Excalibur Electric Food Dehydrator Machine 4-Tray with Adjustable Thermostat, Accurate Temperature Control and Fast Drying with 4 Square Feet of Drying Space, 250-Watts, Black

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.

I'd say this is the best dehydrator we've owned, and we've owned several. It's whisper quite, very easy to use, and the timer feature works perfect. All of the racks are high-quality and easy to clean. Big win!

I had NO idea how fast and easy it was to make FANTASTIC beef jerky. Overnight, I marinated ribeye steaks strips (little less than half inch thick slices) in four different flavors (brown sugar/cinnamon/vanilla, jalapeno, salt and vinegar and 18-year-old scotch), set the dehydrator to 155° for 6 hours and out came the best tasting, most(ly) tender jerky I could have imagined. I had my doubts about my choices of marinade, but, surprisingly, they all taste really good. The jalapeno gives a really nice, warm burn and the brown sugar is so sweet. I'm really excited about this thing, I kid you not.The unit itself arrived in perfect shape. It's lighter than it looks because it's mostly empty space. It comes with plastic grills to lay on top of the trays. It could be considered a little bit loud, I guess, but it's no louder than your average microwave. The fan blows just hard enough where you can kind of feel the breeze coming out of the sides where it's vented.It has a nice clean look to it and the dials (one for the heat, one for the timer) feel sturdy, not cheap. In fact, the whole structure is very solid, so I'm not worried about beating it up when I move it around.The book that came with it has general instructions for different kinds of food; several types of jerky, fruits, vegetables, etc. and suggested dehydration times. The jerky was sliced in different thicknesses, so the thinner slices were a little too dry and the thicker slices could have used another 30 minutes to an hour, maybe, but I definitely liked it just like it was. You can tell the book wasn't slapped together, like you might expect as an added "accessory" used as a selling point. it is actually useful.I might add to this after I've dehydrated some fruits and other things, but, as fast and easy as it was to make this, I don't see how I could be disappointed. One thing is for sure. I have bought my LAST bag of beef jerky from the Internet/store.UPDATE: 06/17/2015In addition to the more expensive ribeye, I'm also dehydrating thick cut pork chops the same way. They are even better than the ribeye. I marinate overnight and dehydrate for 6 hours and they are done.I've also been dehydrating a dozen bananas at a time in addition to apples. I sliced them kind of thick, maybe a little larger than a quarter of an inch and even bigger on the apples since they dry out down to nothing. I usually add cinnamon to the bananas and dehydrate for 12 hours. The book says less, but 12 hours gets them nice and dry. They end up a little leathery and chewy. It's very sweet, like I've added sugar to it. Very surprised how sweet they get.The apples are amazing. They also are extremely sweet. I usually add a little cinnamon to those as well. I don't add sugar to any of the fruit I dehydrate, ever. It is just that sweet all by itself. The dehydrator will hold about 10 moderately sized apples on the 9 trays.I also am dehydrating Roma tomatoes. If you've ever eaten the sun-dried tomato or had it on your salad, you will absolutely LOVE the dehydrated tomatoes. I snack on them straight out of the bag or put them on sandwiches which gives it a flavor I've never tasted before. Needless to say, it is excellent. I sliced them very thick -- like nearly a half an inch - since they shrink down to nothing. if you like them thin, then they are excellent that way also.Next I'll be dehydrating watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi and mango. After dehydrating, the flavor and sweetness multiplies by 10, so anything you can think of that is sweet will be supersweet once it's done. I can't believe what I'm eating is all natural!The plastic mesh comes with the dehydrator, but do yourself a massive favor and by the Teflon coated dehydrator sheets specifically for this model. They are about $14 for 9 of them. It is WELL worth it, because cleaning up the mesh screens that came with it is rather difficult.