Comparison of the Four Most Popular Shellers
Comparison of the Main Four Pea/Bean Shellers on the Market
There are four main types of shelling machines on the market today: Mr. Pea Sheller, Electric Mr. Pea Sheller, Mini Sheller, and Little Sheller. They range in size, manufacturing process and production quota. The point of this review is to compare all four shellers in a variety of ways.
Overall Size and Weight
Mr. Pea Sheller, the smallest of all four shellers, is handheld with a length of 4 inches, width of 8 inches, and a height of 8 inches. The Electric Mr. Pea Sheller is the second smallest--16 inches in length, 10 inches in width, and 6 inches in height. The second largest pea/bean sheller is the Mini Sheller. The Mini Sheller has a length of 23.5 inches, a width of 14.5 inches, and a height of 10.5 inches. The largest of the shellers, the Little Sheller, has a length of 27.5 inches, a width of 16.5 inches, and a height of 14 inches.
Motor Size and VAC
Mr. Pea Sheller is manually cranked unless you attach a mixer. The Electric Mr. Pea Sheller has a motor with 1/15 hp. Mini Sheller has a motor with 1/10 hp. The Little Sheller has a motor with 1/3 hp. The Electric Mr. Pea Sheller, Mini Sheller, and Little Sheller all use 115 VAC which is about the same amount of volts your t.v. uses.
Approximate Bushel Rate per Hour
Since the Mr. Pea Sheller is manual unless hooked to a mixer, the amount of peas that can be shelled in an hour depends on the operator. The Electric Mr. Pea Sheller can shell around 1.5 bushels to 3 bushels per hour. The Mini Sheller can shell up to 4 bushels per hour. For a single operator, the Little Sheller can also shell up to 4 bushels per hour.
Roller Type and Recommended for Beans/Peas
For the Mr. Pea Sheller and Electric Mr. Pea Sheller, the two rollers are splined. Splined means that the ridges on one roller mesh with the ridges on the other roller and transfer torque to it. Due to this design for best results, the Mr. Pea Sheller and Electric Mr. Pea Sheller are recommended to only shell peas (black eye, purple hulls, cream peas, English, sweet, and small crowder). The Mini Sheller and Little Sheller have easily adjustable rollers. Since the rollers are adjustable, with the Mini and Little Sheller you can shell peas and mature beans.
Bed Size and Pea Planting Area
The Mr. Pea Sheller has a bed size of 2 inches in length and 3.5 inches in width. Electric Mr. Pea Sheller's bed size is 10.5 inches in length and 8.5 inches in width. The Mini Sheller is 16.5 inches in length and 8.5 inches in width. The Little Sheller is 25 inches in length and 12 inches in width. The Mr. Pea Sheller is recommended for gardeners with a small garden. The Electric Mr. Pea Sheller is recommended for gardeners with large gardens. The Mini Sheller is recommended for large gardens to small farms. The Little Sheller is recommended for small farms to commercial use.
Country of Manufacturing
The Mr. Pea Sheller and Electric Mr. Pea Sheller are manufactured in Taiwan. The Mini Sheller and Little Sheller are manufactured in the United States.
Commentary and Considerations
The return rate for the Mr. Pea Sheller is 7%. The return rate for the Electric Mr. Pea Sheller is 4%. Both of these percentages are high return rates. In the past 9 years of all Little Shellers that were sold, 2 have been returned--one of the two was returned from an Amazon customer that found a lower price on lawn-gardening-tools.com. The Mini Sheller has recently been manufactured and so therefore has no history of returns. Since the Mini Sheller is manufactured by the same manufacturers as the Little Sheller, we do not foresee a high return rate with the Mini Sheller. We advise replacing of the Mr. Pea Sheller after a few seasons. Usually Electric Mr. Pea Sheller owners upgrade to Little Shellers.
