Review of PTC-2000BR 1,500 Watts Ceramic Oscillating Tower Fan or Heater

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List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $39.99
Today's Bonus: 50% Off

awesome! works great and is quite quiet.does a great job at warming a 12x12 room with little or no effort.

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I bought this for our vacation home. The furnace warms the ground floor fine, but there is only one heating duct on the entire second floor. This warms the bedroom nicely, and it is very quiet, with a remote. Good buy.

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great item!! love it, works wonders this is the ideal item for someone that has disibilty problems and can not get up and down.

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it works great for my small rooms and can leave on all night and it goes off when reaches desired temp! if i get too hot, i can turn on fan! thanks, great deal for the price!!! Merry Christmas to all of you. God bless, jackie

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This item is not a fan at all...it is simply a heater. I ordered it because the advertisement stated that it works well for both summer and winter. This is not true! The fan does not blow cool air...I don't know how the heater works because it has been 100 degrees in Chicago! I am very annoyed that this product claimed to do something that it does not do. IT IS NOT A FAN!!!!! And I am NOT A FAN!!!

Best Thermometer Min / Max with Magnet | Sper Scientific | 736680 Deals

Customer Ratings:

The Sper Scientific thermometer is a 'recording minimum maximum' device in that the highest and lowest temperatures experienced by the unit are set by little 'floats' inside the glass tube. As the temperature rises, the mercury climbs (in the right leg of the U-shaped tube) and the float is pushed higher. The float remains in the highest position as the temperature, and the mercury, fall. The mercury retreats to and rises in the left leg to indicate the lowest temperature... and the float in that left leg will be remain at that lowest temperature reading.

The included magnet, attached by a cord to the thermometer, is used to reset the floats--hopefully after the user has marked down the readings.

This is solid instrument and I recommend it for back-yard weather enthusiasts.

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This is a clever device that uses two thermometers to record the high and low temperatures in a space like a greenhouse, or a garage, or a hen house. Little floats inside the columns are reset with a magnet on a string. I like it especially because it is such an elegant low-tech time-tested solution. It looks terrific and if you think you need one, get two, because you will want another one for sure.

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I chose this "old school" version over the many digital varieties because there's not much that can go wrong with it. The housing is fairly study plastic, so unless you hit it with a hammer, it's likely to last a long time. It's simple, easy to read, and it helped me get my plants in the ground earlier than if I had just listened to the weather reports, since it gave me a reading at the level of my raised bed garden soil. Since I'm planning on setting up a hoop house, this will be a great tool, not only for monitoring overnight frost, but also for peak temperatures in the summer when extra shade and ventilation will be required.

For more detail, check this blog post at The Zone 3 Gardener. Link:

zone3gardener.drupalgardens.com/content/min-max-thermometer-good-investment-your-garden

Honest reviews on Thermometer Min / Max with Magnet | Sper Scientific | 736680

the first did not have the reset magnet. i called the company and had a replacement within two days. excellant service

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After reading the poor reviews on the electronic remote sensor types, and experiencing disappointment with one I purchased, this seems to be an accurate though less convenient alternative.

Sometimes 18th century technology still serves well.

Discount Oster 6078 6-Slice Extra Capacity Toaster Oven/Convection Oven

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List Price: $99.99
Sale Price: $69.95
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

This toaster oven offers toasting, broiling, baking, and convection oven -a nice array. The control dials are comfortable to work with [function, temperature, and timer]. Nothing happens until the timer is set. It seems accurate. Pan and rack cleaned up easily. A surprise was the requirement to have 6" air space on all sides, including rear, of the oven. That uses more counter space. But it's necessary because the rear gets hot too. A negative factor: the instruction book does not offer much help...no suggestions ... no recipes to give an idea about cooking times & procedures.

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for the price you can't beat it. i love the little light in side. i put whole pizza's in it. the air fan is soft running and the cooking time is faster and food is cooked to the center more even. my first convection oven and i love it. simple and easy. when the timer goes off the oven shuts off, nice. i baked a bunt cake in it and it was gooood. can't say enough, thank you Amazon.com, and thank you Oster.

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I loved it at first. I cooked many items easily and appreciated the convection feature, but all functions except toast failed within two years. Repair more expensive than new one.

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Had the exact same one before and used it every day for over four years before it broke. Wanted to get the exact same one as a replacement and was able to find it on Amazon.

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It cooks the food evenly and it is faster than other toaster ovens. I had the same one before, but I had a problem with the dial.

Buy Lasko Silent Room Heater Model # 5620

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List Price: $69.09
Sale Price: $63.87
Today's Bonus: 8% Off

This portable space heater by Lasko helps to cut my electric bill. At first I wasn't sure if should get this or a space heater that works with oil inside of it; but I'm glad I got this one instead. It couldn't be easier to set up--just take it out of the box and plug it in! Although you should read the four pages of instructions in order to be familiar with general precautions and to know how to use the timer feature and a couple other extra features, it amazed me just how intuitive it is to get this thing up and running.

In addition, it's easy to lift--it's very lightweight, especially after you remove it from the box; and there's a neat timer function so that you can "program" this to turn off at a set time up to 8 hours in advance. Great! The machine also turns on or off automatically depending on how close it is to making your room the exact temperature you specify by pressing the plus and minus buttons to set temperature.

After you turn it on, be aware that within 20 to 30 seconds you're going to feel the heat begin to blast upward from this unit, so don't get too close to the top of it after you turn it on. Another cautionary note, at least according to the instructions, is that the device can possibly leave a permanent stain on hardwood or similar floors. If this is a concern for you, keep looking for another portable space heater. My carpeting is practically industrial strength and I have plenty of extra pieces of the carpeting in one of my closets so I personally am not too concerned about any staining that may or may not result from my using this heater.

Overall, this is a great little heater that pleasantly surprised me when I realized just how powerful it really is. Although it's not for everybody (i.e., people with hardwood floors may want to stay away) it suits me fine and I recommend it for heating rooms up to roughly 300 square feet especially when the floors are not hardwood.

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Very good heater,does what I needed it for.It does get hot to the touch on top,but I can live with that.

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This space heater is super quiet and easy to use. It heats up instantly. The only negative thing I have is that sometimes, the heater will stay on even though the temp displayed is five or more degrees higher than the set temp.

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Nice floor level space heater that literally makes no noise. It does take a little bit to warm up a decent sized room, but what I like is there is no noise. Convenient remote control, digital temperature read out, takes up very little space. Would recommend to assist central heat. I would not count on this unit to heat a home. Would purchase again, acutally I did. I bought a second one for grandma's kitchen...

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After trying a stand up convection heater which took 7-9 hours to heat up our living, dining and kitchen rooms (about 400 sq feet of a 900 sq. ft apt.), we decided to try another type of heater. This heater is the best for this purpose. We do close off the bedrooms and bathrooms but this heater only takes two to three hours to heat up our living room, dining room and kitchen areas. We live in san diego and it is usually about 62 degrees in the mornings here. We warm the apt to about 71-72 degrees. I think that it would warm faster if we had decent insulation in the building and better insulated windows (Including a sliding glass door) but it is an apt so we cant change that. The apt was built in the 60's and management won't go for upgrading anything. What I am saying is if you have a better insulated house or apt you prob don't need to section off rooms by closing doors and it will prob even heat up faster. I would def. recommend this heater for heating a apt. I love it. It does have a countdown timer built into itself that will turn it off after 1-8 hours, but not one that will turn it on at a certain hour of the early morning. It also won't work with a timer plug to turn it on at early hours of the morning either because of the built in timer interferes with this function. Buy it. You will be happy if you have been trying to find some alternative to decently heat your apt.

Review of Sunbeam Queen Heated Electric Blanket Imperial Nights, Mushroom

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My husband and I bought a Sunbeam Electric Blanket, dual control, king size over 20 years ago. We finally bought this one 3 years ago starting on our 3rd season and one side doesn't work now. We live in GA, so we don't have to use electric blankets much. "Made in China" junk!

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ONLY USED THIS BLANKET TWICE BEFORE IT QUIT WORKING. NO LONGER HEATS UP AND NOT SURE WHY. WOULD NOT PURCHASE AGAIN.

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The Website said that this blanket responded to ambient temperature. This was not the case. It had 10 settings but no automatic response to the cooling (or warming) of the room. I decided to keep it anyway because the one I had ordered earlier and received was too much of a blanket. That means it provided too much warmth even whe the blanket was not energized.

Honest reviews on Sunbeam Queen Heated Electric Blanket Imperial Nights, Mushroom

This sucker keeps the bed hot on his side and keeps me nice and cool on my side (because the sucker is OFF-I get hot!) Anyway, we're on year 2 of this thing and the heat is great, but the fabric is a little rough (especially the top 2 inches with a fake 'silk') and you can feel the wires through the blanket. So sensitive skin people, I would not recommend this to you. But if you're like me and just like to sleep in a warm cocoon, this is blanket is a winner for the couple that can never agree on external temperature.

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Super nice and warm. I use it for a king bed and the size is perfect. I would be large if you use if for queen size bed.

Discount Duraflame Colby Portable Heater, 10HM1342-O128

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List Price: $249.99
Sale Price: $189.99
Today's Bonus: 24% Off

I have a very large family room/kitchen open area. I have been closing the door to the rest of my house, setting the thermostat back to 62 and running the Duraflame in the FR area. The FR warms up to 69/70 and the rest of my home goes down to 62. About half-an-hour before going to bed I set the thermostat to 66. I was concerned about my electric bill, but when it came I was pleasantly surprised that it had only gone up $12 for the entire month. Even better my gas heating bill went down over $25 for the month. The cabinet stays cool to the touch and looks like a piece of furniture. I would definitely recommend this heater.

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Nice heater for my basement, does take the chill out of my basement, i have a very large area to heat, takes awhile but after an hour or so, it does feel comfortable.

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We bought this for a large living room/den which as at one end of our house and which stays a bit cooler in the winter time. This unit keeps the temperature comfortable and keeps the heating in that part of our house. Remote control and manual controls are very nice feature. Heater looks attractive in our living room.

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Never could get this to heat even the smallest of our rooms. We ended up pulling it right up to our chairs to get any warmth from it.

Lasko 5367 Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater Reviews

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List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $41.99
Today's Bonus: 16% Off

I wanted to review this product for those who were mainly concerned about the amount of power this amazing electric heater draws. Another reviewer stated use of this product blew fuses in his abode repetitively; I too can confirm that behaviour... and you'll soon understand why.

The unit itself is sturdy and quiet. Oscillation is smooth, and the fan (whether being used to blow heated or non-heated air) emits a "whooshing" noise rather than a whine. The fan makes an acceptable level of background noise (I was able to sleep without any problems, and found it relaxing). The unit has 3 modes of operation, controlled by a dial: fan only (no heater), fan and heater (level 1), and fan and heater (level 2). Oscillation is controlled via a separate button, as is temperature controlled via a separate dial. The amount of heat this unit can put out -despite being adjustable -is excellent. The power cord has a 2-prong connector.

But as previously mentioned, the power draw is downright unreasonable. The specifications claim a maximum of 1500W, but the unit absolutely will draw a lot more than that at times. Below are the readings (using a Kill-a-Watt metre, measuring amperage and wattage at 120V) and what features/adjustments were set to. This will surely shock many readers.

Fan only operation: 0.20 to 0.25 amps, 14 to 17 watts

Fan and heater (level 1): 7.4 to 8.0 amps, 750 to 830 watts

Fan and heater (level 2): 14.3 to 14.75 amps, 1450 to 1610 watts

Oscillation added approximately 0.02 amps and an additional 3 watts no matter what mode the unit was set to.

These numbers are accurate, and "double confirmed" by blowing fuses in my apartment numerous times. I even lost a generic (low-grade) power strip as a result. Readers should be aware that in most homes, a single power circuit (not outlet!) is usually 15 amps, so the chance of a fuse blowing as a result of this unit being used is quite high assuming other electronics (computers, etc.) are on the same circuit.

Furthermore, when considering the wattage drawn, think for a moment of your electric bill.

If your home has numerous dedicated 15 or 20 amp circuits, this product is definitely for you and will keep you extremely warm. If you rent an older flat like I do, expect there to be limited/shared circuits with 15 amps maximum, which means you should probably be looking for a unit that draws less power. Yes, you could run the unit at "level 1", but it's significantly warmer and more effective at "level 2".

I'm giving this product 3/5 stars given its decent build quality, silent operation, and effectiveness (I would give it 3.5 if Amazon supported half-star ratings). I'm docking stars due to the absurd power requirements given that most US abodes use 15 amp circuits, with newer homes using 20 amp.

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I really like this heater. Got one for Christmas, to replace my office space heater which had just burnt out;however, my office doesn't open until after New Years Day, so we used it at the house, as the weather turned cold. It worked WONDERFULLY, better than I expected! And the oscillating feature is a MUST what I used to hate about my old heater was that it always projected heat in the same, small area and I was forever moving it around to avoid getting one spot too hot this heater doesn't have that problem. It works great!

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Rec'd product promptly and in good condition. It's the perfect size for my bedroom, with a slim profile and hi-tech look. Tested the heater on a cold night and it warmed up my room in no time. The fan was quiet and the oscillating tower was good at spreading the heat around. Overall, a good little heater for the price!

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I purchased two of these heaters this winter. They have worked great. They may not be 100% silent, but they are about as quiet as you can get for a space heater with a fan. I use one on the low setting in my two stall detached garage to keep it at about 45 degrees. I use the other in a 21' x 11' room in the house. It easily and quickly warms this room. I only have a couple of little complaints. The oscillating feature is nice for heat distribution, but the arc range that it sweeps could be greater. Also, it doesn't have tip over safety protection. It only has overheat protection. These cons are not enough to drop it from 5 to 4 stars, though.

I have tried a couple of different space heaters over the years. I had some digital resistive element Vornados. They heated the room and moved the air nice, but they all just up and died. Too bad too, because they were not cheap. I had a digital Holmes that worked like and had all the same features as the Vornados, but it too died. I have a Pelonis Safe-T ceramic heater. It still functions and puts out good heat, but it is pretty loud. When it comes to space heaters, what I have concluded is that digitally controlled heaters are not reliable. I think the circuitry just can't handle the elevated case temperatures. Since I haven't had the Laskos very long, I can't speak for their durability, but I think the manual thermostat will mean longer life. Overall, these Lasko heaters do it all at a good price. And, I won't feel as sick if they fail as I did with the Vornados.

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This is my 2nd Lasko 5367 after trying several lower cost space heaters that all broke. My first one held up for 3 & 1/2 years in near constant 'on-high' and just gave out earlier in this year.

The size is great, reaching close enough to the floor to keep your feet warm. The oscillating button on top w/ the controls make adjusting the temperature easy to reach.

The fan feature is great for cooling down a room and takes about a minute to feel the cooler temp if you've been running it on the heating settings.

Easily warms up a small to med size chilly room very quickly and is very quiet.

I would suggest using this product with a grounding outlet on a different fuse from any high power electronic because it packs a lot of power for its size.

There are ventilation slots on the back that are easy to clean but, I don't recommend using it in a bathroom, unless you remove it before running a shower to protect it from steam.

Obviously, you should keep children and pets away from it, but at the same time, it's a rather no-worry, very solid and extremely difficult to tip over product with a heat overload protection built in.

I just got my new one and if it holds up like my 1st, I can't think of a thing that makes this product not worth the price, especially w/a 3-yr manufacturer's warranty.

Discount Ceiling-Mount Industrial Electric Heater - 7500 Watt, 31.3 Amp

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Fahrenheat Ceiling-Mount Industrial Heater 7500 Watt, Model# FUH724

This couldn't have been easier. I chose this heater over a gas model because I had a 220 run right by where I wanted to mount it, but no gas lines even near my garage. There was also a junction box right there that supplies power to my shed (a 2 fuse sub panel for lights and a couple of outlets). My garage is a 2 1/2 car measuring about 34' x 28' with insulation in the walls, but the rafters and ceiling are open. My goal was never to get the entire garage up to 70 degrees and keep it there for the winter, but merely to get it above 55 for about a week so I could finish staining and varnishing the trim work and jams for the windows I replaced a couple of months ago.

My first impression when I picked up the 29 lb. box that was smaller than any computer box I've had in recent years was that there is no way this little heater is going to be able to do the job, but I proceeded anyway thinking that for the price I could get a second one. I ran 10-3 from the junction box down to a wall switch and then back up to where I mounted the heater (with the breaker off). It has very straight forward wiring and simple instructions that were very easy to follow. I flipped on the breaker, fired up the heater, and put it on high thinking that this little guy would probably struggle, but I was very surprised that after about a minute it started cranking out some serious heat. I turned it down about half-way and hung a thermometer at the other end of the garage. The outside temp was around 45 and within an hour or so it was 65 in my garage. I ended up turning it down to low and even with the overnight temp getting into the low 30s my garage has maintained 60 to 70 degrees with no problem.

It's been a little over a week since I got the heater and put it in place and my staining has turned out awesome!

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After reading other reviews of this heater, I chose this as the solution for heating my detached workshop.

I had read that the spacing inside was a little tight for wiring the power cord, and this was indeed true. Not a huge deal, but could have been laid out a little better. More frustrating was that the knockout for the 1" access hole was very difficult to remove -much more difficult than in other service panels I've used. One half of it tapped loose pretty easily, but the other half would not even pry out without deforming the side wall of the case a bit A few taps with some body hammers and it was back in shape. That could have been easier, though.

One pleasant surprise I found when reading the included manual is that the unit can easily be configured for any of the following wattages: 3750, 5000, 6250, and 7500. I almost bought the smaller 5000 W unit because I was concerned that my 70 A service to my shop might not be enough to power this heater, air compressor, and other power tools I often use. Now that its installed, it appears to not be a problem, but I wish I had known that it was configurable like this as I would not have hesitated at all buying this bigger unit. If it does trip my main breaker, I can just move a wire jumper or two and lower the heater's power consumption. Brilliant. Of course, it would then put out fewer BTU's, but that's the tradeoff.

In general, I'm impressed with the unit's construction and performance. The fan moves a good amount of air and it fairly quickly raised the temperature of my 864 sq ft shop to a comfortable level. Yes, there are hot and cold spots due to lack of general air circulation, but that could be rectified with small fans in a couple of strategic locations. Using an infrared temperature meter I measured the temp of the floor to be about 47 degrees, objects at mid-height at about 55 degrees, and the ceiling in the middle of the room a toasty 70. That's with the heater thermostat set on one notch above the LO setting (and it's now 25 degrees outside). I'm confident this heater could bring my work space up to 60 or 70 if the thermostat was set higher. I'm anxious to do that test on the next really cold day (has been pretty mild so far this winter). Keep in mind my walls and overhead door are insulated. It would probably not do so well if that wasn't the case. I might consider blowing insulation in the attic space now that I have heat to keep in.

I would definitely recommend this heater to anyone looking for a heating solution for their unheated space.

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I needed to heat an un-insulated 2.5 car garage in the Chicago area, enough to do some wood work over the winter months. I picked this model since it was 50% more powerful than the 5000 watt heater that many reviewed. (I knew from on-line heat calculators that I needed as much heat as I could afford for my set up.)

It requires 8/2 wire, with 240v 40 amp circuit. (It actually uses about 32 amps.) I ran 8/3 (since 8/2 wasn't easily available), and installed a 50 amp outlet & cord. (40 amp outlets are not a common size.)

The unit itself is industrial, as advertised. It is smaller than you might expect for 7500 watts. A few suggestions for improvement:

1. Instructions are poorly illustrated.

2. Instructions state that 10 gauge wire can be used for the supply circuit, but 8 gauge is the proper size. (The wiring diagram inside the unit correctly states 8 gauge.)

3. There are two knock-outs for the power supply cable, one on the back, one on the left. Only one of these two is really large enough for a pre-assembled 50 amp supply cord. This will not be a problem if you are instead running 8/2 or 8/3 directly to the unit.

4. The connection terminals in the unit would be much easier to use if not located in the back corner of the unit.

5. Ability to connect remote thermostat would be nice. (Might be possible; if so, not explained in instructions.)

6. Would be nice to have LED indicating that unit is on.

How does it work? Well, I knew that it would be somewhat undersized for my needs, but I have to say I was underwhelmed when I first turned it on--the heat is noticeable only within a very small area directly in front of the unit. The fan is rated at 2x the CFM of the 5000 watt unit, so I expected the airflow to be noticeable more than 10' from the unit.

To illustrate how far undersized 7500 watts is for my needs, I turned the unit on and left the garage door closed and waited to see how long it would take for the garage to heat up. After two hours the snow finally fell off the two cars. 24 hours later the snow that fell off the cars had not yet melted! There wasn't really a huge amount of snow to melt, and the outdoor temperature during this test was not all that cold (about 25 degrees), so even leaving the unit on for extended periods does very little to heat the garage.

Overall, the unit is as advertised but could use some minor improvements. It is not well-suited for un-insulated garages, but that is not a fault of the unit itself.

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The physical size of this heater is in no way proportional to the amount of heat it produces. Our garage is 18' x 36' with 13' ceilings. There is insulation, but no sheet-rock covering the framing. The unit is hung in a corner, diagonally, 11' high, and 1' from the side walls. It will raise the temperature in the back half of the structure about 10 degrees in 30 minutes. The fan pushes the air out of the corner strong enough that one can feel the air-flow 30' away. Our goal was to avoid installing ducted (ergo expensive) heat with interior and exterior units, yet find a way to take the sting out of the air to the point we could work/play in the structure. If we plan ahead a couple of hours, we can turn the heater on and come back to a comfortable environment. Goal reached and customers satisfied! The only things missing are a digital thermostat and a remote control, the latter of which would prevent me from having to climb a ladder to make an adjustment. I hesitate to mention that because this product is a great value.

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Purchased three weeks ago, this heater exceeded my expectations. I have a two car garage without insulation and I am using the low setting to heat up to 60F. The thermostat works perfectly. I am very happy with this product.

Review of Maverick MM-5501 Mince Master 575-Watt Meat Grinder, White

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List Price: $140.00
Sale Price: $82.14
Today's Bonus: 41% Off

you have to know how to use it, in addition to understanding how to grind meat on a less than professional meat grinder. Those of you who have written terrible reviews on this product, do not know how to properly grind meat on low cost machines and you came in with expectations too high. I assure you if you simply shove hunks of meat in this machine any old way and expect it to grind, it will not. It might even clog and break.

A $1500 professional meat grinder will almost grind any meat you feed into it without worry. Home use grinders do not. That is why they are a fraction of the cost. You must have reasonable expectations, and in the end, befriending a local butcher who will custom grind your meat might be the best option for you.

Here are some rules to grinding beef on this grinder, as well as most other home use grinders.

1) Make sure you trim the filmy connective tissue off your cuts of meat. If you don't, they will wrap around the grinding spool, clog the holes in the grinding wheel and cause problems.

2) Cut your meat into small 1 to 1.5" pieces. No larger!

3) Very important! Never ever put meat into this type of grinder unless it is very very cold. Almost frozen, but not quite frozen. It should be very firm, but not hard like a rock. Put your meat in the freezer for at least an hour, no more than two before grinding. Another tip would be to take apart the grinding spool, blade and grinding wheel, and keep them in the freezer until you need to use them. Assemble and use. Keeping the grinding parts of this machine cold helps too, especially when you get to the fatty pieces.

4) Use the larger course grinding wheel, especially you are using fatty pieces of meat. You can run it through again on a smaller grinding wheel for a finer grind if you wish.

5) Feed the fattier pieces of meat in first, especially when making burger patties. If you run them through at the end, they may become to warm and start to smear, which is not what you want. They can also clog the holes in the grinding wheel. You want firm speckled pieces of fat in your ground beef for best flavor results.

6) If the meat starts coming out more slowly after halfway through, you might be getting some clogging due to smearing of fat. Stop and take apart the spool, blade and wheel to clean.

7) Slowly push the meat down the feeding tube, do not shove it down with force. This machine will actually grind about a pound per minute if you let it. forcing causes clogging.

I know this seems like a lot of trouble, but it really isn't. Lean cuts of meat like chicken breast are much easier to work with. It is the fattier pieces of meat that you have to use more care with. It was 35 years ago when I last worked in a steakhouse as a butcher. I remember how those machines worked. You could feed almost anything into them at almost any temperature and you would get great grinds. Commercial machines are designed that way. Home machines work fine for the occasional grind of meat as long as you know how to use them.

Hope this helps in your decision.

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This was a BIG mistake! The grinder is very cheaply made, and I mean VERY.. I got things all ready to grind some meat, turned it on and it spit out 5 or 6 meat grindings and then made a horrible noise. I quickly turned it off, and took the grinder apart. Meat was wrapped around the screw (the one that turns to push the meat out, which had to be cut off very slowly with a knife and pair of scissors. After finishing that long task, I saw at the end of the grinder screw that the plastic nut was cracked in 4 places(which explains why I had plastic chunks in the few strands of meat that did come out). It hadn't been cracked when I put the grinder together. I had a huge mess to clean up, not to mention all the aggravation I went through with . I absolutely DO NOT recommend this product.

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I bought another meat grinder that got good reviews on Amazon but it didn't work well for my purpose--grinding chicken necks for dog food. I ended up selling it to a hunter after I used it once. Then I bought this Maverick and have used it four or five times with no problems--it is excellent for grinding chicken necks. Do not put the aluminum pieces in the dishwasher on sanitize setting however--they will end up dark with a powdery coating that comes off on your hands.

Honest reviews on Maverick MM-5501 Mince Master 575-Watt Meat Grinder, White

I have used this product for a few months to grind chicken and cheese. Both work great on fine grind die. I am confused about the advertisement that Amazon claims it grinds nuts because the safety instructions say in one place that it will grind nuts but then on another page it says not to grind nuts... confusing. I have saved over $90 buying frozen chicken breasts at $2/lb and grinding it vs the $6/lb I used to pay. I have seen complaints about the plastic components but have not had troubles as of yet; they may have never bought it or didn't read the directions and over tightened the assembly. I ground about 4lbs in less than 20 mins. The longest is prep and cleaning which is way easier than I though it would be. Buy a special bruch that will clean the dies they hard fairly hard to clean (at least the fine one is due to the small holes). I have owned the product between two and three months.

I still use this at least once a month with no problems. It still works just as well as it did when it was new. The savings of grinding my own meat has been a life saver. No more costly preground meat.

I bought a baby bottle brush and it works great for cleaning out the fine attachment.

February 5 2013 EDIT:

I still use this whenever I buy bulk chicken with no problems at all.

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This meat grinder works really good. We've only used it once so far, but it ground the meat nice. We ground around 10 pounds of meat in just a few minutes. We were impressed by how good it worked.

Cheap Excalibur 5 Tray Dehydrator

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List Price: $200.00
Sale Price: $172.85
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

I dehydrate my own dried fruit & veggie snacks, kale chips, my own granola, fruit roll-ups, candied walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc. I have saved so much money with this dehydrator. I can make a lot at once. You don't have to rotate trays. It dries great. My neighbor makes his jerky in this. He says it's the only dehydrator that is safe for drying meat for jerky because of the temperature. It's made in the USA too.

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This dehydrator is perfect for me. My friend's have Excalibur dehydrators. When I checked out the prices, I was concerned as I don't have an unlimited income. I bought the Nesco but the stacking trays and the uneven heating was a nightmare. My girlfriend had to rotate the trays and I wasn't too happy because the temperature wasn't high enough for meat even though we tried to get the temperature high enough to no avail! Back to the store it went. (http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-FD-1040-1000-watt-Gardenmaster-Dehydrator/dp/B00B9F7WJW/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1372721821&sr=8-10&keywords=nesco+dehydrator) Amazon carries this model which is similar to the other 5-tray unit, I think the only difference is a shorter warranty. Big deal. Anyway, this Excalibur was perfect for us. It's an non-timer version, which saved us a ton of money. It has plenty of drying space. It's SUPER easy to clean-up. I can make my jerky! No rotating trays during the drying time. And it's Excalibur Made in USA! We definitely recommend this product.

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I was doubtful that this was both worth the money and as easy as everyone said. Boy, am I glad I was so very wrong...this is one of the better purchases I have made. While so many of my Amazon purchases (TV, Tools, ETC) have been excellent and standard "store" items so I knew what I was getting beforehand, this was new to me as I had one many, many years ago. To much work to use AND CLEAN...with so-so results...

This one is "just plug and go" with EASY CLEAN-UP to boot....Gold Box Deals, or I would not have tried due to the poor experiences previously. Goes to show ya, you can teach an old dog new things......

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have a nesco dehydrator that is fairly well though of in reviews. It's also 1/3 the price of this machine, so is the Excalibur worth the extra price, (at the time of this review) yes, I think it is, and here is why.

I liked the Nesco but there were issues. The motor is on top, so I have to rearrange the trays and leave a lot of room on the trays for circulation. When I want to check the progress of my food I have to turn off the Nesco, lift off the motor/lid, find a place to set it, then lift off each tray to check progress or shuffle them around. This process is annoying. Also the tray slots are a little wide apart and I have berries and smaller food fall through.

The Excalibur solves the problems I had. Because the fan is in the back and the trays just slide out I can easily take off the door and check the food, turn the trays around, which you might not have to do but I do it anyway. The ease of getting the trays in our out is fantastic.

The motor hums along at a nice purr, quieter than my previous two.

The Excalibur comes with screens that go on top of the trays that slide in and out, so the food can be as tiny as you want and it doesn't fall through. If you have the Nesco the fruit leather trays fit in the Excalibur, they also sell paraflex, or you can use wax paper to make fruit or yogurt leather. yes, yogurt leather. It was in the book and says to put the yogurt on your paraflex and dry it.. and sure enough, I had sort of yogurt taffy.

The fan dries food faster than the Nesco, or the Ronco I had before the Nesco. (Yes, I've been searching for a dehydrator I want to use a lot, I finally found it with this one). The food dries more evenly. If you love jerky I suggest a meat slicer, getting the meat thin enough is key. A jerky gun is also fun, I love to grind up meat and veg and make treats for Izzy, our mini schnauzer. cook the poultry first.

The dehydrator is bulky, they all are, it's the nature of the beast. While the five drawer is fine for my family, the 9 drawer would only take up height, so if you have the room for the depth and width, you need to make sure you would have the clearance for something taller, or use it on a table or counter with no over head cabinets. The outside gets warm but not super hot, I can still put my hand against it.

The door has two molded plastic tabs that you hang the door on the machine. This worries me a bit, if those break you might be buying a new door. I just wish they seemed sturdier.

Clean up is easy. Take out the trays, wipe the inside of the machine, soak the screens a bit, clean the trays. The manual says the trays are dishwasher safe but our dishwasher broke and we chose not to replace it, so I can't address that. They wash up by hand just fine.

This model doesn't have a timer. I like to check and poke anyway, but you can easily get one of those timers for appliances so it will turn off when you want it to turn off.

The instruction manual that comes with the machine has some drying times, a few drying ideas like the yogurt. You can also make yogurt in the dehydrator, I found out online. And this is where the sliding trays come in again, you can leave one or two out to dry tall things. You can make pompadours out of oranges and cloves, or yogurt in bowls, and it will fit if you take out the top tray or two, which is a super handy feature.

There is a face book site and a web site with lots of fans, tricks and tips, and recipes for the Excalibur.

I called Customer service with a question, was on hold less than a minute, and got a quick and helpful answer.

I am passing my Nesco along. The Excalibur, with it's ease of use, easy clean up, screens, faster and more even drying, and the ability to remove trays for extra height, make this one a winner. The only two, not even issues, but points of less than perfection maybe, are the molded tabs, and with the Nesco you can add more trays. Since the Excalibur is pretty much static as far as what you get is what you get, if you want more room you will have to buy another larger machine.

However, five trays is a lot of drying space. I have done a pear, apple, peach, apricot, grapes and cherries all at one time. We are a family of four so I would say that unless you are a hunter looking to make tons and tons of jerky, or a really avid gardener with a lot of produce, the five drawer is probably going to fit most of your needs, but the nine drawer is always an option.

Highly recommended!

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Excalibur is the best.....I love dehydrating my foods......Onion Bread is one of my favorites, recipe can be found in RAWvolution.