9 Tray Dehydrator with Timer | Food Dryer | Up to 26 Hours and Temperature Control | Drying Fruit, Meat and Vegetables

I bought this as a gift for my husband. He adores biltong which costs a lot of money for what it is, so I thought it would be great to be able to make our own. We have had our first attempt, and it was so easy and the machine worked brilliantly. But this machine has also opened a whole new world to us, in terms of raw foods. My husband is wheat intolerant, so we have to avoid bread and biscuits and try to follow the "caveman diet" (natural, unprocessed foods). Raw food has many recipes that use dehydrators to create all sorts of breads, crackers and treats that use natural raw ingredients that replicate the texture of our highly processed diet without the bad bits and with more flavour. I've been having fun experimenting with all sorts of things, and this dehydrator works away in the background drying the foods out. It has a huge capacity, so I have yet to fill it up, but I have needed more than 5 drawers, so it's good to have the big one. Also the timer is helpful, switching it off when it's completed, so I can leave things in at night and not worry about them being overdone. It is rather large (the size of a large microwave) and it does make a gentle hum, but I keep mine in a backroom, so it doesn't bother me at all. My children love the dried fruit that it makes (dried mango is a favourite) and I know it is pure goodness - no added sugars or preservatives that dried fruit from the shops has in it. There are some great raw recipes at therawtarian.com which are simple to make, with great success. And I'm looking forward to perfecting my biltong. I feel I have definitely bought the Rolls Royce of dehydrators that dries things easily and is reliable, and it's going to take a few years for it to pay itself off on the biltong front, but I believe my family's health is definitely benefitting from the healthier direction of our diet and reduced additives that we are eating.

I have only had this Dehydrator for about 10 days so far and I have used it almost every day and I love it, I couldn't be happier the results are fantastic. It has loads of room and the sheets are really easy to clean. My previously dehydrator was cheaper but didn't last, I wore it out, now with that one, one mango took 2.5 trays with this dehydrator I can get one mango on each tray. I also find it very useful for crisping up homemade biscuits.

You do have to keep slices uniform and watch for extra dryness at the back and edges

I’ve been using this dehydrator for a while now, and overall I’m really happy with it. One of the biggest advantages is the nine spacious trays. You can load up a ton of fruits, vegetables, or herbs all at once, which saves a lot of time if you like to prep big batches. The noise level is surprisingly reasonable. It’s not silent, but it’s not disruptive either. I still find it easiest to run overnight so it’s out of the way and I wake up to perfectly dried goodies. Just keep in mind that it does require a bit of counter or storage space - it’s not tiny. And yes, it uses electricity, but honestly, it still feels like great value for money. The quality of homemade dried snacks is fantastic, with no preservatives, and when you compare the cost to store-bought options, it definitely works out cheaper in the long run. My only downside was that mine arrived with a broken timer. Luckily, that didn’t bother me too much since I usually keep track manually anyway, and Amazon offered a partial refund, which was appreciated. All in all, I’m very satisfied with this dehydrator. It’s spacious, efficient, and cost-effective. Definitely a solid choice for anyone who loves making their own healthy snacks.

This dehydrater is quite sizeable, so you can put in lots of goodies to dry. It's well worth paying the extra because it works like a dream. It has a very good instruction book, with lots of tips. I've been drying lots of apples and pears. It' suggests drying live food below 50degrees C , in order to preserve the enzymes. So this is what I've been doing, they take about 7 -8 hours and it does a great job. This machine is made in the USA and the quality tells

Use all the time. Good size..

Unbelievably bad build quality for such an expensive price. Trays didn’t fit and had been jammed in before shipping, door fell off repeatedly and didn’t close when trays were in. Both knobs were bent out of shape and didn’t alight with temp / time stickers. Decal and door were scratched. The metal grill in the back was bent out of flat. Nothing on this appliance met the quality I’d expect from the price. Very disappointed

Use this to make dried dog teats for my dogs and for friends dogs who have allergies. Just make sure the room is well ventilated and although slightly noisy I keep mine in the kitchen keep the door shut when its working. Great for chicken, beef, liver, heart, turkey, rabbit etc. I've also put sliced veggies in there too, make great crisps.

Prodotto veramente scadente!Presa elettrica non adeguata al mercato europeo!I vassoi cadono !Amazon deve controllare la qualita Euro 1361,00 euro!!!una truffa!

Si te sobran frutas o verduras este es un método de conservación estupendo. Yo tengo una huerta y me ha venido fenomenal para los excedentes.

We have tried other dehydrators...most had fan issues and we finally decided to just go for what everyone said was the best of the best. So far, we are not disappointed! We had beef jerky marinating when the machine was delivered...yeah we had that planned! It turned out beautiful. Next batch - chicken jerky for the dogs. Again results were amazing. Just ask the dogs - they'll tell you how good it was! Then bananas and three pounds of apricots. We had done bananas before but never apricots - we were very pleased with the outcome. They take a long time but they are sure worth it! Next chicken/sweet potato dog treats. I ordered the nonstick sheets to go with this and they work well too. The racks are easy to clean - they fit flat in my sink (I have an over-sized sink). It runs quiet! I love the option to leave out racks if you have thicker foods to dry. This has run almost daily since delivery. Figured put it to the test and see how it holds up and so far it has passed the test with flying colors. When you order they give you a several day delivery window. My Excalibur was delivered on the first day of that window which was awesome. It was well packed and everything was there. The book is rather nice to that comes with it. We have done a lot of dehydrating but was nice to have references for all the fruits that we have not done before. This is the first dehydrator we have owned with a timer. I could probably live without it, but it is a very nice feature to have available. Never have to worry about it when you get busy and lose track of the time. And if you can, go for the 9 tray! I had looked at the 5 tray but I think I would have regretted that purchase. Saw where everyone said get the 9 tray so I followed everyone else and got the 9 tray and I am SO glad I did! The warranty is nice for peace of mind. There are tons or recipes on the Excalibur site. I know exactly where all the extra tomatoes from the garden are going to go this year! What an advancement from the old round Ronco that I started with many many years ago, bought at a flea market for $5. Got to admit tho, that thing ran for years! So old there was no fan...just the heating element in the bottom. I think I prefer my Excalibur over that one ha! I don't think you will be disappointed with this machine. Yeah it is big. Be sure you measure where you are going to put it so there is no surprise when you unbox it. It is lightweight tho. I guess overall I can say I am VERY happy with this purchase! I hope it serves me well for many years to come and from comments of others, I have a feeling that it might just do that! UPDATE 5/27/14: Having used this now for a few weeks almost nonstop, my statement of "I could have lived without the timer" is definitely FALSE. That timer sure does make life easier! So glad I got the one with the timer. We have put out multiple batches of chicken jerky (pet treats), dog cookies made with chicken and sweet potatoes, beef jerky (for us not the dogs ha), 15 pounds of apricots, 6 pounds of onions, bananas. Nothing is safe from the Excalibur! I should have bought this one first.

Esta práctico es fácil de usar y casi no pesa

Bought it used vs a new Nesco simply because the excalibur website offers maintenance advice for 20 year old machines. Anyway, it looks built to last and it does do well, what it was designed to do. Why four stars rather than five? Mine being used, came in white and shows stains and dirt, which is not something you want in food prep.