Hydrion scientific 1.9 cu ft vac oven

[mr. durden]

Just ordered one off eBay. Had them add a third shelf and upgrade the controller to one that is more accurate. Currently I'm running a finally dialed in across international unit. Paid 1700 with shipping... Will keep you all posted when it arrives

 

[SneakySneaky]

why did you choose the hydrion if you have an across? not familiar enough with the brand vs across so would love to know more about it. also, what do you have your across international oven settings at, im still trying to dial mine in so it doesnt have as large of temp fluctuations.

 

[mr. durden]

just to try something different. it supposedly has a more accurate controller for temp, the price was much less, etc.

i'm not sure what ours are currently set at, but we used a ktype temp gauge with two sensors to do the formula for more accurate temps, adjusted how quickly it heats up to much slower, so it never overshoots, but takes longer to heat up. we keep ours on always, so that becomes less of an issue. look at the sheet with the specs on your oven and then look at what you can change, and why, in the manual.

there is also an mti oven that is exactly like the across and has the ramping function for the same price as the 1.9 across. although you can get a new controller with the ramping feature on ebay. not that we'd ever use that feature.

 

[SneakySneaky]

thanks! ive been over the manual a few times and have that pretty well understood, my alarm is set at 1.5˚, P is 113, D is 1500, I is 350, R is 20. the sch1 and sch2 are the ones im having problems dialing in to stop overshooting. my oven is always left on at 75˚, for example if i wanted to do some 115˚ shatter id set my temp for 100, then 110, then 115 and let it hold and then cut the oven off and on so that my timer resets and in 480 mins the oven turns itself off.

could you give me any info on the controller itself? i had the pleasure of meeting the president of across internationals wife recently and cant say enough good things about AI. if theres an upgrade for the unit im sure theyll find one to fit.

 

[UNREGISTRD]

Its been a couple weeks have you got your unit? I was just asking about this brand in the other thread..Curious to hear your opinion compared to your across unit..
I sent a lowball offer to Hydrion and got a nice response back but they still denied the offer and didnt offer much less than asking..

 

[mr. durden]

I have not. It is coming from China. I think they will have more state side in the near future. Check out the mti... It looks exactly the same as the AI

 

[UNREGISTRD]

I have not. It is coming from China. I think they will have more state side in the near future. Check out the mti... It looks exactly the same as the AI

I think mti it is the same as AI just manufactured under a dif name...I cant remember where i read it but from what i remember is there made in the same factory..

 

[mr. durden]

And it is cheaper. I could see it being made in the same factory

 

[nakadashi]

I have not. It is coming from China. I think they will have more state side in the near future. Check out the mti... It looks exactly the same as the AI

Hey mr. durden, have you received the hydrion scientific unit yet? After reading all the praise for vac ovens around here I am itching to pull the trigger.

 

[mr. durden]

i did...sorry, i posted on another site and forgot to do so here. we love it. although the manual wasn't as good as AI's, setup is pretty similar and it didn't need any real dialing in other than we set it to warm up slowly. i thought i wasn't going to like the shelves, but i really do. the tabs to hold the shelves on the AI really suck and are easy to knock into your oil if you are trying to run 3 shelves in a .9 since they are welded in, i'd recommend getting the third one. if you make a lot of wax/butter/whatever you call it, i'd have them put the bottom shelf up a bit higher so you can put stuff on the bottom more easily.

the vac hose is connected on the left side just so you know.

 

[nakadashi]

i did...sorry, i posted on another site and forgot to do so here. we love it. although the manual wasn't as good as AI's, setup is pretty similar and it didn't need any real dialing in other than we set it to warm up slowly. i thought i wasn't going to like the shelves, but i really do. the tabs to hold the shelves on the AI really suck and are easy to knock into your oil if you are trying to run 3 shelves in a .9 since they are welded in, i'd recommend getting the third one. if you make a lot of wax/butter/whatever you call it, i'd have them put the bottom shelf up a bit higher so you can put stuff on the bottom more easily.

the vac hose is connected on the left side just so you know.

Thanks! It is very helpful to know that you consider the AI inferior even though it is more expensive. I guess Hydrion is the easy choice then. Judging from Hydrion's website, I am guessing that the manual is written in broken fob english?

 

[mr. durden]

i just think the AI was more of a pain to set up, we had to send back our controller, etc.

the manual isn't too bad, i just think AI did a better job along with explaining how to program the oven.

 

[CallOfDoobie]

I called Hydrion Scientific to ask about their ovens a few different times. It's only one guy at the company who answers the phone. They have no stock in the US at all, which means a really long wait for the oven to arrive. Not only that, but we as buyers could face customs delays or possible duty tax, if it's shipped from China..

Not sure what their customer support is like after the sale has been made, though.

 

[mr. durden]

i just emailed them via ebay and they were quick to respond. actually, it ships from china super quick. like under a week. no customs delays or duty tax. it comes via dhl i think.

they are still responsive after too.

if you are unsure, i'd go with MTI, which is a variation of the AI oven

 

[StayFoolish22]

Does anyone have experience with the MTI? Does it look the same or is it. About to get an oven over here and after reading, Hydrion seems pretty good. I hate lack of customer support but, I can usually figure it out myself so.

 

[mr. durden]

i don't, but came upon them on our search of ovens. the AI has more parameters to dial in, which we like. i do like the hydrion, but with the price differential so minimal, i'd probably go mti just to try it out

 

[StayFoolish22]

Which do you use primarily nowadays, after having both or awhile? Sorry to bother, just don't want to waste money.

 

[mr. durden]

well, the bigger oven for sure. but when we get another 1.9, we are going AI or mti. we will probably have shelves like the hydrion made for the bigger oven as we love them

 

[CallOfDoobie]

i just emailed them via ebay and they were quick to respond. actually, it ships from china super quick. like under a week. no customs delays or duty tax. it comes via dhl i think.

they are still responsive after too.

if you are unsure, i'd go with MTI, which is a variation of the AI oven

Thanks for the info! I read an article online not too long ago about Apple's new iPhone causing a lot of shipping back-ups in China, but it's good to know that it hasn't affected DHL!

I have an AI oven that I bought a few months ago, and I really like it. Especially the low gain controller that it comes with (the blue one). I'm not too tech savvy, so I called and had them walk me through auto tuning it when I first got it. I think what I like most is the support they offered. The guy I spoke with was very friendly and helpful. Definitely solid costuomer service, IMO. ^^

Bottom line for me is that AI seems like a company that genuinely wants to help their customers. I base repeat business off of how willing a company is to "go the extra mile" to make me feel like my business with them means something. That's why I was asking about Hydrion.

I really appreciate your feedback, Mr. Durden! I found it very helpful. So you recommend trying MTI? Are all of MTI's ovens in *C? (Looks like it on their website.) Also, do you know if they have a phone number? I didn't see one on their tech support page. I wanted to give them a call and get more info, as I'm not around my computer very often to do consistant e-mailing. Thank you!