Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Reviews
Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Customer Reviews
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Love it, when it works
Freeze Dryer Owner since 2017 - We Love It!
Great long term food storage option.
We ordered our Harvest Right medium freeze dryer several weeks ago. It only took about 7 days to receive. The unit was very professionally packaged, no damage at all to the unit. The setup was very simple, easy to follow instructions. The unit also came with mylar bags, oxygen absorbers (for long term food storage) and a heat sealer to seal the bags. The instructions for freeze drying food is easy to follow. We have used our unit multiple times with no issues. Tech support is top notch, we had a few questions and they always answered our calls and had an answer for us. We highly recommend Harvest Right Freeze Dryer.
We Love this machine !
We finally bought a Harvest Right Medium size freeze Dryer. We love it. It's amazing how simple it is to process a batch of food. My wife does Apple Slices, Banana slices and Strawberrys. I do precooked Breaded Chicken Cutlets ( 8 pounds fits on the 4 trays).
I bought a Plastic Cart on Amazon to hold the FD, and then realized this card (rated at 300 pound load) was collapsing !
I bought a Steel Cart from Amazon rated at 500 pounds, named ULTRADURABLE, Model SHE99307Z/ZB for $105, and if holds all the weight of the Freeze Dryer and all my supplies. This cart needed a piece of 3/4" thick plywood on the top shelf so the FD would fit perfectly.
I also bought a heavy Cover for the Freeze Dryer from Amazon, named ULTCOVER, size 26 x 26 x 32H, for $28.
Btw... if you need help lifting the FD up to get the cart under it, I screwed a heavy hook into the ceiling beam in my laundry room, attached a couple of pulleys to the hook and a strap around the FD, and a strong rope. I hoisted it up.
Long Time Harvest Right Customer - Outstanding Product
Great for food security
Awesome Freeze dryer
Well worth it and much needed!
I bought the starter kit and actually comes with more than you need to start with. I say "more" because it comes with a filter to clean the pump oil after it needs cleaned.
I was intimidated at first to run this thing, but after reading the manual it does most everything itself, and you have to do minimal things yourself.
I like how it has a USB port on the side so you can update the machine to the most current version.
A couple things I learned about the new models are as follows:
1. It doesn't come with an inside door cover because it's not needed.
2. It does not have the option to select whether you are freezedrying frozen/non-frozen and liquid/non-liquid. The older models do, but is not needed on the new model.
Lastly, I kept pestering Harvestright with questions and they answered me quickly and accurately.
Best purchase
Best Investment We’ve Made
We are over the moon after our purchase of the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. The easy of use from start to end was surprising and exceeded our exceptions leaps & bounds!
With the increased cost of dairy, eggs, herbs and produce at the store, owning this wonderful piece of machinery helps us recover the cost quickly!
Reconstituting our freeze dried product is a breeze and tasty as ever.
Built to last
Best Investment EVER!!!
Saving food for the future!
Love being able to preserve food!!
Tech Support and general use
I saved up and purchased a freeze dryer 5 months ago. I am now on my 50th batch. I cannot say that there isn't a fairly steep learning curve, but through YouTube and tech support I am finding my way.
One main reason for purchase, besides general preservation, was to prepare food for 72 hour kits that are suitable for all the food allergies our family has.
I did have trouble with my vacuum not pulling well but tech support has been kind and patient and it is now fixed. (thank you David.)
I love that I can reduce my reliance on a freezer or pressure canner (I exploded one once and am now terrified of those) to preserve food. I have had great success with meats and fruits in particular.
Do plan for storage space, not only for the freeze dryer and its other paraphernalia, but also for the preserved food itself. Emptying your freezer means filling up another space of similar size.
I do recommend this product, however don't expect to be an expert right away. Other than the day I exploded ice cream and had to clean out the entire machine, and once I got my vacuum pump pulling well, it has been a fairly good experience.
Amazing machine!
Excellent support!
My system started giving me error messages but through the harvestright website and their YouTube videos I was able to troubleshoot a lot myself. When I got to a point that I couldn't fix the errors, I reached out through a ticket and received excellent support. I really love that the same people see you through to a resolve and everyone is so kind/helpful!
A Lemon Turned into Lemonade
We recently purchased a "scratch and dent," medium-sized freeze dryer from Harvest Right. Upon delivery, we inspected it carefully and found only the tiniest scratch. We then moved it into the spot where we would be operating it, let it sit for 24 hours (as recommended), and then ran our bread test. We were instantly disappointed because we could tell right away that the refrigerator compressor was not operating correctly. It would only run for a couple of seconds at a time and kept kicking on and off. The unit was not cooling at all. I called Harvest Right's customer service, explained what was going on, and was scheduled to have a phone meeting with a service technician for later that day.
When the technician called, he was already aware of what issues we were facing. He asked some questions, had me try a few things, and led me through a process to run a water batch test. This would enable the machine to gather data that I could then send to him and he could see exactly what was happening. When he called back after receiving the data, he told me that the refrigeration component was not functioning properly and that we would need to send the unit back for repair. They sent all of the necessary components to repackage the unit and scheduled the pick up for us.
In the mean time, Harvest Right (due to the care of our service technician), decided to send us a new unit instead of having us wait for them to repair the broken one. We now have the second machine hooked up and running successful batches! Throughout this whole process our service technician has been in contact, sharing updates, and checking in to make sure that we were taken care of. I've been happy with the service we've been provided. And, our whole family is excited about all of the possibilities of things we can preserve using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer!