Dehydrator shopping

ducks4you

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So, the dehydrator that was a freebie, somebody I don't even See anymore gave it too me several years ago, worked but missing trays, doesn't work anymore. The toggle switch and flexible aluminum conduit behind it committed suicide on the kitchen floor yesterday by popping off. DH and I couldn't figure out how to put it back together again, so it's toast and trash. The 3 trays Will fit my other dehydrator so I'll keep them.

Making up my Christmas List for relatives and I think it's time for a better dehydrator than the one we bought over 20 years ago.

Does anybody have any favorites? So far, pricewise, it looks like Excalibur makes a pretty nice 9 tray one. What are YOUR opinions?
 

w_r_ranch

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I've heard that Excaliber makes some of the better units however I was leary of the plastic, so I went with a all stainless steel unit instead:

STX-INTERNATIONAL-Dehydra-STX-DEH-1200W-XLS-10-Tray-Stainless-Steel-Digital-Food-Dehydrator.jpg

STX INTERNATIONAL Dehydra STX-DEH-1200W-XLS 10-Tray Stainless Steel Digital Food Dehydrator, 1200-watt

It's been great for dehydrating onions, potatoes, kohlrabi, cantaloupe, etc.

dehydrated_cantaloupe1-jpg.20631
 

majorcatfish

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@ducks4you many of us have the Excalibur dehydrators think you will not hear a bad complaint about them, we love ours it does perfectly what we want them to do. if you are a big dehydrator person you will need to stage the drying or get a second, which we have been thinking about. kind of hard to tell everyone to ripen at a certain to fit your schedule...
with any dehydrator you will always have to keep moving the trays around to get a even dry...

as rach posted the stx model 10 tray 314.00 or you could buy 2 Excalibur dryers for basically same price and have 18 trays...

it's all about your budget....
 

baymule

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I have the Excalibur 9 tray and have been very happy with it. But if I had known about the one @w_r_ranch has, I would have got that one. I figure that I will use my kitchen things forever, so I like to get the best I can. I have no complaints about the Excalibur, but w_r_ranch showed me a shinier prettier kitchen gadget! :lol:
 

majorcatfish

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@ducks4you many of us have the Excalibur dehydrators think you will not hear a bad complaint about them, we love ours it does perfectly what we want them to do. if you are a big dehydrator person you will need to stage the drying or get a second, which we have been thinking about. kind of hard to tell everyone to ripen at a certain to fit your schedule...
with any dehydrator you will always have to keep moving the trays around to get a even dry...

as rach posted the stx model 10 tray 314.00 or you could buy 2 Excalibur dryers for basically same price and have 18 trays...

it's all about your budget....

need to edit....
a basic Excalibur dehydrator< no bells or whistles> will run you about 190.00 you have to really shop around for the best price..
will say this Excalibur dehydrator company sure has come out with some nice models and improvements< you will pay for them>..
both the stx and Excalibur have a high temp of 165* thats 5* about what is required to kill those evil bugs..
the stx is 1200 watt, and the Excalibur is 600 watt yes the Excalibur might take longer, but as long as it hold the proper temp can not justify the cost.
 

Carol Dee

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9 tray Excalibur here too! LOVE it. Sometimes have to go find it at son's as he likes to borrow it! So yep, it gets a work out. Even got it 2nd hand. IT is a real work horse. I was lucky and got a really good deal. (Thanks again Mary.)
 

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