Excalibur 2900ECB Electric Food Dehydrator Machine with Adjustable Thermostat, Accurate Temperature Control and Fast Drying, 400 W, 9 Trays, Black

Love, love, love this dehydrator!! It is super efficient! With 9 racks I can dry 8 lbs of strawberries at a time, or 5 pounds of apple rings, or 8 pounds of jerky. It's a serious machine! This machine is not for someone who is just going to dabble in making jerky. Best to get a smaller, cheaper model for hobbyists. This machine has saved us so much money so far, just in the month we've owned it. My family, kids especially, absolutely love everything that comes out of this machine, and it's great for those who have gardens and need a way to preserve extra produce. Also, the racks are soooo easy to clean. I run a sink of hot soapy water, dip them in, give them a gentle wipe with a sponge, rinse, and set aside to dry. Nothing has ever gotten so stuck that I actually had to scrub. The only two down sides I can think of... 1. The unit is a bit loud. It's just a blowing noise, but if you're in the same room you'll definitely need to turn up the volume a bit on your phone, tv, etc. 2. This thing puts out A LOT of heat. So much so that we cannot run it in our house during the summer unless it's in our finished basement. It heats our upstairs so thoroughly that it will cause our air to constantly run. Again, not an issue for us because our finished basement always stays freezing in summer, so it's actually pretty welcome down there. I know this won't be the case for everyone though. It's probably going to be great in winter lol, like having a little space heater! Overall I absolutely recommend this unit and will continue to sing it's praises until the end of my days 😆

I used to have the Excalibur 3900 until we lost it in a house fire. When I went to replace it, I compared it to this one, and while this one is cheaper, I couldn't find any other notable differences, so I ordered this one. I'm still not sure what is supposed to be different between the two. (It seems to me that the 3900 was slightly bigger, but the Amazon details seem to say they have the same amount of space, and my husband thinks they're the same size, too). This is just the best dehydrator. The square trays give you so much area to cover with food, and the heat distribution is even so that all trays dry at the same rate. I do think that it's better to turn the trays around halfway through dehydrating, because the rear of the dehydrator is warmer than the front near the door, but sometimes I forget to do this and things still turn out fine (just the stuff on the back of the tray is a little crispier). I have a large garden, and I tend to bring home cases of local fruit from the farmers' market, so I use this *a lot* in the summer. I also use it to make yogurt sometimes, and it works well for that. I love the way the whole front door comes off because that makes it so easy to load the trays. All in all, I find this an incredibly valuable tool for managing the inflow of fresh food in the summer. I do wish that the sheets for making fruit leather (the solid sheets) came with it, but I guess not everybody uses those. My kids love fruit leather, though, and I'm glad to be able to make it for them without the FD&C Red #40 or whatever they put in the ones you buy at the stores.

Love/ use ours so much, purchased a 2nd. Can't beat this machine for preserving garden produce: zucchini chips w. choice of seasonings, garlic & olive oil or tahini dressed kale chips: place in dryer early a.m., by early afternoon - Yummy/ healthy/ crispy snacks! Dried tomatoes are a breeze, dried apples (leathery or thin/ crispy) Dried pears: chewy, natural "candy!" Jalapeno & red, yellow or green peppers, dried zucchini/ carrots for stews. Fruit roll-ups are easy/ delicious. Herbs dry in a snap, altho, light weight, tend to blow around. Well worth it considering how $$ tiny bottles from the grocer cost. Ours runs almost non-stop mid-summer, fall and beyond. Glad we purchased 9 tray model! DO purchase inexpensive non-stick sheets - you'll be glad you did. I use parchment paper for hot peppers, in case they might leave behind any residual heat even after washing. Unit cleans up pretty easily, as do trays. We didn't find the noise level to be an issue? However, 1 major complaint: NO handle on the door - seriously?? Far too easy to drop/ break and simply NOT handy. Come on Excalibur, for the high end price, give us a door w. a handle at the top.

I purchased one of these last summer with the object to dehydrate as much food as I could that was in my freezers and become less dependent on electricity. That is working out quite well and I have discovered that there are other advantages as well. I watch for fruits and veggies to go on sale, buy up a bunch and dehydrate for later use. I can make a big batch of soup, dehydrate most of that for later use. I purchase some foods in #10 cans such as peaches, pineapple, and diced tomatoes at reduced prices, dehydrate the contents and use just what I need at the time plus reducing storage space. I have dehydrated stuff just for fun to see how it would turn out---marshmallows, dill pickle slices, and ketchup (ketchup doesnt dehydrate well) . This worked so well for me I purchased another of these last fall and quite often have both in operation at the same time The dehydrators are very dependable, never had any problems with them and they do a good job. I have never had a need for a timer when dehydrating, I just check on things once in a while. I find that sometimes it is necessary to move trays from one location to another as the bottom tray doesnt seem to get as much heat as the others. And sometimes it helps to rotate the trays . I can hear the fans run but to me at least that is not a problem, they are not excessively loud. I like the fact that trays can be left out to allow thicker or taller foods, such as broccoli florets, to fit . All in all these are really good dehydrators and do the job I need done. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube relating to dehydrating different things and I also have and use 'The Dehydrator Cookbook' by Tammy Gangloff and sold on Amazon as a guide. Like most all things these units are not perfect but in my opinion will do you a good job and are dependable. Dehydrating does take a bit of a learning curve but be patient and you will get there...

I’ve been shopping around for a new dehydrator and weighing pros and cons of each one trying to figure out which one I want to order. I don’t know anyone who has an Excalibur, however, I’ve heard nothing but good about them. They’re pricey, which was a con, but in the end this brand and model, had the most pros. I got it as an early Mother’s Day gift this year as all three of our children were passing around RSV like crazy and my husband even caught it at one point. So them finding and picking out a gift for me was just not going to happen. I told my husband this is what I want and gave him the whole spiel on why it would be a good purchase and how I’d be using it. I think I won him over with homemade deer jerky, but once he said go ahead it was ordered. It was a day late delivery, but At this point Amazon Prime deliveries I expect them to be a day late. It was in perfect condition when I received it and works amazingly well. I am more than happy with this purchase. Also the primary reason to purchase a dehydrator while my children had RSV: dehydrating onions releases an antiviral property from the onion into the air, both purifying the air and killing any RSV that may be within the area. Not a fact just personal experience we’ve done this at least twice now. Anyways, I definitely recommend this product!

UPDATE: march 2017. have had this unit for several years and no complaints still. Works as great today as the day we purchased. Have made a lot of jerkey is this baby and still going strong. great purchase! did lots of research on dehydrators. Excalibur is a great company. this one kept coming up as a good economical choice. the price point was great for the amount of trays and it being a square unit. the fan will blow on all trays evenly so you don't have to play magical chairs with the trays to make sure all dry evenly. the system is set up to dry evenly on its own. have made lots of jerky on this already and wow! what a savings it is from purchasing at store. you know what you put into as well so its a healthy choice for your family. have used to dry herbs and fruits and veggies as well. I purchased the leather liners for the unit as well and very happy with the purchase. it is large and will take up some counter space. when running sounds like the microwave is on. i don't find it to annoying. we live in a 1300 sq foot house and it doesn't bother me if running during the day.

Have made beef jerky three times now. Does great job. 3 pounds of roast sliced ca1/4" thick will spread out nicely widely spaced on 3 of the 9 shelves and take ca6-7 hours to dry. Rather wish I had sprung for model with timer and attached see thru door. Life goes on. Thing is large: 16.5"wide x 12.5"tall x 19.5" deep. "Door" on front just hangs on and must be removed when loading and unloading trays. Will undou tedly break if ever dropped. Trays come with removable fine mesh plastomer screen. Trays are substantial plastic grid. They are black. Would prefer white so food debris could be better seen to ensure cleanliness during cleanup. Tho got it to make beef jerky, after reading the really nice manual that comes with it, am considering trying leathers using fruits and Greek yogurt; tho, will either need to purchase solid sheets made for that purpose (which are rather pricey!) or use plastic wrap which tho recommended as an alternative seems questionable. Guide that is provided has lots of good info and includes lists of 40+ fruits and veggies plus nearly 30 fish and shellfish each with drying instructions. Oddly, no similar listing of red meats tho generic jerky making instructions for beef, game, and poultry are discussed. Other uses described with some instructions for nuts, cheese and yogurt making (will provide a good controled temperature for developing the cultures), pasta, bread raising (will make a fine proofing oven), and more.

It dehydrates a lot of food and does exactly what it should. It's a simple product, but simply works. Fan might be a little loud, but no where near as loud as exhaust fan in most kitchens. I have no problems at night since our bedrooms are upstairs. Apples - Love them, far better than store bought! Pears - Reminds me a bit of freeze dried pears in flavor, but with different texture. A hidden gem. Bananas - OK, I'll need to work on this one. Store bought is better to me. With this dehydrator, it's not crunchy and taste comes across as more brown bananas, if that is your thing, which is not mine. Fruit Roll Up: Our kids love it! Be careful not to over dry them...more on this later. Jerky - Other than needing to refine our recipes, this does an awesome job! I can now make tasty jerky without all the sodium. HINT: Since this has no timer built in, simply use a light timer, like the one you'd use to turn your light on or off when you are on vacation, or something similar. Bingo, no more need to set your alarm or babysit the dehydrator. However, you'll still need to learn the ideal time for each item being dried. For beginners like myself, the included manual does a nice job of explaining the ins and outs of dehydrating various items. It won't make you an expert, but gets you going with confidence. NOTE: It is a bit of a pain to wash the trays and screens by hand.