Top positive review
Large, Solid Dehydrator with Timer and Digital Controls
By Chaka Lee on Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2025
I really like this dehydrator. I had previously used on of those round, stacking dehydrators, which was a little bit of a pain because it had limited capacity and required me to monitor it to ensure it didn't overdry the jerky. This dehydrator has nine square trays which are very roomy. But even better, this has a digital temperature setting AND a timer. The timer is a game changer because it frees me from having to monitor the jerky has it cooks. Makes it very easy to dry stuff overnight, since the device simply turns off when complete and you can simply collect the jerky in the morning. The heating and fan project from the back of the device and blows forward, which is different from the round devices where the air and heat comes from above. This is important because even when I pack lots of jerky on the trays, each tray still gets equal attention from the fan and heater. On the round devices, the lower trays can suffer if too much stuff is packed on the upper trays. As far as build quality, the Excalibur 3948CDB seems pretty solid and have had no issues. It is pretty bulky, so be prepared, and otherwise seems much more substantial that my prior (round) dehydrator. Curiously, the front window/door is not permanently attached to the rest of the device, but simply hangs off of a lip built into the top of the device. I'm guessing there's a reason they did it this way, but I'm no engineer so I don't know what it is. For me, its a little bit of a pain when lifting or storing the device because the front window/door (which is plastic and not glass incidentally) is prone to coming off the lip and falling off the device. It's no issue when the device is dehydrating. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this device. It was much more expensive that the smaller round dehydrators, but does a noticeably better job, and provides much more room. For me, if I had to identify the most important upgrade, it would be the timer. Maybe you could replicate that on other timeless dehydrators by plugging those into some sort of third party timer, not sure, but it does make the process so much easier.
Top critical review
8 people found this helpful
Watch the 30 day limit on Prime returns expires. These are POORLY PACKAGED and CHEAPLY MADE.
By Amazon Customer on Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2022
I have read reviews that the Excalibur is the best dehydrator to get. I ordered the one with the digital panel for just over $400. It came and looked beautiful but very poorly packaged. The dehydrator had eight little styrofoam corners in the box, but then the box was just placed inside a bigger Amazon box with no cushion at all. I have never seen that high priced of an item that poorly packaged. The door was broken with a crack all the way through the plastic, but it still held together, so I wasn’t that worried. I didn’t have time to use it initially, then I went on vacation. I finally get back and get food on my trays and in the dehydrator and turn it on for the first time and it sounds horrible! Well everyone says they are loud. But then after a few minutes it STOPS with an error message. I take all the stuff out and unplug it and restart it and I can see a wire is rubbing against the fan. I also see two loose screws in the area by the fan just laying in there. Also noted the back of the unit had a screw that was halfway out of the case as if someone else had this unit and unscrewed it or it wasn’t assembled correctly in the first place. Wondering if someone else returned it and Amazon just sent it to me because it works initially when plugged in, so you wouldn’t know as it takes a couple minutes to kick off. Boyfriend had used the box for target practice, so it is riddled with bullet holes, so luckily no one will get this unit shipped to them. Why would you put loose wires right next to a fan without wrapping them or putting them in some little housing of some sort? I unplugged it and was gently able to move the wire away from the fan without disassembling it, but even without the wire rubbing, the dehydrator continued to kick off after a few moments with the error message. Over and over again. The owner’s manual has no key for the error messages. The call center number sends you to a new number. Boyfriend said he could mess with it, but for that price you shouldn’t have to, so he did not disassemble it. Also I didn’t want that to interfere with my return. Boyfriend told me the components are similar to a little wall heater and probably only cost $25, and that the initial investment in these was the injection mold for the unit itself which probably cost $75K back in the day. They have used the same mold for multiple models, so they are making a killing on these and could do such a better job with construction and shipping. Luckily all these problems happened on the LAST DAY I could submit a return, so I was lucky. If you order this, make sure you use it before the 30 day limit for a Prime return. If you are lucky enough to get one that works, good on you. After the return process, I may reorder, but I’m nervous about that kind of money on something that is that cheaply made. I’m looking for a used on on FB Marketplace instead.
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