I have found out you can’t really “over-dehydrate” most foods so if you accidentally leave it running for a few hours, no big deal. Lastly, and probably most obviously, is the price. We purchased this dehydrator specifically to make chicken (and other meat) jerky for our dogs, as we have already lost one dog due to feeding the jerky that is made in China. Also I feel much better knowing what is going into their jerky treats, which is meat only, no preservatives. I don’t know how long the other reviewers have owned theirs, but after 19 months and 1 warrantied repair (we paid shipping one way), we now own a broken dehydrator. The very nice people at Nesco told me that at this point it would be more cost effective to buy a new one that to pay to have it repaired.

Next batch was just apples and it still took WAY longer than I thought it should — as in 2 full days with the thing going — for thinly sliced apples! I tried some herbs and ended up throwing the herbs out because they looked questionable. This is one of those items that does exactly what it says it’s going to do and does it without a fuss. It’s simple to use (even I haven’t screwed up anything with it yet) and works extremely well.

The beef jerky was fantastic in taste and texture! The recipe booklet is handy, too. The only reason I would upgrade is to be able to have a tray where there isn’t a hole in the center (for making raw pizza dough and raw wraps). Before I could only buy what I needed at time so they did not go bad. On Monday of this week it was “in Chicago” and I should receive it in the next day or so. I live 3 hours from the farthest part of Chicago and as of Thursday I have not received the replacement.

I haven’t tried any of the recipes in the book yet but I plan to try some of their fruit roll and dog treat ones. The jerky seasonings provided were pretty good but I added some of my own seasonings to it for my personal liking. I made my first batch of beef jerky in about four hours and it was delicious! I also made some chicken jerky for my boxer (one of the main reasons I got this unit) and it works great for that as well. Try banana chips with Splenda and cinnamon on parchment; I was impressed with the flavor and chewy texture (some people don’t like the banana flavor as compared to commercial banana chips, but I vote for the homemade one). I am having lots of fun!

This baby has no timer, but it does not even matter, because everything takes forever anyways. But Christmas is just around the corner, and boy, I am ready to upgrade. And being able to add racks is very convenient. With the forced air system, I found that no matter where the meat was located (bottom, middle or top racks) it dried at the same rate, ensuring that all the meat was ready at the same time.

Machine doesn’t get hot to the touch. It takes about 4-6 hours to make 1 batch 5 trays high. I only rotate trays once during drying, if at all. It doesn’t have an on/off switch or timer.

I make a lot of jerky and my old system took sometimes 8 to 12 hours to dry, but this system had it done in about 2/3 the time or less. Tufted Ottoman.