Food Dehydrator - Suggestions?

[SweetMissDaisy]

I need a dehydrator... any suggestions on which one to buy?
Which one do you have?
Do you like it?
If not, which one do you WISH you had!

 

[schmije]

I have an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator. It's a little pricey, but it has lots of space, and I think it does a great job. It blows the hot air horizontally, instead of vertically, so the drying is more uniform.

 

[Ariel301]

I've got the Walmart cheapo 5 tray. It is not even labeled with a brand name. It works ok as long as you rotate the trays every hour or so, otherwise the bottom one burns while the top one gets moldy from not drying fast enough.

I WISH I had a solar one. Which I will be building when I find the plans for it. They're an outside unit that works just by the power of the sun heating up the inside of a box, that might be nice for you down in Texas, since I know you have plenty of sunshine down there.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I have a few Ronco ones. They are cheap but they work great

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Thanks all, for the responses!
I ended up ordering a Nesco, based on customers reviews posted online at Amazon.
Here's a link to the one I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-FD-75PR...1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1282533501&sr=8-1

I'm hoping it arrives tomorrow or Tuesday ... I have a giant 5lb zucchini I want to make into candy!

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I've got the Walmart cheapo 5 tray. It is not even labeled with a brand name. It works ok as long as you rotate the trays every hour or so, otherwise the bottom one burns while the top one gets moldy from not drying fast enough.

I WISH I had a solar one. Which I will be building when I find the plans for it. They're an outside unit that works just by the power of the sun heating up the inside of a box, that might be nice for you down in Texas, since I know you have plenty of sunshine down there.

You're plenty right about the sunshine down here in Texas. It's quite miserable, to be honest, for this Washington state born and raised farm girl!

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I have an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator. It's a little pricey, but it has lots of space, and I think it does a great job. It blows the hot air horizontally, instead of vertically, so the drying is more uniform.

I considered one of these, but couldn't justify the price for it this year... I'm happy to hear that it works well, though... it's on the list if we find that we need a larger unit next year.