Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Reviews

Very pleased with our purchase of the large Harvest Right Home Pro. They delivered quickly with a no stress or mess unload! Normz at Customer Service was awesome answering all our questions and was very helpful when we thought we didn't receive the power cord (we did, it was with our hose). Setup was easy using the owner's manual and so is operation. Highly recommend purchasing this wonderful machine to preserve your garden harvest, proteins, herbs, etc.

After having spent a few months researching Freeze Dryers and what they can do for me I finally decided to bite the bullet and order one. It wasn’t an easy decision because frankly they aren’t cheap. But after weighing the benefits vs the cost, we bought a medium Harvest Right freeze dryer. It has five trays (upgraded from 4 trays on older models) and also came with a premier oil pump (also upgraded from previous models). We’ve had it now for just over a month and love it.

We’ve put up several batches of food and even a few batches of freeze dried candies. With turkeys and hams on sale over the holidays we bought a few of each and so far freeze dried 2 turkeys and 3 hams. We also freeze dried 3 rotisserie chickens from Sams club (all in one batch) . When these meats are rehydrated they taste exactly like they just came out of the oven. To me, that’s the amazing thing about freeze drying… it does nothing to affect the flavor. Even raw veggies rehydrated taste just like you picked them. So we’re basically locking in 2023 prices on everything we’re freeze drying and can enjoy these foods out to 20 or 25 years. Imagine if you bought food in 1999 and were eating it now how much money you’d be saving. Plus… this is a prepping tool for sure. We hope that grocery stores will always be here with fully stocked shelves but you just can’t be sure they will be with all the stuff going on in the world today.

There are tons of videos online showing you how to get the most out of your freeze dryer by giving you tips and tricks for its operation and also giving you recipes and ideas for freeze drying stuff.

And finally, the staff at Harvest Right are super friendly and helpful. Of course you’d expect the sales staff to be but when I called tech support for set up questions they were great to talk to.

Overall, I’m super happy with this investment and love knowing I’m getting it back with every load of food I freeze dry.

My experience was with Tech Support in replacing a damaged thermal link. It took a little longer than I would have liked, but the tech person was professional and helpful.

I have been using my freeze-dryer for about seven years now and have had very good success, storing 25 17-gallon totes full of FD mylar bags of food.

Remember that HarvestRight is now supporting a decade of different models of machines which are constantly being upgraded and improved. The process itself is complicated and involved. There are a lot of details to keep track of!

A year ago I had a very involved problem, and the tech person worked with me for several weeks, trying numerous approaches before finally fixing the problem.

Overall I am very pleased with the help I get from HR.

Beautifully designed appliance and easy to use. The unit was very well packaged and shipped on time. I am excited that I will be able to harvest every last apple from my apple trees and enjoy them in the alternate bearing years. This machine will also help me beat inflation at the grocery store and I'm lovin' that. The money spent on this appliance will go straight to my bottom line, will feed my family when things get tough, and will increase our nutrition over home canned produce. My only regret is that I didn't purchase it sooner.

I am giving these guys a solid 4 stars out of 5. I have had a few negative experiences but lots of positive ones. Let me explain. Firstly the tech support is fantastic, even if you are outside their warranty they will give you assistance. They are members of the BBB and they care about their product.

The bad news is that these freeze driers are not simple machines and have to be respected. If you dont set it up properly and keep it clean and oiled you will run into trouble.

I bought 2 freeze drying units from Harvest Right just over a year ago. The customer service is excellent. The first unit has worked great without any issues. The second unit is out of commission and has been for some time. About 6 months into having the freeze dryers, one of them quit working completely. Just a week prior it ran a batch just fine. When I tried to run it, the machine wouldn't get colder than room temperature. The tech support had me send them some files from the machine, and they decided the compressor, or something like that, was out. I sent it back under warranty (thank goodness), and they "fixed it". When I got the machine back a few weeks later, I plugged it in, turned it on for about an hour, saw it was getting cold, and I thought they had truly restored the freeze dryer to proper working order, so I turned it off and covered it until winter.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I found a crazy good deal on bananas and onions. The machines had sat in my kitchen for about 6 months without use due to life being crazy busy, and summer was super-hot. Winter is a great time to freeze dry because the units heat up the house quite a bit, so I like to mainly freeze dry in the cold months. Well, to my dismay, the unit they had "Fixed" under warranty, would only get down to 9 degrees, when it has to get colder than -10 degrees to process the food. I let the super awesome customer support people know, and they informed me it was out of warranty, and I would have to pay shipping and for parts and service. I tried to explain how if I had ran a batch as soon as I got the freeze dryer back from them 6 months ago, I would've discovered it was not truly fixed, it would've been under warranty, and they should've taken it back under warranty to fix it. I realize my trusting nature was at fault; I should've ran a batch all the way to verity it had been fixed instead of being excited to see after an hour it still wasn't at room temperature, then turning it off because it seemed to be working.

I was informed they would do free parts and labor, probably because they felt bad for me. I truly think they have great customer service representatives, but now I have to pay the $357.24 to round-trip ship it to them.

All- in-all, I am happy with the ability to freeze dry at home. It is cheaper after like 400 batches to put up food bought in bulk at home, than to buy it freeze dried in the can. If my troublesome freeze drier worked like my other one, or they showed me a little more mercy at my situation since I feel we're both at fault, they'd have a solid 5-stars.

We have had our Harvest Right freeze dryer for a couple of months now and are loving it! We have been tempted to buy one for several years and. now that we finally have one are realizing what an incredible piece of equipment it is. We have run all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meat and candy through it with amazing and beautiful results. I will also add that the Harvest Right customer service team has been very responsive and easy to work with if you have questions or concerns.

I've had the unit for three weeks and it has not worked yet. I've jumped through hoops and run every trumped up test they have and they are still cooking up different tests so they don't have to do anything. It's been ME taking off time from work, ME jumping through all their trouble shooting...

The mTors are insanely over the top high and has never operated anywhere near normal I've run three different leak tests proving no leaks. Now they want me to drive out to hunt down a special type of tape and alter their machine (rig it) for yet another test... In what insane world does this make sense. I sell major appliances for a living - my customers would NOT put up with this. The hire young punk managers who cannot handle customers who are dealing with their ridiculous "policies" and "protocols".

When you treat someone badly and then smack them for being frustrated... that's abuse! They agreed to send a tech, but they have none in the area (it's Atlanta! No technicians in Atlanta? You sell product here... no service available? GMAB!) They can't tell me when they will be able to get someone out. Most likely not until after the new year.

So, I'm left with no choice but to jump through their hoops and alter their defective equipment to prove they sold me a defective product. I would NEVER EVER recommend them to anyone. I asked for a return. I'll have to pay for return freight of over 200 lbs of merch to get a refund. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!

I love my freeze dryer! Living in PA it's too humid to run it efficiently in the summer but that has nothing to do with the machine.

It would be nice to be notified when updates are available and not have to randomly check the Harvest Right website for software updates.

I purchased my medium Harvest Right Freeze Dryer about 2 weeks ago. We just completed our 2nd batch of food in the Freeze Dryer. The taste and appearance was just like the original. We froze meat, casseroles & beans. What I like most is that you can eat it right out of the freeze dryer or you can rehydrate it with water and it goes back to its original form. In today's world, food is so expensive, this will prevent waste and you can store it for about 25 years. WOW, unbelievable. We are hoping to get another machine and keep it going. Best investment for us.

I have only had my Harvest Right Freeze Dryer for a few weeks but so far so good. I'm only giving 4-stars because there are a few negative things I want to start out with. First of all, when my freeze dryer was on the way, I received an ominous e-mail from Harvest Right about how they would not cover any damages if it was damaged in transport and that it was our responsibility to inspect the item first, and then refuse to accept the package. They clearly said if the item was damaged in-transit, they would not cover under warranty. I have a problem with that for several reasons.

First of all, this is the Christmas Season. No delivery driver is going to wait for you to open the package and inspect everything prior to signing off on it. I get it if the outside package is damaged, but if its not, and the item was damaged inside, that is a different story. But true to form, my driver was not waiting to have the item inspected. This should be an issue between Harvest Right and their transport service, not the customers issue. Thankfully, it was NOT damaged, and it works fine. However, I was so taken aback by Harvest Right's attitude in that e-mail, that I almost refused the package and asked for my money back. In the end, I'm glad I didn't, but it was not a good start to this whole thing. My second issue, was that the freeze dryer came with no owner's manual. There was no instructions on how to set this thing up.

When I called Technical Support, they wanted to just send me a digital manual, which I agreed to. But then when they e-mailed it to me, it was over 50 pages long and I wasn't happy about paying nearly $3,000 for an item that didn't come with any manuals when it clearly says that they do, and then having to print out a 50 page manual. I saw several other complaints where the same thing happened. I ordered this directly from Harvest Right so the issue wasn't 3rd party. When I did go through the manual, I found several contradictions that I still don't understand. The manual says that once you fill the vacuum pump with oil, never to tilt in or bring it off-level. But when you get to the part about draining the oil, it clearly says to tilt the pump to drain all the oil.

Also, it says to filter the oil every 20 cycles on one page, and a few pages later it says to filter it every 5-6 cycles. I still don't know which is right. However, once you figure this thing out, it works as advertised. It is easy to use and everything we have freeze dried has worked out perfectly. The touch screen literally walks you through everything step by step and the machine is very user friendly.

After freeze drying several times, I can already see the huge amount of time I will save in freeze drying items rather than canning them. This is especially true when canning fruits. No more adding sugar and various other ingredients when you are canning tomatoes. Fruits will freeze dry with no added sugars and last ten times as long (stored) and store much easier due to the weight difference in freeze dried vs canned. Tomatoes are another canning nightmare that will be so much easier by free-drying them.

If you are an avid canner, this is a must buy. I will continue to do canning, but less than I do now. This thing is going to be a huge time-saver. If I had to pick three selling points for this thing, I would easily say the time saved freeze drying vs canning. The storage/shelf life of freeze dried foods vs canned or dehydrated foods, and the time saved by doing so.

purchased a large Harvest Right Oct ’22. Within the year I had to replace the screen and ultimately the whole mother board. It works great now. Customer service is spotty. A lot of ghosting and having to contact supervisors to get a new tech assigned. You do all the repairs on your own through YouTube videos, they won’t send a tech out. If you get one, sign up for support blogs like MeWe or FB pages.

I have had my freeze dryer for a little over a year now and I am so amazed at the results! We are in our '70s and not "Techie" The process is so simple that it makes me wonder at times if I've done it correctly. Meats, soups, fruits, vegetables, ice cream, chili, stew, herbs, and eggs are so easy to reconstitute and the flavor and texture are amazing. My husband was a little apprehensive of the cost, but he says the results are more than the price. Light weight for camping and hiking. No concerns when the power goes out and the freezer/fridge contents going bad. No worry about canning jars breaking, not sealing...let alone the cost of jars, rings and lids. When a family member is in the military, or lives overseas, you can send them a taste of home... their favorite food you make.

I just purchased a large Harvest Right freeze dryer and so far, so good. The new software seems to be taking care of everything, making the process almost fool- proof and the machine feels sturdy. The communication was great and a quick call to customer service for a few questions was very pleasant. If I was to recommend something, it would be the option to connect the machine to a wireless network and monitor the process via an app. I'm looking forward to many years of trouble

free operation

Our first freeze is still going strong. Just bought another one so we can do even more. This my second freeze dryer from Harvest Right. When I first bought the medium I had a lot of questions and the customer service was excellent. They patiently walked me through my mistakes. I use to dehydrate so much. I have 6 dehydrators, but now all I do is freeze dry everything. We are freeze drying our meals for hard times while we still can afford shopping at the store. I buy Rotisserie chicken at Sams 6 to 10 at a time now and they freeze dry so well. I recommended to a friend of mine and he is also very satisfied with his as well. My old freeze dryer still hasn't had any issues as of yet it still works wonderfully well. Great product.

We ordered the XL Harvest Right Freeze Dryer online. When we received it, we were amazed with the size. I thought we would never have enough food to fill it. Since then to now, which has only been two weeks. The freeze dryer has been running non-stop! We also experimented on some things that didn’t freeze dry too well like gummies. We have seen some really good videos on how to do that. Turns out that we had to adjust the drying temperature. So far, we have freeze dried 14 lbs. of turkey, 1 gallon of turkey gravy, 58 avocados, 34 apples, 1 bunch of bananas, 9 lbs of oranges, 16 bunches of celery, 12 pints of strawberries, 8 lbs of cherries, 12 quarts of rhubarb, 10 lbs of hamburger meat, and 22 lbs of chicken. We made approximately 3 gallons of chicken bone broth out of the chicken bones. We purchased the tray dividers to portion the bone broth into little squares so that it would dry more efficiently. We also got creative and freeze dried 2 large pumpkins baked and pureed. We added pumpkin spice to it. Oh my!!! It was like a heavenly pumpkin pie crisp snack. We already talked about getting another freeze dryer.

Also, the folks at Harvest Right are super easy to talk to. We accidentally got out of the touch screen menu and had no way to go back to choose the defrost option. We call Harvest Right directly, and they walked us through the process so that we can defrost the unit (so we can get started on another batch).

We only had the unit for two weeks and we absolutely love it!!!

We purchased a Harvest Right Medium freeze dryer and have loved having it. From candy to healthier options it has been super easy to use. We started for food storage but have added candy and other stuff in the mix. It has been easy to use and amazing customer service when we have questions. I would highly recommend this to anybody.

45 dollars to have a technician call to help with the problem. Bolts on the door seem weak and cheap. Cost to run 10 to 15 cents per hour and take around 40 hours for a full proper cycle. I can't update my freeze dryer yet. There is a problem with my machine, and I only found out about it after the one-year warranty The problem has been there since I purchased it with the USB port I did not know because there was an update after my one-year warranty they said I was out of luck BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE

I have owned my Harvest Right, medium-size freeze dryer for nearly 3 years and have been able to freeze dry A LOT of things! I mostly dry ingredients for cooking and individual meals for backpacking, but we have done all of the candy too. I recently had a small problem with the dryer--which is not unexpected with the amount of use it has had. The customer service/warranty team is very helpful, and it was very reasonable to repair. Within a few days, we were back up and running!

WOW... where should I start?

After a lot of research and hearing great things about Harvest Right, we decided to invest in a Large Pro Freeze Drier. We opted to buy it mid-October (Oct 11th) vs waiting for any holiday sales because we had great opportunities for trade shows to make profit quickly.

After wiring in the correct outlet, waiting 3 weeks for our machine to be delivered, and then setting it up to run the initial "bread run," we discovered that our machine was defective. I called Harvest Right and set up an appointment with a technician who determined that the cooling mechanism wasn't working for an unknown reason. The only option was to send back the machine (no way to send a technician out to fix it).

All of this was unfortunate, but it happens. HOWEVER, what I feel is completely unacceptable is that it took Harvest Right 4 WEEKS from the time they told me I needed to send the machine back to send me a box kit to package up my machine. Then an additional WEEK for the machine to be picked up and now I'm still waiting for a new machine to be delivered.

It is now December 15th (over 2 months since I ordered my machine) and I have nothing to show for it. I've missed multiple trade shows and the ability to make birthday present (for 2 of my children) and Christmas presents. I also missed out on the $500 off promo that was available for Black Friday. If I had known that I'd be missing those events, I would have waited to buy it during the sale.

On the bright side, the customer service representatives I've spoken to have been very kind... but that can only go so far. I've had 4 different people I've been emailing with, but no numbers to actually call to get information. Any time I call and ask to speak with them or with a manager I am told they don't take calls and they will leave them a message for me.

I have yet to receive a call back from ANY manager wanting to make the situation better and NO offer of anything they can do for me (other than replacing the machine that they sent to me defective).