Side by Side Comparison of: Excalibur vs Nesco

Received on time, unpacked, washed it all down, ran for 1 hour on lowest setting, let cool, 1 hour on med, let cool, 1 hour on the highest setting, let cool. I had some previous dried lavender that had re-hydrated in the air - I put that in on a medium heat overnight, just to get rid of any potential plastic or other odors. I loaded it up the next morning and have been running it 24 hours since then. Very happy with the way it works, the quantity it will hold, and the quality of the unit. I used the 105 degree setting on the first batch, to try to preserve as much of the living enzymes as possible, it took about 30 hours to dry a full load at that temperature. The second load made turkey jerky at 150 degrees in about 10 hours. I could not be happier with this unit. If you just want to dry some bananas here and there and some herbs, it may not be worth $200 - but if you have a large garden like I do it is invaluable. I expect it will pay for itself this year by preserving food that otherwise would go bad.

I make jerky one a year for Christmas and this thing made my life soo much easier. There is a lot of sqft and I can make a lot in 2 batches. Works fantastic.Now I'm using it to make dehydrated backpacking food and its soo easy! I had extra space so I just started throwing stuff in (apple slices, orange slices, Kale, zucchini, cucumbers) it all came out great! This is a must have.

Over the last couple years our church has held several classes on provident living to include canning and dehydrating. I've had dehydrators before and I have a smoker for my meats. When my wife and I talked about getting a new dehydrator we wanted to spend the money and get a good one. My wife did some research and felt this one was the best. After I bought it I watched several YouTube videos on dehydrating on one of the videos the woman commented on how she hoped to one day get an Excalibur. I took this as an indication that we made the correct choice. Later my wife was dehydrating some vegetables and the instructions indicated to set the unit at a given temperature and stated that was the highest most dehydrators will go. The Excalibur goes higher. I've dried fruits and vegetables made fruit rollups and am happy with how everything works.

I have a flock of egg laying chickens and I get way more eggs than I can use. I use my Excalibur Dehydrator to dehydrate the excess eggs and make egg powder. I had to figure out a way to do it without making a mess because there is no lip on the trays and the scrambled egg mixture was leaking off of the trays. I tried several different things but ultimately what worked was 12 inch pizza trays that I purchased from my local dollar store. Now, by using the pizza trays in my Excalibur, I can dehydrate 4 dozen eggs at a time with no mess! I love it!I have also dehydrated bananas, apples, and pineapples with great success. This is a great machine!

Finally bought the Excalibur! I thought my Nesco was fine, until it went on the fritz, and I finally got this. So superior in the trays, the mesh, the design, and even the quality of the dehydrated food! I pondered the 5 Tray vs the 9 Tray, and I AM SO GLAD I GOT THE 9 TRAY!!! I also bought 2 of the Excalibur Brand Non Stick Sheets, which make making corn chips a breeze! White vs Black does not matter. GREAT! GREAT! GREAT!

Love Love Love I had a Nesco snackmaster square dehydrator to start with and when that heater burned out after 1 year I bought this dehydrator. It is amazing. Everything dries faster and more even than my other one. I just love that I can pull out a tray instead of stacking. I can put as bulky of item as I want in it and just leave out shelves. When I first unpacked the dehydrator my husband said wow for 200 dollars I did not expect cheap plastic, but we kept it. It may seem like cheap plastic but it is much more sturdy than it seems. Its light weight so I can pick it up. Nothing sticks on my shelves. I wash the shelves in the dishwasher. The only thing I don't like is in the very back in the bottom crumbs of my food gathers and I cannot reach in there to clean without a screw driver removing the screen. There must be a better way to clean. I found I never never need a timer cause you don't want your food rehydrating on you so you don't want it shutting off in the middle of the night to rehydrate before you even wake. But then it depends on what your dehydrating, I can always buy a plug in timer if I ever need one. All in all I love my dehydrator and would buy the same exact one again.

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,

I'll begin by saying that I absolutely do recommend the dehydrator. It is sturdy and works well.The Good: Durable; dries a lot of food at a time; makes *SAFE* jerky (most dehydrators do not heat the meat sufficiently on their own to ensure safety); the trays clean a bit more easily than most dehydrators; ten year manufacturer warranty.The bad: it takes up a lot of counter space and is heavy enough that you wont' want to move it often; it also vibrates rather loudly where the cover attaches; it is pretty expensive.

Only had for one day. Arrived on time and works as expected, but puts out 125 degrees so we are using it outside because we don't want to add that much heat to our home when it's already 90 degrees outside. The only issue I have so far is that there are 9 trays and we only received 8 liner sheets. And there doesn't seem to be any way to contact the company to get a replacement sheet. Amazon is set up to replace the entire item, which I don't want to do. Frustrating!

Bought this to replace the small inexpensive dehydrator we'd been using.Best purchase I've made in a long while. It's efficient and fast. Love having temperature settings and the food dehydration book that came with it.It does put out quite a bit of heat and takes up considerable space. We have it on a small table in our garage and run it at night mostly.The only thing I would change is the "door" or cover. The trays slide in like an oven rack, then the cover hangs over the front to close it. It can be bumped and knocked off. (Hasn't happened, but there is the potential)

It's great product. Using it for green chips, veg chips, fruit leather, prunes, dried herb etc... You do need to rotate trays for fruit leather that's why the 4 stars but you will be opening it out of excitement & to check it it's done:) so does not bother me. I would recommend using external timer attached to this unit. Very satisfied with the product. Already have recommended the product.Added advantage my 4 YO (3 YO when I bought) started understanding taste difference of store bought and homemade. I clarified on why the tastes differ with preservatives added food vs natural food. Now before popping anything in mouth, my kids asks if particular food came from factory!!!

Its high capacity allows us to make a good amount of dried, bananas, apples, jerky, etc. As a minor flaw, the top and bottom most trays do not seem to get as good of an airflow as the other trays in between do get. So it is necessary to move the top and bottom trays at a half way point or so during dehydration. Also, the temperature control knob felt flimsy and was not secured well to the main unit. it does not have a built-in timer, we bought a timer (e.g., Belkin) for about ten dollars and don't have to worry about it over-drying foods. Here's a hint for making jerky: don't operate this inside your house unless you don't mind the odor of jerky being dehydrated to fill your entire house.

I received the dehydrator a few days ago and it's been running almost 7/24 ever since. My first impression is that it seems a bit pricey considering it's mostly plastic, and nothing fancy at that. A tiny motor and fan, and some really basic thermostatic controller and that's it. Even at the best price I could find anywhere $225 seems a bit much for what you get. If you consider the 5 year warranty (10 years if bought directly from Excalibur for $250) perhaps that evens it out a bit. Time will tell whether it will prove all that dependable. At least I've got 5 years to test drive it. As for noise level, it's a bit quieter than my old Le'Equip dehydrator. It's still a white noise in the background and anything with a fan you're going to hear. You will need to ratchet up the TV volume if it's anywhere nearby. The plastic door that hangs down in front vibrates (annoyingly) intermittently. I had to wedge a small piece of cardboard in between the door and door jamb to solve that..... a minor inconvenience. The first thing I did was stick a digital thermometer probe inside to check the accuracy of the thermostat. My first reaction was " this thing runs way hotter than the thermostat setting". Then I read the book and realized that the air temperature is always going to be 20-30 degrees above the food temperature when you account for the water content of the food being dried and the effect of evaporation. I'm still not clear on what about when the food is nearly dry and the air temperature is higher than you'd expect. This only really matters if you are following a raw food diet and believe that anything above around 115 deg. destroys valuable enzymes. Otherwise, the hotter the better as the food dries more quickly. It dries much more evenly than the Le'Equip and you don't have to contend with that dead spot in the middle where the heat is pushed up through. This is true with most of the lower priced dehydrators, especially ones with round trays. Square trays with no gap in the middle is the only way to go I think. For now I'm giving it 4 stars based on the price I paid. If I paid any more, I'd expect more.

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.

As dehydrators go, it does a good job, and doesn't have too large of a footprint. I prefer the square trays over the round ones of other dehydrators, they are easier to load up. It IS noisy. Better care could be taken to dampen the vibrations. I had to turn it off to watch TV, my kitchen opens into my living room, but was fine when I put it in the utility room. Other than the noise, and a door that just hangs on, it is fine. A timer would have been nice, but I wasn't willing to pony up an extra $100 just for a timer, I'll grab one for ten bucks at Lowes and have it around for other uses too.

Received fairly quickly. Used today to dehydrate apples and pears. Did a fairly good job. HOWEVER, it is fairly noisy. No noise except fan without racks so fan not hitting screen. Checked to makee sure unit was level - it is. Put racks in and makes noise. Isolated to racks 5,6 & 7. Pull those out slightly and no noise. Seems to be a vibration issue. Looked at screen again, even with those racks in, shouldn't be hitting fan. Will call company but probably will have to put up with noise.

I bought this because I grow a lot of peppers and herbs. I used it first to dehydrate bananas, I think its a right of passage to do bananas first.They took a long time to dry out, way longer then the books said, however I do live in a humid place on an island.I dried some thai chili's, ghost peppers, Hawaiian chili peppers and all came out as expected. I didnt dry one batch real well and they got moldy after several months however I dried the crap out of one batch and those guys will be good to go in 5 years.I stored some of the dried chilis in my spice cabinet and some in the freezer in order to see what the differences are.Pros:Huge space and a lot of racks to allow for a lot of dryingEasy to operateAble to do multiple things at once, herbs, chili'sCons:No timerHave to move shelf's aroundKeeps the room a little warmI will be hooking this up to try and see how much electric it takes to operate, be neat to find out. I also should have gotten one a little bit smaller and with a timer however I usually go big when i buy!Will be trying my own jerky out soon!

This is my first dehydrator, and I was reading many revues before I bought it. I expected to see better performance; it makes a noise and I don't like my first results. I was able to get better fruit leather in my oven while I was waiting for the dehydrator. I will try again, maybe the instruction is not good; I closely followed it.

Had to have a friend hook the wires up in the back before it would work. The wires were never connected to the motor when I received it. Your ad should say "some assembly required".

I was very excited to try my new Excalibur. However, it made an awful racket when I turned it on. The directions said the fan might rub against the screen, and to gently pull the screen away from the fan blades. My husband said the fan was loose and had shifted backwards. He tightened it up, or what ever needed to be down and it worked just fine.I must admit, im a bit shocked at how cheaply made the unit is, all cheap plastic and the trays are so delicate! My Harbor Freight Dehydrator I bought years ago for 25 dollars has sturdier trays. I don't like how the door works. I suppose the high price is for the fan and heat setting.The unit does work as advertised, though. All in all, I'm glad I bought it. I'm more happy I paid 30% off.I really wish I had the unit with the timer on it. I would suggest anyone buying the Excalibur to buy the unit with the timer.

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.

Don't buy this one, purchase the one with a timer, Excalibur 3926TB Food Dehydrator, Black. Lesson learned!

Very large and cumbersome and not very efficient.

This is a fabulous dehydrator, however contrary to the info that comes with it, IT DOES NOT WORK on 220-240v power & the unit had completely burnt out within 2 minutes of being plugged in. Very, very disappointing.

So far just tried drying sage and it's taking over a week

I returned my Excalibur 3900B Dehydrator. The fan was very loud. When running the fan vibrated the back panel making a low rumbling noise. I did like the overall area I could use for dehydrating.

I like it very much,but I wish they put a timer there. Since I have a persimmon tree, I use it once a year to dry the persimons for snack.

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.

Was excited to try this with the excellent reviews. Unfortunately, the first time I turned it on, the fan made a popping noise and stopped working within 2 minutes of it being switched on. The heating element works and glows red.I would be keen to try it again if a replacement machine or repair service could be arranged.

Did not receive the liner sheets that was supposed to come with the dehydrater

I was so excited to receive the "best" home dehydrator. Was looking forward spending the summer dehydrating fresh fruits and vegetables for the winter. I was extremely disappointed to open the box and learn my item was defective. The trays don't stay in the dehydrator once loaded because they all slope down slightly to the right of the machine. The top few will stay in unloaded, they get worse as you get closer to the bottom. Also came missing two of the clear sheets with holes in them that sit on top of the tray. Tried to set the machine on several different surfaces to ensure it was level. I was expecting a top notch product after all the glowing reviews that can be found on the internet. I will unfortunately have to search for a different product.I am attaching a photo. I added yellow lines that are straight to illustrate the slant.

arrived damaged

The fan didn't work when I got it. But Amazon was awesome on returning it. Did like the trays and how much it would hold.

The equipment arrived promptly with a stern warning that returns would be accepted only within the first 30 days with an authorization certificate. The clock is ticking but all efforts to communicate with the company have failed. The registration page on the website contains no data entry boxes and calls to the misnamed Customer Support extension produce, after three or four rings, an interval of background noise (is that the sound of someone tied up trying to get free?), followed by termination of the call. Emails go unanswered. And all I wanted to do was to register the product. Now I want to get the return authorization.I have not used the dehydrator, but I do not wish to do business with such an incompetent company.

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