Side by Side Comparison of: Nesco vs Ronco

UPDATE: 4/26/16Just had to update my review as I just found a "recipe" for this dehydrator that saved me hundreds of dollars ! My cellphone went through the washing machine a few days ago and the proverbial bag of rice drying technique was only having minimal results. With nothing to lose - I put my cellphone and battery, minus the SD card, separately into pantyhose - put them on a middle tray and turned the dehydrator on at 90 degrees overnight. SUCCESS !! I thankfully was spared the expense of buying a new cellphone. I can once again say that I HIGHLY recommend the Nesco Gardenmaster Dehydrator !Hasn't stopped running in the two weeks I have had it. I purchased this unit to dry grapefruit. Not disappointed with the outcome. In between batches of grapefruit, I have dried lots of cauliflower, lemons & limes, and greens for my smoothies. Very useful for taking advantage of fresh produce that is on sale.I did not expect to get this much use out of it. I purchased a larger mandoline slicer, and a food vacuum sealer to seal the end product in mason jars using oxygen absorbers.I am waiting for my first electric bill to see how much of an impact this unit has on my monthly expense. Will update.

Love the dehydrator and super easy to use. I have done apples, cherrys, and bananas. All were great but please be aware that the banana chips I made were NOT like the ones you buy at the store. Those banana chips are crunchy because they have been FRIED not dehydrated-this is not a reflection on this product but I thought I would share this because I thought they were a dehydrated product. The dehydrated bananas are like fruit leather/chewy so are great for oatmeal, muffins or just a snack but they will not be crispy.

My daughter says I am addicted to this product and I think she is right. It was a gift from my husband for mothers day and we use it often. I bought an extra 4 trays as well as mesh sheets to prevent things from dropping through (such as kiwi and squash). I use it on average once per week and my family and I are eating much healthier as a result. I have loaned it to several folks who went out and bought one of their own when I got mine back.Yes, the prep time is a bit of a pain, but I plan ahead and coordinate my trips to Costco to get fruit around having time to cut things up (kiwi and mango are great from there and very economical plus they have the least pesticides of conventionally grown fruits.) One tip, the outside rings have a tendency to dry faster than the inside section so put your thinner sliced items against the small inner circle.

I bought this unit after discovering how horrible store bought dog treats are for my furbabies. They love dehydrated sweet potato snacks made in the oven and figured a dehydrator would most likely do a better job...it does. I have made multiple batches of sweet potato as well as started dehydrating chicken breast and they just love the results. This unit holds about 6 medium to large sweet potatoes (about 3.5 lbs) or 6-8 chicken breasts sliced about 1/4" thick, it's relatively quiet and it's simple to clean. I really like the fact that it has a timer and is also expandable. I will most likely be purchasing extra trays in the near future as I get my drying techniques better honed and start expanding on the possibilities. This unit is a perfect introductory dehydrator and I would recommend for anyone just starting to experiment with the process.

Love this thing! I have been in the market for a dehydrator and this one caught my eye for two reasons.1. 1000 WATTS2. Digital TimerMost dehydrators in this price range are plug in to power on and unplug to power off. If you make a batch of jerky at 7pm you have to get up at 3am to turn it off. That sucks!This machine has a digital timer built in so you can literally set it and forget it. It will power off when the timer expires.What I don't like: It only comes with 4 trays........SO BUY MORE TRAYS!!!!!! Four trays is not enough for most applications and I recommend at least 6-8 to start. You will find out if you try to make anything with 4 trays, you end up with much less finished product due to the dehydration process. I processed some potatoes for chips and filled up 4 trays with 5 potatoes. My finished batch was about half a bag of chips. Do yourself a favor and get some extra trays because once you start dehydrating you will be addicted!This machine is well built and also comes with one fruit roll insert tray and one of the fine mesh no stick insert trays. It also comes with a receipt book, jerky seasoning, and jerky cure. READ the manual or get another book about dehydrating so that you set yourself up for success!

I have a lot to learn as I have only had my dehydrator for a week....but, so far, I love it! It has dried everything I have put in it evenly throughout the four trays....I never had to rotate them. My only complaint with this model is 4 trays is NOT enough....as big as they are, they fill up fast. I already ordered four more with a cost of $40....be sure to consider this when you decide which dehydrator to buy. If you need more trays than that, the cost will be about $20 for each set of two (Amazon). You can use up to 20 trays but I am stopping at 8....for now! Even with this extra cost, I believe it was an excellent choice for me....an inexperienced and casual user who wanted a high end model with conservative expenditure,

had one before paid more and also called ronco almost twenty dollars more from the.

I make treats for my dogs with this. Works well

would buy again

The price on this dehydrator was just too good to pass up. I wanted to start making beef jerky at home and collect some mushrooms and ginseng roots while I'm out hiking, so I bought this. It's super easy to use, super easy to clean, and has served its purpose well. If you don't plan on using a dehydrator very often, this one will more than suffice

Cooks faster than advertised. Easy to clean. Definitely buy some cheesecloth and cut it to fit. HINT: Lay the cheesecloth over one of the trays, put another tray on top of it to hold it in place, and then use a pair of scissors to cut around the edge...really makes it easy. Don't get the meat near the edges of the cheesecloth as it readily sticks to the threads and then you have to pick them off.

This is my second Ronco Dehydrator. I had one for years & love it; but sadly it was part of a bad batch (didn't find out until afterwards) and disintegrated. My mother-in-law got me a new dehydrator for Christmas 3 yrs ago (not a Ronco), and it really didn't last a full season. It works when it wants to & will shut itself off.So I decided to get myself a present, a new RONCO! I am now a happy girl again! I can also borrow extra trays from my mom; who's had her Ronco since they were a new product, brown & expensive! (At least since the late '80's to early '90's) She loves hers too!

Works great, dries completely if left in just a little longer than recipe book suggests. Would recommend picking up extra "Nesco MS-2-6 Clean-a-Screen for Dehydrators" from amazon.com as the one it comes with is wonderful.

I've done a 5lb batch of dried apples and a 4lb batch of beef jerky. The Garden master is at least 3 times faster than my old one. Since I bought a a few additional trays I am able to spread things out more evenly and less crowded. The dehydrator comes with 4 trays and I purchased 4 more but really only need two additional. I'll keep the two extra trays as replacements or give to my brother when I buy this same dehydrator for him for Christmas. It also has a larger "footprint" than I anticipated so if storage is an issue this is a large one.The trays are nice with easy clean up. I just soak them in warm soapy water and most everything comes clean with the wipe of a sponge. A few spots need a good toothbrush cleaning but that's it. I would give them 5 stars but my concern is durability with the trays. The plastic screen that make up the tray is very flimsy. Time will tell.

Nesco FD-1040 1000-watt Gardenmaster Food Dehydrator (6 Tray Value Package)I researched several different dehydrators before deciding on the Nesco FD-1040 Gardenmaster. I chose the Nesco because it has a programmable digital timer and temperature control, making it easier to set the temperature length of drying time. The 6 Tray Value Package comes with 2 extra trays (priced separately about $18 - $22) 3 clean screens for drying fruit, (I purchased two more at the time I bought the dehydrator) and a Jerky kit, which if sold separately would cost +$20 plus shipping, and also included enough seasoning and jerky cure for 5 pounds of hamburger jerky.I'm still learning the ins and outs of dehydrating. So far in one week I've made sweet potato chips (a failure) banana chips (a sweet success) and 2 pounds of hamburger jerky (very very good). Clean up is easy; simply wash the trays with warm soapy water immediately after use. The trays are labeled as top rack dishwasher safe, however, they are very large and would be very hard to load in the top rack of a dishwasher. I sprayed the trays with a very light coat of Pam spray before loading with food.The Nesco runs quiet; 6 loaded trays of banana chips took about 24 - 26 hours to dry to crispy, which was my preference. I simply put the machine on my counter and let it run, checking every so often. 2 pounds of hamburger jerky took only 4.5 hours, on 4 trays. I expect that as we go along we'll get better at placement of the food on the trays and will be able to conserve space better.The included booklet wasn't a lot of help, but simply go online and you can find hundreds of recipes for anything you could possibly want to dry. Pinterest was especially helpful in finding ideas.All in all, this is a great beginner dehydrator. It will expand to 20 trays - but be aware that drying 20 trays of food will greatly increase the drying time. I personally won't be going much more than 8 - 10 trays. If I find myself really getting into dehydrating and needing more than 10 trays, a larger, more efficient dehydrator would be the way to go.

Really pleased with this, and I think after the novelty wears off I'll still be using it regularly. Right now just playing and experimenting with it. Dries fruit and veg well. I've also dehydrated hummus, black bean soup, seitan jerky and will try dying red lentil curry this week, as well as cooked rice and possibly other leftovers.Potential issues with inconsistent dying time due to 'user error,' if you will:When I dried kiwis, some pieces were chewier, others crisper because I wasn't making slices of uniform thickness. When slicing, I'd suggest using a mandolin or food processor when practicable,; otherwise, pay attention to uniformity.There are different dying times for similar, but not *exactly* the same things. I dehydrated standard hummus and roasted red pepper hummus at the same time, using the same weight for each. The latter took longer to dry. I'd recommend, if dehydrating prepared food, maybe do one thing at a time, or just be cognizant that slight differences in ingredients can cause dying time to differ.Again, really pleased and I think it's a great value for the price.

Performance: It works as expected. Go watch a video review. There are lots out there, and this is a staple of food dehydrators, so I won't review it in depths. Some notes though:- If you want the most out of this high-powered 1000w unit per drying cycle, you need to get more trays, which are not cheap. Otherwise buy a unit that uses less power. This is not a negative, this unit is just built to dry a lot of food at once.- the trays will not fit easily in the dishwasher unless they are laid flat... I hate dishes.- read the book that some with it so that you dry things in batches that dry at the same rate, otherwise you will have half your trays done and the other still moist.

Large and works. This was my first food dehydrator and maybe it is just the nature of one but I feel like the temperatures and times called out do not work well. They seem to dry out the outside too fast which you think is done early only to find them come back some. I turn down the temp and cook for the said time or even longer on my peppers to get them perfect. It just took a bit of playing around with time and temp to figure it out.

Be very gentle with the trays they will break if you're not cautious I tried to be gentle with mine but I lost one tray when trying to lift them apart it shattered

Good starter/ downfall is 1 temp..

All okay - No Issues.

Love this product so far. Yummy healthy foods made to munch on at will. Also great for making dry soups and stew mixes for later! The warranty is only down to a year (used to be lifetime warranty from ronco) but at roughly $30 its worth it to replace.

I like it

It does not take up much real estate on my counter. I dried several boxes of apple slices and pleased with the result. I also dehydrated multiple mixed veggies for a home made soup mix and it worked very well. The trays need to be rotated around as well as rotated up but that was not a problem for me. The trays were easy to clean. I am pleased with the purchase.

Unit works great but the trays deformed after using the unit to dry fruit at 135 degree For few hours. The unit is still usable but I believe is not as efficient as before.

Want that happy with the way it shrunk peas

It's okay' I bought this model with the thought the higher wattage would decrease drying time. It didn't. Most of what I dehydrate takes 20 to 24 hrs to dry. Foods do fall through the main tray grids..even large dices., so you need screens or leather pan tray inserts. One of each comes with the model as well as 4 standard trays. It is easy to clean but I am careful as the inner grids can break easily. you need a large sink to submerge. So after considering the cost of add on screens, trays, to reach the full 20 tray capacity, I could have bought the better rated Excalibur - 9 tray with timer! That is the dehydrator I thought I couldn't afford. Turns out I could! I will not add on to the Nesco any further and will save for the Excalibur. My recommendation is plan wisely for what your needs and wants are!

It takes much longer than the instructions indicated to dehydrate herbs and fruit. I have not tried meat yet. It does a good job overall, just plan it to take almost twice as long.

This works really well to dry fruits and veggies. However mine burned out after 8 uses. I have sent it back under warranty, but had to pay for packaging and shipping (about $30). Not sure whether keeping it to its own plug (with nothing else plugged into the outlet) will help in future longevity. The first time I plugged it in with something else is when it blew.

Although this brand new unit did a great job I was only able to use it three times before it didn't work any more. The third time, it quit and I had to unplug it and restart it. That worked okay. Tried to use it for a fourth batch of tomatoes today and it doesn't work at all, despite trying all the tricks. Frustrated. I've emailed Nessco, but haven't heard back yet as I contacted them on a Saturday. Hopefully this will get sorted out without too much difficulty. I guess I'll have to dry my lovely tomatoes in the oven. *frustrated*10/7/2013 Update - Nesco replied to me first thing this morning (I emailed my complaint on Saturday). They are having me send the head unit back for repair or replacement. Got an RMA #. Seems like the postage is on me, but I can live with that. Impressed with Nesco for their speedy reply. Bumping up one star as a result.

Cheaply made. No fan to circulate air. Does not make much noise.

Bottom is hard to clean

I need to read the instructions again. Not sure if the failure was operator error or the machine. Will try again after the first of the year.

I bought four of these for Xmas presents, left them in the original box. I took them out today and started wrapping them, the last one made rattling noise, I opened and the top tray was completely cracked. The other three that are wrapped will not know until after Christmas if trays are ok. I would like a replacement tray sent to me. Peggy Nerby_Crow.

I needed a second dehydrator to keep up with the harvest. I had seen Ronco for years on TV and thought this would be a good decision. It works just fine except that two of the trays partially melted. Not too happy with that since you only get 5 of them.

This product works fine for me. However, the big thing I want to point out is you DO need to rotate the trays every 2-4 hours. As you can see from the folks who wrote negative reviews the trays will melt if you just leave them in place for too long. I have never allowed mine to sit for more than 2-4 hours. I always re-stack and rotate them. The product does work perfectly provided that you do that. I would have given it a 5 star rating if not for the need to have to do this. Other dehydrators don't require this so... While this is priced very well and is a very good looking item in terms of appearance spending the 5-15 dollars more would allow you to have one that you don't have to babysit as much. For me... This item has worked wonderfully though. I only am able to do use it when I can be home all day though so that is the trade off. Depends on how much you want to spend but it is not a huge jump in price to get a model that doesn't need you to keep rotating the trays.ONE MORE GOOD POINT:- Unlike other dehydrators this one doesn't make any noise because it using heat and no fans.

Save your money.Takes 5 days to turn grapes into raisins, Not a good purchase.

It worked great for a few drying sessions. it's been broke and collecting space for some time. Customer service is non-existant.

Didn't work as well as I had expected. The dehydrating process took a long time and at the end, the fruit wasn't even fully dehydrated. I could tell that there was still some more dehydrating that was necessary. And thus, I returned this product and never spoke of it again.

Why it was mot specified its 110 volts only??!!Its not mentioned anywhere on description, which is misleading to misconception that its universal 110-220 volt.I have it thrown in a corner cause I still cannot find a proper electricity converter of 1000 wats, what a wast of resources!

OK but very slow. Takes several days of loud humming to dry out herbs. Works better with fruit slices.

Update: The review was written a couple of years ago. It is now the summer of 2016 and both have quit coming up to temperature. $200 almost, gone. Two years? Really? If you only need one for two years, fine. If not, consider another one. Great while they lasted, though.Original review: This little workhorse is going day and night, literally, as we are harvesting. Apples and cucumbers, mostly (I was surprised how good dried cukes are), and we are ordering another one to try to keep up with the produce coming in. Pears are on the way and the beets dry well, too. These things are great snacks through the rest of the year and drying them really reduces storage space. Actually, we stick a lot of the dried stuff in plastic bags in the freezer -- so we are sure they stay safe to eat.The dried foods slide off easily when they are ready, the dehydrator is very easy to use and does the job relatively quickly. I figure about six hours for 'wet' stuff like the apples and cukes. The bottom is designed to catch drips. It is a very good design but, as one of the one-star reviews mentioned, don't try to stack too many trays. The four it comes with are perfect for even drying. For us, it is worth it to order another one now and not just get more trays.

The dehydrator works great, but for the 5-Plastic Trays that's a different story. The trays are made of a clear, brittle plastic. When I first used the dehydrator I could hear the plastic expand, and when I turned it off I could hear it contract. After the first use, I was dehydrating sweet potatoes for our dogs, I found several cracks in the plastic trays. Another time I made beef jerky, and afterwards I found more cracks. Luckily I purchased the Product Protection Plan, which I will use to either replace the damaged trays, or the entire unit if that's not possible.

It was great in the beginning, but soon the temperature must be off because I noticed that the trays were cracking. The more I used the machine the more they cracked and even started melting. I had purchased the Square Trade warranty for the product and after numerous attempts to get the items replaced, Square Trade told me I had to deal with Ronco (the manufacturer) because it was still under the 1 year mark. So then after numerous attempts at getting a resolution with Ronco, I was told through emails that they would replace it but I would have to pay $10.90 for postage and handling. I am very irate, I don't think I should have to pay anything, it is a problem with the product itself. Why should I pay one more penny? I already paid for the Square Trade warranty that did me no good.

It melted the first time I used it.

Hard to clean . Not very warm .

Came with no cover and the plastic guard over the heating element melted on the first use. Will return. It did a great job on my dog treats with organic chicken breasts....dogs love them better than anything I have tried and I know the dog snacks are not from China and will not kill them.

This dehydrator is not worth purchasing. Things to look for in a decent appliance are: circulation fan, high enough wattage to dry items before you die of old age, temps up to 165 degrees in order to dry meats safely.This machine has none of these. You will need to manually rotate trays for even drying, at 125 watts it will take far to long to dry anything, it only gets warm enough to do meats.... spend a few more dollars and get a decent dehydrator!

I have used this product 8-10 times in the 2+ months I've owned it. After the second use, it has taken on the habit of shutting itself off periodically during the dehydration process. It sometimes restarts in a minute or so, but not always. Last night, it shut off with 2.5 hrs left on a 6 hour cycle, ruining 3lbs of jerky. Of course, I am outside the return window, so I eat the $100, but not the jerky.I would not recommend this product.

Just at one year and approx ten times of use the fan blade came off motor and the unit is worthless

This unit doesn't get your food past the point of rubbery. We tried bananas, jerky, strawberries. Had a cheap dehydrater as a kid and worked great. Not sure what's going on with this unit.

Just bought it, and fresh out of the box the unit is defective. The top motor started to over heat and the fan sounds like a truck with a tick tick tick sound. I am returning this item less than 3 hours from arriving on my doorstep. There are quality control problems here.Update on 4/1/16 . Just bought the Excalibur 3926TB Food Dehydrator and could not be more happy.

Worked great until it just died two hours into a batch of beef jerky. Left stuck with raw jerky. Called the company since it's still under warranty, they were very nice but now I have to package the power unit up and ship it back to them myself at my cost. They said they will examine and determine if they will repair or replace it. It is big and heavy so shipping will be costly and time consuming. Simply poor customer service.

I am very disappointed. I had the Harvest Dehydrator for 10 years of heavy use. When it died I knew I wanted another Nesco. I hoped this one would be even better with its top fan and advanced controls. Unfortunately it doesn't heat evenly and cannot handle even 10 trays of summer squash. I am running it hotter and longer and still getting uneven results. Maybe it's time to switch brands

purchased 12/26/2015 - trays fell apart as soon as I started using - called Ronco and I could not remember when I purchased and they refused return - they could have checked with Amazon but they did not - I threw away broken trays - major safety hazard - I would like replacement no return - very disturbed - Dave Hawkins

Update: April 3rd 2017, POS, not worth buying, I have had mine now since July, 2016, trays have melted, called RONCO they want me to pay for a replacement. That is just BS. Buy a different brand. I need a new machine now, I still need the machine, I need to make treats for my dog. .............Made sweet potato chips for my dogs yesterday and I am making bananas today in it. Works great and fast. My dog has allergies, finding him treats is hard, he can only have duck and potato or sweet potato. This means now I can make his sweet potatoes to eat. A lot cheaper than buying him treats. Probably be able to give him other vegetables too, like carrots and green beans.

Functions well for drying fruit, but it's design that allows all juices to leak down onto and bake onto the heating element is extremely poor design. I would not buy this one even for my enemies!

Big flop! I had to click at least one star to be able to comment. Trays melted with first use. Thought maybe I did something wrong-NO. Just junk. No temp setting to adjust. Wrote to Ronco on April 1 and didn't even get an apology, comment or anything except a confirmation my email was received. I have been checking my email (and my spam) for a response. Nothing......Here are a couple of pictures I sent to Ronco.

How do products like this actually make it to production/market???Can we continue to make things any CHEAPER? I used to have one of these for a couple of years and experienced ZERO problems with that unit. Gave it away at one point, and then bought this as a replacement. Two of the trays have literally melted from the heat after only TWO uses...I hope RONCO goes out of business.

My wife and I bought this hoping to use it to dehydrate veggies, fruits, and make beef jerky. It works great for dehydrating, but the plastic trays are terrible. After a couple of weeks' use, the trays started to split and melt and fall apart. Normally, I'd chalk it up to "wear and tear" but to replace the trays, each tray costs $10! With the unit coming in at $40-$50, replacing all of the broken trays would be the cost of the entire unit.I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. Once the trays and all that are beyond the point of no return, I will replace the dehydrator with an Excalibur. Seems to be the better brand.