Any suggestions for buying a dehydrator. I am new to this and the 5-tray seems like enough but seems like the 9 is more popular.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Dori

I bought the 5 tray shortly after going raw and I wish that I had bought the 9 tray. When I go shopping and bring home lots of nuts and seeds, I like to soak and sprout and dehydrate them and many times I have to "stagger" things because I don't have enough trays.

Also, when the garden "explodes" and I'm trying to dehydrate tomatoes, I need the extra trays. If you can afford the extra - I vote for the nine tray.

LIfe Is Good!

alive!

Nine tray gets my vote too

No! TEN trays is best:
[sausagemaker.com]

;-)

Or, if you've got more money, 12 trays is better:
[sausagemaker.com]

I have the D10 and really like it. Stainless steel is way nicer than plastic, and will last longer (the plastic gets brittel after a few years).

Cheers,
Ian.

I have a small place and prepare food just for myself. I bought the 9-tray and replaced it with the 5 tray because the 9 tray model has a larger fan and it was very noisy.

If I had a large enough place I would definitely have the 9 tray model. But I live in a small space and the rooms all open into each other. So I could hear the thing in my bedroom.

Ian, on the sausagemaker, is the heating element in the back so that all the trays get the same temp? Also, I notice that the thermostat does not have the temps printed on it, just Low Medium and High. The Excalibur's thermostat shows degrees, which leads me to believe you can control the temp more precisely.

The 9-tray I would get only if I had 4 more raw foodists to "uncook" for.

The 5-tray is double the yield of the 4-tray and like another poster said, the 9-tray is much noisier (and also uses more electricity).

Hi Greenie,

interesting coment about the fan and noise. The noise generated by your 9 tray could have been because of a faulty component. Generally, the bigger the fan the quieter it is - this is because big fans can rotate slower while still moving the same volume of air as a fast little fan. My D10 has a BIG fan and I can bearly tell if it's on or not (my smaller plastic dehydrator was soooooooo noisy).

Yes, the heating element is at the back to keep all the trays at an even temp. Also, yes, there are no temperature markings, but this doesn't bother me since I always calibrate my setting with a thermonitor first. Even with my old dehydrator that did have temperature markings, i would use a thermonitor to calibrate it (the temp marks turned out to be off by quiet a bit).

The D12 is the one I want, digital temperature control! But I can't justify it right now. Maybe if I owned my own home and put in my ideal 100% raw kitchen.

Cheers,
Ian.