Dehydrator recommendations?

[Salmon Belly]

Need your suggestions please -- looking for a good quality dehydrator, mainly for jerky (elk/moose/deer). Have been using the oven on low, but got a new oven that doesn't stay on when the door is slightly ajar...

Tip I've received so far from TodBartell to get one with an off timer.

Thanks in advance,
SB


.

[Pemby_mess]

I've got a nesco gardenmaster, and an excalibur. Both work really well, but the excalibur has the edge by far. I plug mine into a timer. It's not strictly necessary to have one inboard.

[Iron Glove]

We have a 20 year old American Harvest dehydrater, stacked 5 trays.
Nothing special, no timers, no temperature adjustments but works well for us.
Mind you, with the size of the animals I get, we really don't need anything fancy.
You might need something a little larger.

[Boner]

I have a nesco too. It does the job. The extra trays are crazy expensive, maybe because my model is a few years old.

[Beachcomber]

Picked up an 8 tray rig from Cabelas a few years ago. They seem to frequently be on sale. Took some getting used to and made a few batches of doggie treats before getting it right. Have since used for dehydrating chilli, ragu, fruit etc for a couple of canoe and hiking trips. My duck jerky still needs some work though.

[Edzzed]

We have a 20 year old American Harvest dehydrater, stacked 5 trays.
Nothing special, no timers, no temperature adjustments but works well for us.
Mind you, with the size of the animals I get, we really don't need anything fancy.
You might need something a little larger.

We have one too. Works great. Was in Costco Langley the other day and they have a square dehydrator there. Did not look closely at it so know nothing about it.

[hparrott]

I have always used the old school cylinder-shaped plug and go dehydrators but at Xmas I was given the” Cabela's 10-Tray Deluxe Dehydrator,” and it’s awesome. I really like that I can fit more food on the rectangular trays and that it has a fan to circulate the air and dehydrate food quicker. Being able to set the temp too is great since it doesn’t have a timer

[goatdancer]

Excalibur with a timer is the only way to go. Get yourself some non stick liners (Costco has them right now) and you'll be set. I got mine from Upaya Naturals back east. They had the best price.

[Alfonz]

I have been using a Nesco it works good but it is round and when trying to layout jerky it could be better. As far as the end product it is great. I have been using a nine tray stack and it seems to handle about 6-7 pounds of ground for jerky. I have been shuffling the trays and find about 7-8 hours at the 160 setting is the ticket.

[grantk]

I’ve got a digital Nesco snack master, which has the circular trays. It works great and the digital temperature and timer control is fantastic. I usually do 1/4” jerky and just set the timer for 7 hours, turns out good. The only thing I don’t like is the circle trays... square would be much easier to load, especially to make snack sticks. If I bought another I’d probably order an Excalibur from Costco.ca