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charlottebronte
04-19-2004, 14:00
Are there better or worse dehydrator models, or are they all pretty much the same? What are your favorite features? What are some useful features, even if not your favorite?

Footslogger
04-19-2004, 14:21
Well looked around, read the reviews and talked to a lot of folks who already owned them. The brand name didn't seem to be all that important but the power output level was. Power output translates into how long it takes to completely dry out your food. It becomes really important when you're talking about doing beef jerkey or drying out foods that contain a lot of moisture.

We went with the American Harvister 1000 Watt model. You can dry up to 8 trays of stuff at a time and the longest cycle (generally your beef jerkey) can be done in around 5 - 6 hours.

Hope that helps. I think there is already a thread here at Whiteblaze concerning dehydrators. If you haven't already you may want to check that out for additional information.

'Slogger

dje97001
04-19-2004, 14:27
This thing is just about $40 at walmart. I have it, and it works pretty well. The exceptionally nice thing about this model is that the heating element and fan is located on top (not on bottom), thereby making cleanup a piece of cake. No goop gets into the heating element/electrical part, and you just let the trays and bottom soak for a while and the stuff wipes right off.

I've dehydrated kiwis, strawberries, bananas (my favorite), pineapples, pears, apple chips (my wife's favorite--sometimes with brownsugar and/or cinnamon), and even done it to applesauce (which becomes a fruit rollup--awesome, but sticky). I haven't done jerky yet, but my wife is anxious to try that one. All in all, the thing is great. It has adjustable settings for different types of foods, and you can buy extra trays if you need to dehydrate more than will fit on the 4 included ones.

At 40 bucks, it is pretty cheap, and well worth it.

rgarling
04-19-2004, 15:03
I've dehydrated stuff for about 7 years, and used the inexpensive circular stack of trays for the first couple. They really don't dehydrate evenly and temperature control is poor.

If you are somewhat serious about dehydrating, take a look at the Excalibur line. The 9 tray model can dehydrate about 12 pounds of beef at a time with decent temp control, good airflow and seems to be built well. Some models have a timer, so you can set it and forget it.