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Dries in half the time of my last dehydrator..only complaint that there is no temp controlI used one just like this for years. Recently it just stopped, so I bought another one. We use it for jerky and hot peppers. I like the clear top cover! Thanks.Love it, second one to replace older unit.I've wanted to dehydrate food for years but never tried it, but now that I'm gardening seemed the right time. Also, I live in SoCal where everything grows. I wanted to keep produce from going to waste as well as make healthy snacks. I couldn't be happier with this dehydrater. Well, OK, in a perfect world we wouldn't use plastic, but I have to balance price point and weight limit when we move. I couldn't justify the price or weight of stainless. Plus, Nesco is made in the US, and I buy US made when that's an option.Nesco includes a detailed booklet with charts of prep and processing time for fruits, veggies, and meat, which is part of customer service, so remember that before buying a brand from overseas. There's no guess work here. You're given the optimal prep specs for this machine. The operation is obvious: plug in and turn on or off.My first attempt was organic bananas from Costco. They cost very little more than regular bananas but have SO much more flavor! Better quality to begin with means better flavor dehydrated. My first batch deserved a little celebration in the way of presentation for my blog, but that got unwrapped and eaten quickly! The bananas and strawberries were round 2. Dehydrated strawberries are so good in cereal! I had a couple of fails: blackberries and raspberries. Those turned out like purple Styrofoam. I didn't refer to the Nesco provided booklet. My fault.Nuts and Bolts: There's no temp control, but that means it's uncomplicated. Instead of temp, you adjust time. A 14 hour cycle might not be convenient for everyone, but it's fine for me. It's as loud as having a box fan running but military housing dishwasher. (slightly quieter than a drive through car wash) Layers stack easily, so it's easy to expand. I bought the expansion, and I haven't come close to needing it yet. That would require a whole lot more prep than I want to do. That expansion pack was over zealous. I suggest newbies save their money..Clean Up: Remove the food immediately or it will get stuck making cleaning harder. The racks don't fit in my sinks, so I can't soak them in there. I recommend soaking in a plastic storage tub and scrubbing with a brush if you, too, have Barbie sized sinks.While it is true this machine doesn't come with all the bells and whistles of the expensive machines, It does great. I ordered two extra trays for it which means 6 fairly large trays to work with. That is a lot of food. It does have some noise with it about maybe like a hairdryer on low. It is set to 160 to work so it gets pretty warm in the room it is in. I use mine in the laundry room and shut the door. I could also use the porch. The fan works great and it has dehydrated my items evenly and very quickly, all six trays without having to move trays around. The beef jerky flavoring that comes with it taste great! We used hamburger for a softer jerky since neither of us have teeth anymore. We thought our beef jerky eating days were long over and we both have loved it during our 42 year marriage. A good time table is to check on the progress every 2 hours for doneness, you can go 4 hours for the first check. If this is were a more expensive model with a timer that would be convenient. But for the price and performance, it is no trouble at all to give it a peek from time to time. It was amazingly easier to clean than I thought it would be. That was no problem at all and only took a couple of swipes with a wet rag and it was done! Beside the jerky I dehydrate oranges and tried blueberries also. The orange slices didn't survive my checking on them and so I didn't have any left by the time the beef jerky was ready. They were to understate it delicious and well dehydrated. The blueberries were in too long and came out everlasting gobstoppers. They were well dehydrated and had a lot of taste, but too hard for us toothless people. This is a great inexpensive machine for dehydrating anything you may care to. It is pretty quick about it also. Just try not to taste oranges too much before the rest of the items are ready!I've used this dehydrator quite a bit since I've bought it, but it works great. We now have delicious home made banana chips. There are a lot of tips and tricks out there on the internet for getting your foods the way you want them if the manual they include isn't enough for you. (ie: getting your chips crispier). A lot of people have complained about the noise. Having ptsd I am very sensitive to repetitive noise and this was a lot quieter then I was expecting from other users reviews. It was much quieter then "box fans" as some have claimed. I submitted my warranty information online without a problem, so should the motor go, as some others have claimed, I am sure that will be covered. I have never used a food dehydrator before so I cannot compare it to others in any way, but the clips that hold all the trays together do seem they should be sturdier and latch on a bit easier. Other then that, so far I am very happy with this and the price I paid for it.Update 1/19/14 I've been using the fruit marinade that By SANDRA J BALKE posted in her review on June 28, 2011, with one tweak. Bananas and certain apples just don't tend to come out sweet enough with just the honey and water marinade So what I have done is taken 1 packet of my favorite sweetener, melted it in a tbsp of warm water, and then add the rest of the water and honey she recommends (and a bit of cinnamon when doing apples, yummy!). I've also made sure (especially with the strawberries) to either spray my trays with a non stick spray or rub them down with a light coat of vegetable oil for easier removal of the fruit. The trays are very easy to hand wash this way, even with the sticky strawberries.Works wellInstructions say there should be a temperature control but none on the actual unit. I tried with a variety of fruits and it never really dehydrated everything even after 12 hours. I think I may have put in stuff too thick 3/8 in. I’m keeping it and will experiment with thickness. Overall I’m disappointed.I bought this item for my daughter. I have 2 that we use frequently. I have another brand that I tried one time, and it's been in a box ever since ... not as easy to use or clean.I appreciate the depth of the trays and that it holds a lot of the food I wish to process. You can also purchase additional items (like sheets for making fruit roll-ups etc.)Good product at a good price.2nd time use in 30 days since I purchased this machine, when it suddenly stopped on the 3rd hour. It sure was somewhat hot but it should be normal, as it was designed to work for 10 to 12 hours non-stop and also not as hot as in the first use. After cooling off, I replugged and turned it on again to no avail. It looks like a defective fan motor to me but I couldn't smell anything burned out or something. I opted for a replacement option as I have batches of apples that have already been prepped which could otherwise go to waste. Oh, the motor is also loud which is also a downside. I hope It was a simple bad luck and a glitch in the production line and I will revisit this review if the replacement works well.Wow - this arrived 2 days ago and tried it today for the first time - luckily I was home as the house would have burnt down! Followed the instructions as per the included manual and within 2 hours the whole thing melted. According to the manual the basic drying time is from 4 to 12 hrs. Massive safety issue and about to follow up - see another Australian customer had the same issue 3 days ago - if only I'd seen that reviewDid some awesome beef jerky with this machine, also did some delicious crispy apple chips ! The only bummer for this dehydrator is that it doesn't have a timer to turn off automatically and it doesn't have a way to change the temperature...so everything is dehydrated the EXACT same way and same temperature, whether it's meat, fruit or vegetables. Still works great though! :)Unlike my previous nesco dehydrator which lasted 8 years, this one was flimsy, difficult to set up, and very difficult to check specific levels for dryness. It had no temperature control and was very noisy. Thank you for your elegant return policy. This is the first time I have had to use it.
