I have the Excalibur; the nine tray one. I got the big one because I grow herbs, dry fruit for snacking and cereal making when fruit is in season, lettuce and kale chips (what to do with all that extra greenery that’s hard to preserve, like lettuce or get wild dandelion? Make chips!) and I incubate my yogurt year round and rise bread in it in the summer. That’s just what I do-there’s much more it can do in the future as I learn more.
It has a definite noise to it, but nothing that you can’t get used to and I am noise sensitive. It kind of blends in with the background; it’s not as loud as my Nutrimill! As for mold, all dry foods can become moldy if they aren’t dried fully and stored properly; especially down here in the South where we are. So it behooves me to make sure I educate myself on proper drying and storing for different foods. I think my having a food saver helps in this regard, too, but not absolutely necessary. I got the food saver b/c I was disgusted with the amount of good food that had to be thrown out last Winter after getting freezer burn.
In addition to the manual that comes with it, that has many instructions for various ways to use it, there is a book that is recommended, too, which I will eventually get, but for now, the book that came with it is suffiecient until I get into more drying recipes. Here’s a good article:http://www.greensmoothie.com/dhd/faq.html
I’ve been very content with mine. Shop around for the best price as there are variances, plus you’ll want free shipping definitely.
Rachel
