Which Excalibur?

HillBilly Jeff

HillBilly Jeff

Change of pace. Sold some stuff on ebay, so my fun money is up where I can try an Excalibur. Which one should I be looking at?

Thanks,
Jeff
 
I have an older one similar to the 75. I like it. Its a bit loud but the thermostat is a nice feature - a timer would be cool but I just check based on what the books estimate is. You can always buy extra trays as well. There is a rotation process of the trays as well. I like it. The newer ones have the heat from the top which is kinda nice that nothing drips onto the blower
 
There's not really a lot of difference. Here's a comparison of the two: http://www.food-dehydrator.com/resource-center/food-dehydrator-reviews-nesco-fd-75pr-versus-nesco-fd-80.aspx

As far as I know, the primary difference is the FD80 is square shaped and the FD75 is round, and the trays on the FD80 have more vertical space. I bought the FD80 because I like the square shape more and also because the trays are taller (2.2 in vs. .5 in according to the above comparison) so they should have more vertical space for fatter peppers and/or whole peppers . I was a little worried that there might not be enough vertical space for drying whole peppers or bigger things with the FD75, but I've never used an FD75 or seen one in person so I don't know if that's the case. The FD80 is newer, has a little more drying area on the initial trays, and is actually a little cheaper on amazon.com (and most other places it seems). On the other hand, the FD75 supports up to 12 trays, while the FD only goes up to 8, at least according to the manufacture. There's nothing to stop you from stacking as many trays as you feel like, above and beyond the 12 or 8, so I'm guessing there must be a significant decrease in performance beyond those points. The fan probably doesn't penetrate effectively beyond those numbers and/or it doesn't maintain the right temperature. It's not really an issue with peppers or most foods, but I also noticed with beef jerky that the corners of the machine don't seem to dry as well as the other areas with the FD80 as well. So the circular design of the FD75 might do a more even job of drying.

I got the FD80 for about $50 with free shipping on buy.com last year, then bought another 4 trays from everythingkitchens for about $20 if I remember correctly, and I'm very happy with it. I'm excited for mushroom hunting season this year, I can dehydrate all the ones I find and use them throughout the year. It will be good for drying mulberries and blackberries and other fruits this summer that I can pick pounds of and then reconstitute and use to make wine later. :cool:

A timer would be nice, but I doubt I would really use it that much. You could just get a socket timer from a hardware store for $4-5 and plug the dehydrator into it if you really need a timer.
 
if you're set on a nesco i'd go with the one with the taller trays for the reasons stated above. that being said i have owned a nesco and in my opinion it was a piece of junk- the trays in particular. you get what you pay for definitely rings true in this case.

i now have an LEM and love it.
 
I also have the 80, and specifically bought it because it was square (so more room) and not overly expensive. I had 48 plants this past season, and that kept it busy all the time - hardly turned it off more than just to unload and reload. I wasn't sure how much I'd really use it, which is the main reason why I didn't want an expensive one. It served its purpose well for me, and will be used again next season. I'll be growing only about half of what I grew last year, so this should work well again. However, if I end up with that many or more plants in the future again, I'll get more trays and/or look at getting a more expensive model with more features.
 
biscgolf said:
if you're set on a nesco i'd go with the one with the taller trays for the reasons stated above. that being said i have owned a nesco and in my opinion it was a piece of junk- the trays in particular. you get what you pay for definitely rings true in this case.

i now have an LEM and love it.
Click to expand...

Of course an LEM is going to be better, that's why they cost 2-3x as much. Maybe your model was different but the trays on my FD80 are very sturdy and very good quality for an inexpensive plastic dehydrator. The trays are thick and don't bend aside from the mesh part. I can't imagine them wearing out any time soon.
 
if you ever switch to an excalibur, you won't ever use anything else...
 
Thanks for all the responses to this. I have a lot of time before I need to get one, so I wanted to get some research done. I'm not going to jump into a unit for a few hundred and then decide I'm not into drying that many peppers. I have an older dehydrator down stairs that has barely been used and I doubt its a good one. Might dig it out and see, but will be getting a new one for this season for sure.

Once again, thanks everyone.

Is there any that are under 100 bucks that are better???
 
Which Excalibur should I look to pick up?

For about 100 bucks more I can go with a LEM. Not sure which way to go and if the LEM is worth the extra cash if I am not going to be going nuts with drying.
 
I've got myself and Excalibur personally it's great and fast the large 9 trays are great didn't have to rotate the trays at all and they all dried evenly. The warranty is going to be a good extra to have as well as in 2 or less months I will have 4 Trinidad scorpion butch t going non stop with a hydro set up so it's going to get a fair bit of work
 
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