Excalibur Dehydrator Comparison - 4, 5 and 9 Tray Models
John from www.discountjuicers.com shares with you the differences between the personal Excalibur food dehydrator models. The 4 tray 2400, the 5 ...
Sedona Dehydrator vs Excalibur Dehydrator Comparison
John from www.discountjuicers.com unboxes the all-new Sedona 9 tray dehydrator and shares with you its features. He then compares the Sedona ...
Excalibur 9- tray dehydrator Model #3926T Review
They make three sizes, and I own the large one. It now sells for $250. Mine has 9 trays, each 15 inches square. The trays have a support base, with a nylon mesh insert. All of these parts are top rack dishwasher safe, which does a nice job of getting them really clean after a food drying season. Between fillings when I’m really using it I just scrub them up in the sink, even though they don’t fit very well (in the sink). The other two have the same size trays, but the smallest holds 4 trays, and the next holds 5 trays. I have a friend who owns the 5-tray model and she is as happy as I am. The thermostat can be adjusted from 85 degrees, all the way up to 145 degrees. This means that you can set the temperature correctly to dry herbs (lower) to making jerky at the high end. When you dehydrate things this is very important if you want them to keep well for any length of time. If the outside is dry but moisture is trapped in the middle your food will spoil even though it looks like it’s been dehydrated. The fan is in the back of the box and forces air across the trays. The air then hits the front door and is forced downward to exit a crack at the bottom of the door. This keeps the circulation going, pulling as well as pushing the air. The airflow direction is critical because in dehydrators that just push air through the trays that air is being blocked by every piece of food that it hits on the way through. If you have lined a tray with plastic wrap to make a fruit leather... yup... you’ve just blocked the air flow completely making your dehydrator into more of an oven than a dryer. The Excalibur will dry foods faster and MUCH more evenly than a round dehydrator.
I had the chance this past week to compare this to the Cabelas commercial dehydrator. This one is still best. The Cabelas blew air through the trays, and the trays had large (3/4 inch) mesh. It was clearly designed with making jerky and not much else in mind. It's controls were more "electronic" so it looked fancy, but it didn't give more options than this one, and the electronics really just gives more things that can break down.