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Great service from Echolife and Zesty by Nature, Instructions were very easy to understand. Food dehydrated well and within specified times. Very happy with my appliance. I was able to dry tomatoes, carrots,apples, made tomato powder. Our local doctor has one and she loves hers. I researched dehydrators for some time and took notice of my doctor's recommendation. I would certainly deal with these companies again
I was looking for to prolonging my fruits through dehydration. However, the product arrive cracked due to poor packaging. The cardboard was in perfect shape. No reason to suspect deliver service. The unit upon start up vibrates loudly. I would not recommend the product. Definitely not worth spending about $200.
- 7 reviews
- 5 likes
Excellent unit. A bit costly but worth the extra dollars. Made in USA. Not a peice of junk. Others not a patch. Easy to master. Good instructions. Quick and consistent results. I dont use any chemicals or preservatives. Many who have seen the results are amazed and some have purchased the same model and are delighted also. I do fruit herbs and veges in the main. Pot pouri petals in a couple of hours. I dont do meat so cannot comment. Totally recommend this unit.
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- 2 reviews
- 8 likes
Years ago I bought a round one from a well known shop. It wasn't expensive. The trays stacked on top of each other. You had to keep unstacking and rotating them. Fruit leather was on the top. I never managed to make fruit leather. Once you start chopping and slicing things up you would be surprised how much room you need! The dehydrator had not a lot of room to do much of anything. The heat and air came from the bottom up the centre. Poor and inconsistent results. You couldn't just leave it and let it do its job. I gave up and gave it a...
Read moreway. About 2 years ago I started juicing with a slow press juicer (Hurom), it doesn't create as much pulp as a masticating or centrifugal juicer but it does still leave pulp. All that wasted pulp! Wanting to use as much pulp as possible I decided to make crackers and raw foods. Because of my previous poor experience with a dehydrator, I researched dehydrators for months. I learned that it is the way that the air moves and the way that the temperature behaves inside the dehydrator that makes the difference. Based on research and a multitude of reviews I bought the 5 tray Excalibur and 5 paraflex sheets. Love it!!!! Not once have I been disappointed. I have made; raw foods, snacks, crackers, biltong/Jerky, celery salt, veggie and fruit powders, fruit leathers, potato and sweet potato chips, chocolate bites and macaroons, the list goes on and on.... I just love it. It does what it says it does and dries evenly. I put it on and walk away (mostly depending on what I am making). I like that you can slide the trays in and out. They can be handled as they are plastic. No stacking and restacking. It has a timer. It has a good temperature range and a colour coded guide for fruit/veg/herbs and meat on the dial showing both Celsius and Fahrenheit. You can leave some or all of your trays out and use the space to raise bread or dry bulky things It is also really easy to clean (bonus). It is BIG though, probably as big as a microwave. Worried about the size I bought a 5 tray. The 5 tray has great capacity and is good for a small family, but I recommend that you give yourself more flexibility and buy the 9 tray, it is the same width and depth of the 5 tray, just higher. You can put 7kg of meat in a 5 tray and 12kg of meat in a 9 tray. That is a big difference. At some stage you will want to make things that might be runny mixtures or say fruit leathers or crackers, or you are drying tiny things that might fall through the thin drying mesh, you will need to use some sort of sheet for those things, so you are probably going to buy paraflex sheets or similar. They mostly don't come with the machine so buy these upfront if you can. I rate this a clear 5 star. Performance- it does what it says it does and it does it well. Slide in and removable trays. Capacity. Temperature control. Easy to use and really easy to clean. Nothing.
- 10 reviews
- 11 likes
Everyone thought I was crazy spending so much on this dehydrator when I still had a very workable Sunbeam which I did think was excellent. However, I liked the sound of the excalibur because of the timer, and it stated that you didn't need to rotate the trays (as I did have to do with my trusty Sunbeam).
Wow this lives up to all of those points, plus it is SO much easier to clean - plus it doesn't stain if using it for beef jerky. I got the largest Excalibur with 9 trays+timer and it holds A LOT which is fantastic. The adjustable se...
Read morettings mean that you can dehydrate any fruit, meat, vegetable or herbs - even delicate ones- and the flavour is still there. The fan is quiet and it circulates air inside so well, I've never needed to rotate trays - I just set it to go and put on the timer - and come back in the morning with beautifully dehydrated food. Love this machine - it's expensive but worth it. Square trays that hold a lot of food, the timer, airflow for consistent dryingRelated Articles
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- 6 reviews
- 6 likes
I replaced my sunbeam dehydrator with this machine after I got sick of the round hole in the middle trays, this machine is fantastic, I use it roughly 2-3 times per week. Dries much more evenly and seems to be faster as well. I recommend the timer version as this allows you to pop it on and walk away. The machine is also much quieter than the sunbeam also, def. worth the extra money if you are a regular user.
Quiet, timer, even drying, great!
None
Questions & Answers
hello,
I live in Melbourne Victoria and would like to know where can I buy the Excalibur dehydrator 4500/4900? Thank you!
A few options but you do need to shop around for the best buy.
1. from the Excalibur website- they stock the widest range of models as far as I can tell- http://www.excaliburdehydratorsaustralia.com/4500-series/
2.Ebay Australia-some good bargains there across a range of models.
3.Health food shops, Doubt if they are sold at all health food shops however I did a quick on line search and have found distributors at a number of health food shops in Oz such as :- Zesty by Nature, Echo Life, Hello Green, Vitality 4 Life, Vitality Plus, sprout net,The Raw Food Store and Natures Wonderland etc and etc.
4. I didn't check the address details of the listed distributors so no idea if any have outlets in Melbourne. Most likely you will need to consider postage so figure it into your costs when comparing.
I haven't yet seen them in the major retail stores and doubt very much if you will find them there.
I bought mine on ebay. It was a great bargain with free shipping and arrived in a blink.
Hi Ken
I also purchased mine on line. I think via ebay also. It was several years ago now so have forgotten. I had to wait a bit as the supplier was out of stock - they are ex USA. Worth the wait though.I just finished drying a crop of native peppercorns from my trees. I have the 5 drawer model which is adequate for me.It will handle about 3 kgs of sliced apple or 4 small pineapple sliced.
Hi Ken,
Zesty By Nature is Australia's Sole Distributor for Excalibur Dehydrators. We have online resellers all over Australia with very few who are able to stock our products. This means that you will have to purchase online and your order will be drop shipped from our Queensland warehouse.
Hi Just wondering has anyone dehydrated meat, fruit and veges in together??? and if so in which model?
many thanks
We do not recommend mixing meat with fruit and veg. There is no problem with mixing fruit and veg together but just not meat for general food safety reasons. All Excalibur models dehydrate all fruit, veg and meats very well!
I am looking for a reasonably-priced dehydrator for my daughter's birthday. Ideally, I would like stainless steel trays and a timer. If I purchased the 4526T, can you replace the plastic trays for stainless steel trays? Is this model the most reasonably-priced? We do not need anything big. Do you know how this compares with the Biochef Arizona? Where can you purchase these dehydrators in Sydney or can you only buy them online?
I imagine they are the same size trays so should be able to interchange.........
You would have to buy the trays separately
The Y-man
Hello!
I think that some health food stores sell them but I bought mine online (eBay) - I got a very good price and postage was included, plus it arrived very quickly.
I recommend going for the 9 tray as it is not any wider - just higher so you can fit more into it and once you take the trays out it is higher for those one off things that you need height for.
I don't know about the steel trays being interchangable, you might want to check directly with http://www.excaliburdehydratorsaustralia.com/
I looked at the steel trays but found the plastic ones more functional for my use (and I use it for just about everything from raising bread to crafting and drying out anything). It cleans out like a dream and the trays are very light and don't get hot to touch.
There are some excellent web sources and U-Tube videos comparing the excallibur to various other dehydrators, including the BioChef. You might want to search for them and have a look.
Stainless steel trays are interchangeable but you have to purchase them as an accessory as the poly carbonate trays come standard.
If you feel you do not need a timer, there is also a no timer 5 tray model (4500) with a $30 price difference, depending who you purchase your machine through.
There are very few stores around Australia that stock the Excalibur. You will have to buy online with your location.
Get an answer from our members and Excalibur Dehydrator representatives
Details
 Excalibur Dehydrator 4948CDBNo reviews yet |  Excalibur Dehydrator 4500No reviews yet | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Food Dehydrators | Food Dehydrators | Food Dehydrators | Food Dehydrators |
| Price (RRP) | $529 | $599 | $429 | $399 |
| Number of Trays | 5 | 9 | 5 | 5 |
| Timer | 48 Hour | 48 Hour | 26 Hour | None |
| Release date | Jan 2013 | Jan 2013 | Jan 2013 | Jan 2013 |
- GTIN14: 00029743440416
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Hi Ricky, thank you for your great review. We love to hear that you are happy with your dehydrator and if you ever have a question, please do not hesitate to contact us.