Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had been looking at food dehydrators for 2 months, trying to make my decision, which was hard, as this one had no reviews and I count on the customer reviews to help me decide on whether or not something is a good buy. It is hard to spend this much money on something and not know what you all think about it. But... I really wanted a square one, with a rear fan, and a 10 tray one, but the Excaliber was so expensive, and the reviews were iffy in the sound area and in the temperature control area. (I actually bought this from E-Bay, (better price and freebies too) and they have reviews, but I don't know if I can count on their review system like I can Amazon's.) Anyway, I took the plung and bought this beauty, I think that the smaller size of the holes in the trays were what made the decision for me, along with the $100+ difference in the price, and the free silicone liner sheets. It is quiet, efficient, and I just love it. It came with 3 free silicone liner sheets for fruit leather that I would have had to pay extra for with the Excalibur and the Nesco, and it came with a face plate filler so that I can pull out 4 trays and make yoghurt in it if I want to.
I have dried bananas, strawberries and oranges so far with great results. I was surprised that the oranges were so good, never expected to like them, just did not want them to go bad, so I sliced them in whole circles and put them on the trays. They were crispy/chewy and sweet, and I will save the rinds and chop them in my blender to use later for recipes that call for orange zest. I made Essiene bread this last week, using sprouted wheat, raisins, and sunflower seeds. It was very fast and with the openings of the trays about 1/2 inch, I put the patties right on the trays, no liner, and it was fine, no chunks falling through. I love the separate temperature control, it is nice. So far, 2 months later, I have no complaints except my family is eating the dried fruit as fast as I have time to make it, and I was hoping to store some of it. My granddaughter has a sweet tooth, and she has her chubby little hands full of the bananas when she is here. I would have loved to put some of the dried strawberries in my Mueseli, but they disappeared before I could sneak some away. I am ready for summer to come (we are still having snow storms...) and for my garden to produce so that I can really put it to good use. I will try jerky soon, but I have no doubt that it will do the job well. I wanted to wait and write this review until I was sure it would work well for all of my needs, and I am confident to recommend this to anyone who is wanting a good dehydrator for a good price. It is bigger than the Nesco, smaller than the Excaliber, at 10 square feet of drying space, it more than meets my needs. It is just the right size for my counter, not too big, sits next to the microwave. It makes less noise by far than my dishwasher or my stove hood fan. I know it is on, but I can still think and hear what everyone is saying. The kitchen smells wonderful while it is running as well, like whatever I am drying. I expect to be able to take advantage of sales, Costco sized packages, and my garden offerings this year, without worrying about spoilage, plus save a little money, eat a little better. Not a bad life... grin...
Customer service was amazing. I received it within 3 days of ordering it, if you can believe that. I actually had a problem with the unit. It was explained to me that sometimes when the unit is drop shipped through UPS, they actually drop it, and the protective grill around the fan can get shifted. Well mine did, and it had the fan blade trapped. I turned on the unit and washed the trays off for my first use, but the fan blade was not turning and it melted. Oh man, I had the trays full of sliced bananas and no dehydrator! Bummer, plus my husband had already thrown the box away so how could I even send it back? I did not want to send it back, I just wanted it to work! I took it apart and could see where the problem was, this was a Saturday and their office was closed, so I E-mailed the company, Mercantile Station 2, asking them to send me a replacement fan blade. Within 30 minutes I had a personal phone call (again, this is Saturday and they are closed) and a promise to ship me a new fan blade the following Monday. He explained to me that about 1 in 80 customers had had this problem, (leave it to me to be the 1 in 80...) and that they were looking into their packaging to fix the problem. Meanwhile he could not have been nicer, or more accommodating, and he was very grateful that I was willing to fix the problem myself. Me too, I did not want to have to wait for an exchange, I just wanted to get it working, and it does, and I am one happy dehydrating woman! (So check that your fan blade is free of impingement before you turn your unit on, which is easy, just take out the trays and you can see all the inner workings.) FEEL CONFIDENT to purchase this unit and save a good $100+ over the other comparable units on the market.
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STX Dehydra DEH-004 600-Watt 10-Tray Jerky & Food Dehydrator
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