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List Price: $129.99
Sale Price: $119.99
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I did my research on food dehydrators and the L'Equip was recommended above all. I like the rectangular shape that makes it easy to sit on your counter top without looking bulky and taking up much needed space. It is about the size of a small microwave. It is nice and quiet, comes with the fruit trays and the mesh sheets for the six trays so you do not have to buy a lot of "extras" like you do with the American Harvest brand. I considered buying their model but after you add on all of the mesh sheets and fruit leather trays plus 2 extra stacking trays to equal what this unit offers it is really not any less expensive. I did not like the way it was round and would take up a lot more space. The L' Equip motor and fan is on the bottom but it is covered so nothing will fall into it. I have dried apples,pineapple,coconut and bananas on it so far and it takes anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. They turned out great. I plan on using this often to make healthy sulfite free snacks and ingredients for my baking. It also has a 12 year warranty which is really important. I highly recommend this dehydrator for anyone who wants a quality built product at an affordable price.
***Also for those arguing about the dimensions, if you are not happy with the square feet of drying area provided DON'T BUY IT!
very simple. I have had this for 8 months now and there is plenty of space for drying many fruits and vegetables.
It really is not worth arguing over.
I am very suspicios of people who are coming on Amazon and only reviewing this one product-it could be a competitor trying to bash the product so people are afraid to buy it....I have seen this with several items I have purchased, many false claims and then you click on their name and it is the ONLY thing reviewed so I really do not use their review to influence my decision. Look for reviews that contain many purchased items, that seem legitimate.
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A great product! This product has a lot going for it starting with a real instruction book, expansion and solid construction. The trays are firm and each is outfitted with a removable fine mesh, so those smaller items don't fall through. The motor is reaonsably quiet and it does a fine job drying food without cooking the food. One thing to consider about this rectangular unit instead of a round unit it fits nicely on a shelf and doesn't consume so much room when not in use.
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I use it for Raw Foods dishes. I do think everyone in the Raw Foods Community is a little brainwashed by Excalibur. I don't work for L'Equipe. I just like this better.
Advantages
1) quieter
2) heat only the trays you are using
3) less expensive
4) looks better too, on your counter, etc.
Disadvantages
1) some people might consider it a disadvantage that there is a hole in the middle of the tray. This could limit making a single size large Raw Foods pizza, instead of several smaller ones. That's the only disadvantage I can think of.
I bought it hoping it would be quieter, and because all Excalibur's price controlling was irking me. I am happy with it :)
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I've been unimpressed with most dehydrators out there. Most of them have fairly flimsy racks, other parts you must buy, and the round ones, simply don't make a lot of sense unless it's to compensate for an inadequate drying motor. You can put a lot of food on this one and it works fine. No extra parts to buy for when you do small objects. Temperature control is nice, since some foods do better with more or less heat than others.
Six very large trays is a huge advantage. With other dryers, you spend hours doing just a little bit here and there. And it seems as though you never really get a lot accomplished. I suppose that's alright if you just want to make a few natural snacks for the kids, but using those on any kind of scale is pretty impractical. If you are into food storage from an economic standpoint, then this one will make it easy.
This thing is only missing a couple of things that I'd wish for. First, they should add a variable speed fan as well as the variable temperature. When foods first go in, they push out a lot of moisture which can condense on the top. It eventually pushes all that out, but bumping the fan speed would help. I invariably lift the top a few times at the beginning and wipe it down and let the moisture vent. This aids the drying time by eliminating a fair amount of water. Doable, but a controllable air flow would help.
I'd also like one of the racks to be a bit taller. Sometimes this could really come in handy in dehydrating things like large strawberries or other items that don't fit as well.
Tips:
1) Rotate the racks a few hours in. Food on the bottom dries out quicker than that on the top.
2) Move the food on the tray around part way through. Food at the edges is a bit slower to dry out because the airflow is a bit less at the perimeter and corners, so you end up running it longer than you need to for the other 90%
When you do these things, you're food will be more uniform and cut your drying time considerably.
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I'm brand new to the raw/natural food & dehydrator craze. I can munch on a handful of excellent zucchini, banana, or sweet potato 'chips' made in this dehydrator and feel like it's a guilty pleasure. Who knew? Easy way to get your daily serving of veggies. Every time I use it I've got all 6 trays going at once, at capacity. If you're gung-ho raw foodies (or a bigger family) you might want to order more trays from another source. Amazon doesn't seem to sell them, but pleasanthillgrain.com does. They also sell the L'Equip as listed here, but charge more. I figure eventually I'll have to just chip in for more trays.
Or you just keep the thing running 24 hours a day, heh.
I bought this model because the price was right, and I didn't like the round-shaped varieties for how my counter is laid out. The rectangular-shaped L'Equip fits just right on the side of my kitchen counter. I paid through Amazon, but the 877myjuicer folks shipped it out to me. It was shipped quickly and with email notification and online tracking, no complaints.
There are rubber-mesh inserts included with each tray, but only 2 small fruit leather sheets designed to fit on each side of a tray ... that is, you only get enough fruit leather sheets to fill just ONE of the 6 trays that come with it. So if you're planning on making lots of fruit leather etc. you'll want to order extra fruit sheets or come up with some alternative.
There are two other items in my raw food kitchen that I use constantly. I HATE to clean up after I impulsively do my 'cooking', so I only have two other gadgets. A mandoline slicer, from Benriner (high quality Japanese brand), and the 'cook help' spiral slicer. Also from Benriner. This little pup turns a yam, squash (whatever) into huge handfuls of thin angel-hair 'pasta'. It's amazing. Much sturdier than the sprizalooli or whatever it is that other thing's called. When I make a pesto angel-hair pasta from a yam or some other root vegetable, I get my 'cooked' friends hooked in an instant. I love my spiral slicer.
The L'Equip I ordered from Amazon, the Benriner(s) I got from eBay. I went all over NYC trying to find this stuff and of course AFTER I won the eBay auction I found the Benriner spiral slicer at Zabar's cookware shop (80th & Broadway).
Whoa, I can babble on. Anyhow, happy fooding -
