Hamilton Beach Digital Food Dehydrator for Fruit and Jerky, Vegetables and More, 5 Trays, Adjustable Temperature, 48 Hour Timer + Auto Shutoff, Grey (32100A)

I have been having a blast with this thing. It works so well! The night it arrived we went out and bought a bunch of fruit and just filled the whole thing up. Set it up overnight, and had dehydrated fruit for breakfast (and yes, our stomachs hated us for it, but it was SO GOOD).The next trial was spices. I do a lot of gardening, and had a massive Oregano bush out back on the patio, so I harvested the whole thing and filled it all up. This was the one "Ehhh" area of the machine. It did a wonderful job dehydrating my oregano, don't get me wrong! But it only comes with ONE fine mesh tray, which I mean, is okay, I can put it at the bottom. But that "fine mesh" isn't very fine. A lot of the dehydrated oregano leaves fell down into the machine. It wasn't a huge deal, not even enough to take off a star, but I DO recommend getting some actual fine mesh if you ever plan to do your own spices.The machine is great though. It's super lightweight yet feels durable, it's compact, and it's reasonably quiet. It's a little quieter than like, a box fan on low setting. It's also really easy to use, and comes with an excellent manual explaining how to dehydrate different foods, what temperatures to use, and how long, even with a list of different fruits and veg! Really all you do is set the temp, set a time, and leave it. Anyone can use this thing. It's great!

I've been researching dehydrators for a while now, and finally went with this one, due (mainly) to (1) The adjustable temperature (not all dehydrators have this, and I wanted the option of changing it), (2) the fact that it is square (space optimization) (3) and the price point was great. So far I am incredibly pleased! I have made apple chips, banana chips, and even my own 'green powder' from dehydrated salad greens..and I've only had it a few weeks.As far as noise goes, I have to say when I first turned it on I was INCREDIBLY disappointed...it was SO LOUD I had to turn it off. It whined and made a grating high-pitched noise that was impossible to ignore. I was even in the middle of looking up how to return it when I decided to give it one more try. I'm not sure what exactly changed or what I did differently but I haven't had any more trouble with that noise since then. It is not whisper silent but it isn't loud either. It is somewhat equivalent to a box fan, in my opinion.My only complaint with the entire thing (other than the random, unexplained initial noise) is that mine came with no directions...which is really a minor thing as you can print them off from the Hamilton Beach website ([...]).So for an overview...-Has adjustable temperature-Has timer that automatically turns off when finished (so I can start things before I go to bed and not have to worry about them over-drying )-Comes with the fruit leather tray (I have yet to try it out)-Comes with herb drying tray (works great for the salad greens!)-Square shape makes it easier to store-Not unpleasantly loud (think a little bit louder than a box fan)-Lid is clear so you can check the progress of your foodI also have not had to rotate the trays with anything I have made yet, so that is a bonus. SO, so far so good! I'm very pleased with this purchase. I would definitely recommend as a starter dehydrator.

It's a nice design, and fits more food than most of this size. I love the digital temperature control and the timer is amazing (self-shut off, it's excellent!). I've made tangerine segments , tangerine peels, and ginger root, all for use in tea. I purchased this for drying herbs as well , but our growing season has just started, so I haven't tried herbs yet. I can tell you the tangerine peels took 5 hours, the ginger root took 7 hours, and the tangerine segments took almost an entire day (23 hours). I like the dehydrator quite a lot, but I took a star of because I do wish it was less noisy. The sound it makes is equivalent to an air conditioner or a fan. After one day of this noise, it can be a bit much. I will definitely be slicing the tangerines thinner next time, so the drying time is less. The food on all 5 trays seemed to evenly dry, with the food in the middle of all the trays drying slightly faster. I did pause the machine to rotate and flip the tangerine segments. Our family will definitely be getting a lot of use from this dehydrator, I can't wait to make fruit leather with the provided tray insert. It also has a mesh insert for use with smaller foods (like rosemary or thyme). Overall very pleased with the dehydrator, the price, quality, and would purchase again. UPDATE: I wanted to update my review now that I've had more time using this dehydrator :This dehydrator is amazing and so worth the price! Chicken and meat can take anywhere from 4 hours and up, depending on the thickness. 1/4 inch thick slices took almost 6 hours for me (I made chicken jerky for my dog). I found the easiest way to slice it that thin, was to freeze it, then use a mandolin slicer. I allowed it to thaw in fridge before putting it in the dehydrator. The directions state that all meats for jerky can be no more than 1/4 inch thick, and should be checked at 4 hours and every 30 minutes after. I mostly do fruit in mine. Strawberries are super quick, a mere 4-6 hours depending on thickness, where as citrus slices have taken anywhere from 24-28 hours. It's an excellent dehydrator for the price. I literally ran it for 4 days straight when I first received it, and every week after that, and it's still running perfect. I love it! My family loves having fruit to flavor their tea and water. The dried fruit is perfect in trail mixes and nut mixes (especially pineapple, kiwi and cranberries). My husband loves the beef jerky, and my dog the chicken jerky. Everyone loves something made in this dehydrator! We've gotten a ton of use out of it already!