Im trying to figure out which dehyrator is the best. It seems like the excalibur everyone loves but was not sure why its better than the rest.

thanks!

I own a 9 tray Excalibur. But if I were buying today, I'd buy this one. [www.good4uproducts.com]

Paul

@ pborst

The link you supplied is not working for me. Could you specify what brand/model etc you were talking about? I'm in the market for a dehydrator too.

The only dehydrator they seem to carry is the Le'quip. From all my reading I think the excalibur is superior but John Kohler (the owner of this site) has one that is comparible and comes with a clear window so you can see what's dehydrating without opening the door and losing heat. Find his products here [www.discountjuicers.com]

Adam,

The link I gave is no longer working. Try this one [www.good4uproducts.com]
Probably the best dehydrator out there is the Sedona by Tribest available at Discountjuicers.com [www.discountjuicers.com] but at $369, it's too much money. So the best value, for a dehydrator is the Excalibur 3900 at $219 or 2900 at $179. I have the 2900 and it works fine. [www.discountjuicers.com]

Is it just me paul, or does it say on there that they are selling it for $30 more than the MSRP


$199.95
MSRP Price: $169.99

Lol...

I think in the future when im able to afford buying stuff,lol... I think im gonna buy an Excalibur 3900...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Good catch. I think also since it's an off brand, they should be less than a comparable Excalibur not close to it. For $20 extra, you can get the 3900. I think you can't go wrong with Excalibur. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Sedona. But I don't think you need them. A dual stage heating zone? day and night noise button? hmmm. I think the 3900 is fine. Even the 2900 is ok but for the higher quality materials, I'd go 3900 if I had it to do overagain.

Paul

whats your favorite thing to dehydrate paul? I feel almost addicted to Kale chips here myself,lol... I miss my old dehydrator set up even if it wasnt the most safe/efficient,lol

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

it would be tough to name just one

* sun dried tomatoes
* ginger powder
* sprouted flat bread
* kale chips (good I agree)
* squash chips
* corn chips
* flax crackers
* coconut wraps
* zucchini wraps
* egg plant bread

hmmm, making me hungry writing it.

Squash chips? you sir, just blew my mind...I dont know why, but I never even considered that... maybe its the texture of raw squash that made it seem like a bad idea to me, what do you do to make the squash chips? you've made me really hungry just reading this list...lol

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Try using a mandoline or knife/cutting board to slice the zucchini and gold squash then you can either give them a quick spray/splash of olive oil (extra virgin) and some sea salt and pepper and dry them no more than 2 hours or until they are crisp. There is a natural sweetness in the dehydrate chip.

Eat it straight, with fruit or veggie spread. Delicious.

sounds yummy as soon as I get a dehydrator again or build myself a half assed one again, I will totally try that out

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

The best dehydrators hands-down are the TSM stainless steel dehydrators.

[www.home-food-processing.com]

rawman Wrote:
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> The best dehydrators hands-down are the TSM
> stainless steel dehydrators.
That's an impressive array. It would be too much
trouble for me. But I can see it for someone who has a lot
of good Produce that would spoil otherwise.....WY

rawman what is the direction of flow on these dehydrators? i couldnt find that info on them from the link .. based on the 1" feet i suspect it is bottom to top forced air?

or is it back to front like the excaliburs?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Wow that is pretty insane, up to 14 racks w/ 36 cubic feet. Two of these would still be alot cheaper than the excalibur commercial unit.

@ Jodi
Looks like it's from back to front, the "heater" is the removable back panel from what I can tell. I like the ease of cleaning concept.

The air flow is from back to front, the same as excalibur. What I like about these dehydrators is that they are food grade stainless steel. There is just something about heating food in plastic that doesn't make sence. Especially polycarbonate plastic that contains BPA's.

tell me that's not what's in my new excalibur?! yuck

rawman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The air flow is from back to front, the same as
> excalibur. What I like about these dehydrators is
> that they are food grade stainless steel. There
> is just something about heating food in plastic
> that doesn't make sence. Especially polycarbonate
> plastic that contains BPA's.

Food contact in an Excalibur dehydrator is either a teflex sheet or polypropylene # 5 rather than polycarbonate. While the casing of an Excalibur is polycarbonate (because of it's resilience), the low temperatures that food is dried at are not sufficient to liberate BPA unlike high temperature. [www.excaliburdehydrator.com] Dehydrating in an Excalibur is safe enough for me. At the same time, risks from iron exposure or chromium exposure from stainless steel are uncertain. Stainless steel is, after all, not stainless. It can oxidize though at a lower rate than metallic iron. However, at low temperature dry environments, I doubt exposure from either metal or plastic is much of an issue in a dehydrator.

I think risk can be managed but not eliminated for most common materials. Basically when I dehydrate in my Excalibur 2900, the polycarbonate casing stays pretty cool, esp at 100 degrees F. The temp is too low for me to worry about polymer residue.

Paul

Also, there was a thread on this topic on Goneraw.com a few years ago. Apologies for the name of the dehydrator "sausagemaker", doesn't seem appropriate on a vegan forum. Nevertheless, it's just the name of the vendor, for that matter Excalibur was a weapon but I digress. [goneraw.com]

One more thing, if you are concerned about teflon (I'm not) in the teflex sheets, when you dehydrate in your Excalibur, use parchment paper instead or wax paper. I think teflex is pretty inert.

Paul

Good points about plastic vs. SS and I would agree teflex or teflon is inert at low temperatures however, I'll take stainless steel over plastic any day. There is something unnatural about plastic and food that turns me off. Even if you are only preparing foods at around 100F, SS is used in commercial food preparation and I doubt a plastic appliance that came in contact with food would ever receive an NSF listing. Also, SS is more eco friendly in that it is 100% recyclable and 50% of new SS is made from remelted scrap metal.

Rawman,

Thanks. And I think that the stainless steel dehydrators provide good competition in this business. More consumer choice vs. less is a good thing. And having different dehydrators at different price points with different features is better for the market, the environment, and frankly us. So I appreciate very much your pointing out the alternatives available. It is a welcome set of posts you have made. Thanks.

Paul

thanks Rawman and Pborst for aswering my questions

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Does the TSM stainless steel dehydrator require rotating the shelves? Are the racks 100% stainless steel? I read one review that complained the wiring is right in front of the heating element and puts of a funny smell, do you know if this is true? I would really appreciate your input I have to switch to a raw diet due to illness. THANK YOU!

I don't want to risk using a dehydrator made of synthetic materials. If I spray my trays with oil or there is oil in the food I put on the tray, I will feel uncertain about the food safety. Since I am not well, for my sanity's sake I'm going to stick with stainless steel.

But don't those Tefflex sheets solve that problem (or is that also synthetic)?

I've read unhappy things about teflex but there is a new type that's better. I'm pretty sure it's telfex that was on offer when I ordered my unit and frankly, I'm a bit hesitant to use them. Still, can't be worse than commercial food. Maybe not perfect but man, these days what IS?!

I have no problem with teflex sheets. They are reuseable unlike parchment paper. And I think even with all of the alternatives such as those I mentioned above ( [www.good4uproducts.com] ), I'd still go Excalibur. Name brand good value. Although, the Good 4 U is really a budget buy. If you have the money, buy the timer seperately, and the extra teflex sheets. You will miss the door with the Good4uproducts, imho.

Paul

btw, I own a 2900 Excalibur with separately purchase teflex sheets and timers, and it works great. Chacun a son gout (to each their own).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2011 06:08PM by pborst.

Caveat... looks like Good 4 U is giving a blank door now which may not have been true in my original post back in 2010. I'd still stay with Excalibur if I were buying today. A little more expensive than Good 4 U. But a known quantity.

The Sedona by Tribest looks like a great buy for someone with a higher need for a quality dehydrator. Since I don't sleep near my Excalibur, quietness isn't an issue. And I haven't found the need for dual dehydration regimes.

It looks to me like the Sedona is about $100 overpriced relative to the competition. [www.youtube.com] 25 minutes means he's got a lot of them and the price is the barrier to entry. $219 for an Excalibur 9 tray, vs. $369 for the Sedona which is admittedly a better dehydrator. Is it a better value? You be the judge.

Good 4 u is $169... question is whether Good 4 u is really good for you! No discussion in their description on product materials. What are the polymers made of? Unlike Excalibur, we don't know. I guess an argument can be made that at 100 degrees, does it really matter? Maybe not. But if this post raises the appropriate considerations, I've made my point.

Paul



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2011 06:44PM by pborst.

Reviving an old thread... It's been couple of years, what is the consensus now, the best dehydrator?

In particular I'm thinking about Excalibur 10 tray stainless steel: EXC10EL

Its pricing aside, the appealing features are SS construction inside and out, controls on the front (so it can be placed in an open kitchen cupboard), lovely glass doors. And overall it looks fairly nice. But the price is "nice" too of course

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2015 06:10PM by chat.