Excalibur | 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.