Excalibur Electric Food Dehydrator Machine 9-Tray with Clear Door and 48-Hour Digital Timer, Automatic Shut Off & Temperature Control and Fast Drying with 15 Sq. Ft. of Drying Space, 600-Watts, Black

I really like this dehydrator. I had previously used on of those round, stacking dehydrators, which was a little bit of a pain because it had limited capacity and required me to monitor it to ensure it didn't overdry the jerky. This dehydrator has nine square trays which are very roomy. But even better, this has a digital temperature setting AND a timer. The timer is a game changer because it frees me from having to monitor the jerky has it cooks. Makes it very easy to dry stuff overnight, since the device simply turns off when complete and you can simply collect the jerky in the morning. The heating and fan project from the back of the device and blows forward, which is different from the round devices where the air and heat comes from above. This is important because even when I pack lots of jerky on the trays, each tray still gets equal attention from the fan and heater. On the round devices, the lower trays can suffer if too much stuff is packed on the upper trays. As far as build quality, the Excalibur 3948CDB seems pretty solid and have had no issues. It is pretty bulky, so be prepared, and otherwise seems much more substantial that my prior (round) dehydrator. Curiously, the front window/door is not permanently attached to the rest of the device, but simply hangs off of a lip built into the top of the device. I'm guessing there's a reason they did it this way, but I'm no engineer so I don't know what it is. For me, its a little bit of a pain when lifting or storing the device because the front window/door (which is plastic and not glass incidentally) is prone to coming off the lip and falling off the device. It's no issue when the device is dehydrating. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this device. It was much more expensive that the smaller round dehydrators, but does a noticeably better job, and provides much more room. For me, if I had to identify the most important upgrade, it would be the timer. Maybe you could replicate that on other timeless dehydrators by plugging those into some sort of third party timer, not sure, but it does make the process so much easier.

I've had this for almost a week now. So far, I dehydrated ginger and ground it up to powder and man, it smells so good. Nothing like having fresh ingredients! I will continue to do more. I've also made some home made dog treats out of thinly sliced chicken breast (chicken jerky), sliced sweet potatoes, my dog loves it. Not too mention lots of money saved! You also know exactly they are getting high quality ingredients for a fraction of the cost. Later, I will make my own beef jerky, fruit leathers, and dehydrating nuts to crisp it up and dried fruits. This is also a great model with a clear door that you could see into. Digital controls and it does comes with a small recipe book and preserve it naturally which has alot of information about the ;types of fruits and vegetables year round and the seasons; The humidity levels in certain areas of the world in general in seasons; recommended dehydrating temperatures for certain veggies and fruits. Which foods could be preserved; making jerky out of beef, venison, fish, game, etc etc. Temperature and time are easy to control. Very basic display which is ok. What would be nice is if they were to have presets, custom settings ( to be stored and used in the future). Although not necessary, just saying. Also, clean is quite easy when you purchase dehydrating sheets and although with meats, it leaves like what looks like a dark stain. I hear, it doesn't do anything as long as you clean it well. I think this model is so worth it for all the different things it could do. Yes, it's quite expensive, it performs really well. I may update my review once I try other things with it.

I love beef jerky. I love making beef jerky. It is more expensive to make at home than it is to buy at the store, but the results are so much better it is worth it. I upgraded from a disc-style dehydrator after the motor burned out. This thing actually holds more meat despite looking smaller overall. The trays are close together, and without a hole in the middle, I can pack a lot of meat on them tightly (but not too close) and use space more efficiently. It actually has more surface area than my old one, too. This is a really nice dehydrator that dries evenly. I never have to rotate trays or flip meat. I just load them up, set the timer, and test when done. I can literally come back four hours later and not touch anything until them. With the disc-style dehydrator that is nowhere near true: meat at the bottom will be wet, meat at the top will be charcoal. The underside of the meat will not be as dry as the top. Sure, you save money on that style, but the process is nowhere near as easy (they are just as difficult to clean). The only problem with dehydrators in general is cleaning them. Keep in mind I only care about beef jerky: if you are drying vegetables or flowers it is probably easier to clean. First of all, lay some foil on the bottom of the unit before loading trays. Then throw it out when you are done. Once you are done with the trays and ready to clean, you need to pre-clean them. While dishwasher safe, experience tells me no dishwasher can remove the caked-on grease well enough without a little help. First, I scrub the trays themselves (the black parts) using a non-abrasive scrub pad. I aim for all the grease, top and bottom. I then remove the top rack of the dishwasher entirely and slide the trays in vertically. Run the dishwasher, remove right away (no heat dry). Next, I scrub the liners to get grease, peppercorns, and other chunks out of the tiny grates. I run them through in the top rack, three at a time (three loads of three liners equals the nine total liners). Again, no heat dry, just get them all through the dishwasher ASAP. If you try putting them all on the top rack at the same time they will not get clean. It wastes more water to do three loads but at least they are clean and sanitized. Once that is all done I load all the damp trays and liners back into the dehydrator and run at full temperature for an hour or two to dry off. The heat and time here also makes them lay flat if they curled at all in the dishwasher due to not laying perfectly flat. Those liners are murder on scrub pads, and the whole process of spending an hour or so scrubbing all those pieces makes my wrist sore. However, I end up with a nice and clean product ready for another batch of beef jerky. This product may cost more than a lot of others, but you get what you pay for. I have never been happier with a dehydrator than with this one.

I upgraded from the 4 tray 250 watt Excalibur to this 9 tray 600 watt Excalibur. This unit is like new and performs quite well. My first use was in making meringue cookies. They were perfect and they dried much faster than with my small unit. So glad these used units are sold at discount. Mine was perfect and the price greatly appreciated.

I have read reviews that the Excalibur is the best dehydrator to get. I ordered the one with the digital panel for just over $400. It came and looked beautiful but very poorly packaged. The dehydrator had eight little styrofoam corners in the box, but then the box was just placed inside a bigger Amazon box with no cushion at all. I have never seen that high priced of an item that poorly packaged. The door was broken with a crack all the way through the plastic, but it still held together, so I wasn’t that worried. I didn’t have time to use it initially, then I went on vacation. I finally get back and get food on my trays and in the dehydrator and turn it on for the first time and it sounds horrible! Well everyone says they are loud. But then after a few minutes it STOPS with an error message. I take all the stuff out and unplug it and restart it and I can see a wire is rubbing against the fan. I also see two loose screws in the area by the fan just laying in there. Also noted the back of the unit had a screw that was halfway out of the case as if someone else had this unit and unscrewed it or it wasn’t assembled correctly in the first place. Wondering if someone else returned it and Amazon just sent it to me because it works initially when plugged in, so you wouldn’t know as it takes a couple minutes to kick off. Boyfriend had used the box for target practice, so it is riddled with bullet holes, so luckily no one will get this unit shipped to them. Why would you put loose wires right next to a fan without wrapping them or putting them in some little housing of some sort? I unplugged it and was gently able to move the wire away from the fan without disassembling it, but even without the wire rubbing, the dehydrator continued to kick off after a few moments with the error message. Over and over again. The owner’s manual has no key for the error messages. The call center number sends you to a new number. Boyfriend said he could mess with it, but for that price you shouldn’t have to, so he did not disassemble it. Also I didn’t want that to interfere with my return. Boyfriend told me the components are similar to a little wall heater and probably only cost $25, and that the initial investment in these was the injection mold for the unit itself which probably cost $75K back in the day. They have used the same mold for multiple models, so they are making a killing on these and could do such a better job with construction and shipping. Luckily all these problems happened on the LAST DAY I could submit a return, so I was lucky. If you order this, make sure you use it before the 30 day limit for a Prime return. If you are lucky enough to get one that works, good on you. After the return process, I may reorder, but I’m nervous about that kind of money on something that is that cheaply made. I’m looking for a used on on FB Marketplace instead.

This dehydrator is the best we have ever used. It holds so much and dries the food to perfection. We have a garden and have dried over 100 lbs. of produce for future use. If you are serious about food storage, or have a garden at your home, you need this dehydrator. Even if you don't have a garden, dehydrate produce that is seasonal and you will have it year round. Many of the dehydrators we have owned in the past would increase my electrical bill greatly and not dry the middle as well as the edge food on the tray. Not this one. It dries everything evenly. I don't even notice a difference in my electrical bill when used 24/7. I give the Excalibur five stars and would go higher if I could. The ease of use, quick, and even drying is the best of the best. Thank you for making such an efficient and durable product!! Cynthia H.

I purchased this to make raw vegan wraps, but I’m using it for much more than I thought I would. That’s the good news. The bad news it arrived with a defect. It’s not square — one of the four legs doesn’t touch counter and the door doesn’t attached correctly, but it otherwise works. Quality control could be better, especially for a well known, loved and trusted brand like Excalibur. Shown: raw vegan rainbow wraps before and after dehydration; luncheon wrap with vegan potato salad; King Oyster Mushroom Bacon before and after dehydration; another wrap; dried cilantro. - Author of "Oh So Yum! Inspiring Others to Explore the Many Flavors of Plant-Based Nutrition" sold here on Amazon :)

I have been doing research on different dehydrators. I debated on getting but was glad that I did. The temperature control was easy to use. The tray capacity is a perfect size for the vegetable I had.

Easy to use and have made great stuff in it!

Seedless grapes make the best raisins for baking scones , etc. Pineapple and mango such a treat . Buying fruit waiting for my own to dry for winter. just love the manchine

Se empezó a apagar solo el detalle que no lo regrese porque quieren creo que hasta la caja intacta dependiendo de eso es tu devolución

La boite de livraison n'était pas endommagée à la réception. Mais les plateaux étaient coincés dans l'appareil et ont été difficiles à extraire. Pire la grille de protection entre les plateaux et le ventilateur n'avait pas été fixée et de plus les pales du ventilateur accrochaient un élément plastique du moteur . . . J'ai dû ouvrir le panneau arrière pour tout réparer et maintenant ça va. Pour amateurs de bricolage seulement.

I love it! The 9 trays fit so much that it's a big time saver. And it's definitely not as loud as I expected it to be. Noise level is slightly less than my oven's fan.