My first thought when I opened the box of the Excalibur Dehydrator was, "Boy, this thing is BIG!" But them I thought that was judging a book, um dehydrator, by its cover. All in all the size was the only drawback for me for this product. Measuring 19"x17"x8" I believe the size is necessary for the dehydrator to complete the amount of dehydrating that this one machine accomplishes at one time. The 5 sliding drawers slide with ease and the removable Paraflexx inserts were an excellent feature. I loved the flexibility of the insert as well as the ease of cleaning. The grid of the mesh was small enough to hold the smallest herbs as they dried but big enough to allow proper airflow. The trays were stacked tightly enough that they were compact yet had enough airflow. My personal experience was that the time and temperature was always more than I was expecting for drying my items as stated in the manual. Keep in mind I am trying to dry in the height of summer and in humid conditions so I am sure that plays into the factors of dehydrations. But even with my accounting for the humidity it took longer and hotter than I was expecting. Dehydrating mint took over 12 hours and cherries took days. In my opinion having a dehydrator running all the time was not an effective use of energy in my house in the summer. Once the items were dehydrated the quality of the product was great. Everything was consistence in drying based on the size of the piece. I did find it useful to have everything sliced, cut or torn into similar size pieces for consistent drying as suggested in the instruction book.

howipinchapenny

USA