Freeze-drying, or sometimes called lyophilization, isn't just about preserving food – it's about food freedom! Freeze-dryers can be used to create healthy snacks and meals that have incredibly long shelf-lives (25 years) and they can use them to give their favorite candies a fun, crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth twist. Campers, hunters, and backpackers can freeze dry meals to make them light for carrying and for easy preparation around a campfire. Many people preserve fresh pet food from their own recipes. Freeze dryers may also be used for food storage, to prepare families for an emergency.
As the market grows, deciding on a freeze dryer can be tricky. The following is a breakdown of the key differences between Stay Fresh and Harvest Right.
Harvest Right stands out for its diverse product line, its customer support options, and its smartphone App. The lineup includes many models designed for home use and multiple commercial freeze dryer models.
Both companies offer scientific software with each of its freeze dryers, this can be used for research and special freeze-drying applications.
Whether you're a health-conscious individual looking to preserve healthy meals and snacks at home or a researcher requiring precision in a
laboratory-specific freeze dryer, Harvest Right provides a large variety of freeze dryers to match one’s specific requirements.
Harvest Right’s release of its Pro Series in July 2023 brought improvements like increased capacities, faster processing times, enhanced software, improved energy efficiency, and improved reliability. Harvest Right freeze dryers are renowned for their versatility, making them ideal for many users such as regular families, gardeners, pet owners, campers and hunters, homesteaders, and commercial food producers.
Meanwhile, Stay Fresh offers two products that cater to home users and small business owners. They offer their Standard four-shelf freeze dryer as well as their Mega six-shelf freeze dryer. Stay Fresh competes most closely with Harvest Right’s Medium and X-Large freeze dryer line
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right wins due to its diverse product range catering to various needs, from home use to commercial applications.
| Harvest Right | Stay Fresh |
|---|---|
| 1x Impulse Sealer | 1x Standard Oil Pump, with the option to upgrade |
| 1x Premier Vacuum Oil Pump | 1x Stainless Steel Tray set, with the option to buy extra |
| 1x Vacuum Pump Oil | 1x Oil Filter |
| 50x Mylar Bags | 1x Impulse Sealer |
| 50x Oxygen Absorbers | 50x Mylar Bags |
| 5x Stainless Steel Trays | |
| Oil Filter | |
| Guide to Freeze Drying (physical) | |
| Recipe/Cook Book |
Harvest Right and Stay Fresh both allow you to freeze-dry out of the box with some included accessories. Harvest Right offers a wider range of accessories and included items with their freeze dryers. This more comprehensive package includes several additional tools and resources to help users get started with freeze-drying right away. Stay Fresh provides a more basic set of accessories with their units.
The right freeze dryer accessories can significantly enhance and shape the freeze-drying experience. They can expand the variety of foods you can process, improve efficiency, and simplify storage and preservation. From specialized trays and molds for different food types to storage solutions and maintenance tools, these complementary items can transform a basic freeze-drying setup into a versatile food preservation system. The right freeze drying supplies can help users tackle more ambitious projects, experiment with new recipes, and streamline their workflow, ultimately leading to better results and a more enjoyable freeze-drying experience.
Harvest Right sells many accessories that Stay Fresh does not offer:
It is unfortunate to see that all the accessories that are offered by Stay Fresh are quite a bit more expensive than Harvest Right’s. This includes expensive vacuum pumps for freeze dryers.
Stay Fresh does offer a temperature sensor that can be poked into the food while Harvest Right offers temperature sensors on the tray shelves to measure the drying temperature.
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right has a significant edge with its industrial vacuum pump that is included with every freeze dryer at no additional charge.
Here are the specifications and comparisons for each vendor’s freeze dryers. As you will see, Harvest Right has a lot more to choose from:
| Vendor | Model with Industrial Pump | Food/Tray Drying Space | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right | Small | 430 sq. inches | $2,295 |
| Stay Fresh | No comparable model | None | None |
| Vendor | Model with Industrial Pump | Food/Tray Drying Space | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right | Medium | 686 sq. inches | $2,895 |
| Stay Fresh | Standard | 640 sq. inches | $3,734 |
| Vendor | Model with Industrial Pump | Food/Tray Drying Space | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right | Large | 1,122 sq. inches | $3,595 |
| Stay Fresh | No comparable model | - | - |
| Vendor | Model | Food/Tray Drying Space | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right | XLarge | 2,081 sq. inches | $4,995 |
| Stay Fresh | Mega | 1,732 sq. inches | $5,950 |
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right is the winner for its competitive pricing, diverse range of capacities, and extensive breadth of freeze dryer offerings.
Both Harvest Right and Stay Fresh prioritize quality construction for their freeze dryers. Harvest Right's commitment to using stainless steel throughout their interior and exterior construction offers excellent durability and corrosion resistance. This is important for many applications in scientific, restaurant, and commercial applications where stainless steel is required. Stay Fresh utilizes stainless steel for its food chambers but uses aluminum for the exterior of their units.
Stay Fresh has both a drain valve and an automated pressure release valve that are standard with each unit. Harvest Right offers both a drain valve and a separate manual pressure release valve, but charges $50 for the pressure release valve. The pressure release valve is usually not necessary because the drain valve also acts as a pressure release valve.
Both brands utilize solid state relays for powering heaters on and off. This not only improves reliability but allows for improved freeze drying.
Winner: Close to a tie
Harvest Right has introduced an App that may be used on one’s phone or other smart device. It provides tremendous benefits to all users of freeze dryers, both old and new. These benefits include:
Harvest Right and Stay Fresh present unique offerings tailored to meet the diverse needs of users. Both vendors have innovative and powerful methods of freeze drying.
Harvest Right offers three types of vacuum pumps including an oil-free version. Stay Fresh does not offer an oil free vacuum pump. Both companies offer industrial vacuum pumps. The difference is that Harvest Right includes an industrial vacuum pump with the purchase of each of Harvest Right’s freeze dryers at no extra charge, whereas Stay Fresh charges a large upgrade fee of almost $1,000 for an industrial vacuum pump.
So, you may be wondering, “What is the big deal about an industrial vacuum pump versus a standard vacuum pump?” First, an industrial vacuum pump should last two to four times longer than a standard vacuum pump. Second, a standard vacuum pump typically requires that the oil be changed after every 3 to 5 batches. Harvest Right’s industrial vacuum pump only needs to have the oil changed once every 20 to 30 batches. This style pump saves a lot of money in terms of the cost of oil, and it also makes freeze drying much easier and less of an oil changing mess.
Winner: Harvest Right
Both Harvest Right and Stay Fresh offer a candy mode with their freeze dryers for those who wish to freeze dry candy. Both units seem to work well for this application. However, there is one major difference: Harvest Right automatically cools the walls of its food chamber for 15 minutes before starting the dry process. This is done so that when the drying process begins the evaporated water that is freed from the candy collects on the chamber walls rather than going straight into the vacuum pump. This keeps water and particulates from damaging vacuum pumps. Stay Fresh has no such feature.
Plus, with its new telephone App, Harvest Right offers its customers recipes for freeze drying candy properly, such as freeze dried skittles. For instance, some candies such as starbursts should be placed in a warm oven prior to freeze-drying.
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right has a customer support chatbot that may be accessed by its customers on Harvest Right’s website site and on its telephone App. Harvest Right users can use this powerful tool to ask any question they want regarding the use of and technical support of their freeze dryers and get an immediate answer. This includes all problem resolution issues and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Harvest Right also has a team of 6,000 technicians throughout the United States that can come to a user’s home or place of business to resolve more difficult support issues.
Stay Fresh offers customer support during standard business hours on weekdays. Their current support model is centralized, focusing on remote assistance during these times. For more complex technical issues that can't be resolved remotely, Stay Fresh's policy is to have the freeze dryers returned to their facility for thorough inspection and repair. This process involves customers shipping the units, which typically weigh between 150 to 200 pounds, back to Stay Fresh. At present, their service model does not include on-site technician visits.
Harvest Right has nearly 500,000 customers using their freeze dryers. They have learned a lot about how to support their customers. Stay Fresh has very few customers and is new to freeze drying but they also try to offer good support.
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right has sold nearly 500,000 freeze dryers and one can easily find reviews of Harvest Right’s freeze dryers at Home Depot, Tractor Supply, and Lowes websites, along with reviews on our own website.
Stay Fresh is a newer entrant to the freeze-drying market, and as such, customer reviews and retail availability are still limited. This is typical for emerging companies in specialized industries. Meanwhile, Harvest Right, with its longer market presence, has faced and addressed various challenges that come with rapid growth, including scaling up customer support to match its increasing sales volume.
Winner: Harvest Right
Stay Fresh does not have any certifications for their products. However, Harvest Right offers a CSA certification for Canadian users on its medium freeze dryers as well as a CE certification for all products for international customers.
When it comes to warranties, it appears that Harvest Right and Stay Fresh offer the same three-year limited warranty.
Winner: Harvest Right
Harvest Right wins with its 3-year warranty compared to Stay Fresh's 1-year warranty.
In this comprehensive comparison, Harvest Right emerges as the overall winner. While Stay Fresh presents a compelling option with its user-friendly design, and promising features, Harvest Right's established reputation, broader product range, telephone App, customer support, and significantly better pricing give it the conclusive edge overall.
Harvest Right's commitment to continuous improvement is evident in their recent strides with their telephone App, customer service, their new user interface, and their extensive product line that caters to a wider variety of needs, from home use to large-scale commercial operations.
While Stay Fresh shows promise, particularly for beginners and those seeking a simple user experience, Harvest Right's comprehensive offerings and commitment to quality make it the preferred choice for those seeking a long-term investment in freeze-drying technology.
Whether prioritizing cost, versatility, technical specifications, ease of use, or customer support, consumers should carefully evaluate their needs and conduct thorough research.
