. Cleaning is easy. It doesn't take up too much room to store. I think the bang for the buck is excellent and I like the fact that you can add more trays. I've used parchment paper when I need more tray inserts for small pieces and that works great. I can't speak to how fast it dehydrates compared to other models. I will say that environmental humidity really affects the dehydrating time. However, I'm pleased with it. Chopping/shredding really helps, especially with bell peppers. Since I grind them up anyway, shredding then draining them really speeds up the process.This model is great for those who are just starting to dehydrate or who aren't going to be doing massive amounts of food. I would absolutely recommend this dehydrator to a friend.Info added after I first published this review:I just dehydrated my first batch of herbs: oregano, basil, sage, and tarragon. I didn't chop the basil leaves, leaving them whole. It took 2 full days (instead of the 24 hours in the owners manual) to get everything dehydrated, and some of the basil still wasn't done. That was disappointing. I'm still giving it 4 stars because I think it's a good little dehydrator. However, I don't think that it's particularly fast. Chopping your food definitely helps with the dehydration rate.

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.

I found no improvement in drying performance over the bottom blowers, of which I have two. I must rotate the trays as drying proceeds. A check with the infrared thermometer showed a 3 to 4 degree drop in temperature for each tray from top to bottom. While drying split Italian plums overnight at 135 degrees, some drying occurred on the top tray, none occurred on the bottom tray. At the highest heat setting the temperature peaked about 10 degrees less than the selected temperature, even on the top tray. I was disappointed that the unit did not deliver on the recommended temperature for safe meat drying. I kept the dehydrator, knowing its limitations, for drying fruits. On the plus side the trays from my old Harvest Maid dehydrators fit this model. It is light weight and cleans up well.

First one broke in a year and a half and I only use about once every 6 months to dehydrate yams for my dog. Wasn't too happy. I bought another and the 4 year insurance just in case. Only bought this one because I had the extra trays.

Documentation sucks.. more recipes and advertisements for their other products than instructions. Seems to under-perform, but it's hard to tell, since the documentation focuses almost entirely on what and how to prepare things for dehydrating rather than how to use the machine. I shouldn't have to resort to youtube videos and bulletin boards to learn how to use my purchase.

This has been so great. It's my first time using a dehydrator and I got it to make sweet potato chips and apple chips for my dog and it works so good. I even bought more trays so I can do more.Update 1/6/15I have had this dehydrator for a little over a month and have done 2 batches of apples and 2 batches of sweet potatoes. I pulled it out to do Jerky and within 30 minutes of the dehydrator being on, it just stopped. There is no on/off switch or reset button, it just stopped. I had to return it to amazon and get a new one. We'll see if I have this problem again.

First time buying a dehydrator, tried it with apples and it tasted great. You need to keep it going for at least 12 hrs so it will use up a lot of energy but well worth it. The motor makes quite a bit of a noise-the only downside to it. Overall, good!

After being very excited about this purchase, ended up very disappointed. I reviewed multiple units and found this. This had the best reviews for a lower priced unit. Made one batch of jerky and it turned out great. There is no "on/off" switch, just plug it in and away you go. Went to make a small batch of deer jerky, plugged in the unit and it did not turn on. Tried several different outlets in the house but still, it didnt work! Very disappointed! Ended up trying to cook the deer in the oven, still waiting on the results. I will exchange this with another one. Maybe I got a lemon since it did receive such great reviews.

UPDATE:After about 4 uses I have noticed the dishes warped and do not fit together well. I spend ages re-arranging and jiggling to get them to stand on top of each other, and then when I put the lid on everything goes all over the place again. The dishes don't have any stacking mechanism that locks them in place, so that means if they warp in even the smallest amount they no longer fit.ORIGINAL REVIEWI bought this to make my dog treats so that I didn't have to keep buying them and spending a fortune and it's been great. I love that it has a dial to choose the temperature, and even though it says to use inside, I put it out on our patio and it's been great. 12 hours later my pup has dehydrated beef liver, beef hearts, chicken liver, and chicken heart treats - and every other dog in the dog part crowds me for a bit of what she gets daily :)

I tried to do green beans and they shriveled up and weren't totally dried. I followed the directions that came with it. I tried to do grapes and cranberries and dried them for 2 full days straight and they still weren't dried. I am afraid to try anything else lest it be wasted.It takes up a lot of counter space so you need a good place to store it.I wish I could send it back, but my husband threw the box away.

Bought this to have a second FD-75PR dehydrator for drying nuts. However was disappointed to find that the trays have been redesigned from those in the previous FD-75PR dehydrator. The previous trays had a raised ring that kept the nuts from rolling down through the middle. So now anytime it gets jostled, like when taking the top on and off, nuts drop down through. Also this means I can no longer clean the nuts outside and place them in the trays there and then carry the fully assembled unit inside to actually dry. These trays also appear to have some larger gaps that smaller items like berries fall down through. The dehydrator seems to dry in a reasonable amount of time still. I had been considering buying a third dehydrator to speed up the nut drying process but now I'm looking at other brands to see if one of them has trays that are better designed for my purpose. I had also been thinking about drying spare trays for this second dehydrator but now I will wait on that to see what I end up purchasing for the third dehydrator.

I thought this was a great product, but two weeks after the one-year warranty date, it just stopped working. Customer service said that it would cost more to send it in and fix it than to buy a new one. I think $75 for a dehydrator that only lasts a year is a little pricey. I wasn't using it that often.

Bummer.... bought a nesco almost two years ago to date which I use every so often and it stopped working last night in mid-dehydrate. Unfortunately things do break. I happen to have had it running for 48 hrs two days prior - I normally dehydrate for 12 - 24 hrs at a time. I would expect a dehydrator to run for periods of time because dehydration takes periods of time. I will probably buy another because I now have everything I need such as extra trays and sheets - except a working motor and the price is good. The stainless steel one I want will have to wait!

I grow way more vegetables than we can eat at the time. I thought drying to preserve might be a reasonable solution to this universal dilemma. When it arrived, I loaded one of the trays with thinly sliced tomatoes and began the drying cycle. "Lets see what this thing can do" So after running continuously for two days (48 hrs.) My dried tomatoes were ready to bag and put in the freezer. This was one medium large tomato. I think it might have dried sooner if I had sliced it and put the slices on the sunny window sill because, here in Colorado the ambient humidity rarely gets higher than 40 %. Usually much lower. After my analysis of this process I concluded that along with the initial cost of this elaborate hair dryer and the cost of the consumed electricity my dried tomato was a very expensive one indeed. This machine comes with several racks (4 or 5) to increase capacity. So my next experiment used them all with several different vegetables filling all the racks. The results? After several days of burn time only a few of the smaller tomato pieces were dry and, disgusted, I never found out how long it would take to dry my green peppers because I unplugged this fraud and put it some place I can't remember.

Worked well about a year, then heat got irregular and eventually melted. I'm lucky it didn't burn down my house.

After following the directions exactly, fruit thickness and length, and 12 hours at the temperature prescribed by the instructions I was rewarded with hot, wet fruit. Congratulations to them for formulating a sales pitch convincing me to allow them to weasel me out of my money. I suggest trying your luck on a different brand unless you prefer to wait 12 hours for hot fruit.

I bought this on July 17th and after very little use, it just died. It cannot be returned, because it is past the 30 day return window. Very unhappy camper.

I've used this dehydrator twice now, and trying to use it the third time, and it went out. I bought it brand new in March, and it's August and is broken. I can't return it, so now I'm just stuck with a useless piece of junk.

I purchased this item and used it a few times over the course of a year before it unexpectedly stopped working while in the middle of dehydrating a batch of beef jerky. Since I had owned it over a year and was past the 1 year warranty period, I was unable to return it. I'm not very impressed with the quality of it since I really only used just a few times over the course of a year and then had it give up on me. I will not buy another item from the company again. The dehydrator worked great while I had it, but beware of poor craftsmanship and poor quality parts.

Not happy with this machine after trying few recipes it is now in the pantry collecting dust. it is noisy and after 3 days non stop of drying apples are still not dry. waste of time for me .