Side by Side Comparison of: Presto vs Ronco

These work great for making homemade fruit roll ups! I use sugar free apple sauce and sugar free jello mix in the dehydrator for about 5 hours on these inserts and my children LOVE THEM! I honestly haven't used them for anything else yet but they wipe off super easily and I'm sure I could find more uses if I could stop making fruit roll ups long enough to try it out lol

Just used these for the first time. A light spray of cooking spray and the fruit leather peeled right off. They fit my 06300 Presto perfecty. The one recommendation I have for users though, is to make sure to add a little honey or something sweet to your puree, as my first batch of fruit leather came out pretty bland. Too much banana mixed in I think.

These are great! I get quite a lot of use out of them for not only fruit roll-ups but I also make Spirulina bars and flax crackers.

These work awesome! I'm glad I ordered the extras for my new machine because I've been cranking out fruit rollups. Such a great use for fruit thats about to go bad. I spritz the tray with some coconut oil spray before pouring the puree on and they come right off after dehydrating, no problem. Easy to clean, great purchase

This product works great for making fruit leather. The instructions direct you to apply non-stick cooking spray to the sheet before coating it with your fruit puree, but I've forgotten that step several times and still had no issues peeling my dried fruit leather off.

These were very easy to use. I have used the sheets more than the plain trays, actually. The only limitation is the shape of the dehydrator itself. Being round, you don't end up with product that can be cut into uniform strips. Other than that, it works well, and is easy to clean.

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!

These worked great to make strawberry leather.

Made fruit leather for the first time and have no idea how that would can be done without this product. I never used another product so have nothing to compare. They work as intended and we ate the fruit so now time to try other recipes!

works great love it

I've just begun to use my dehydrator, so my experience is minimal. However, both the mesh & solid (fruit rollup) sheets have worked fine so far. The only drawback for both is they don't fit tightly, & slightly higher sides would be useful

First, I have to say, my dehydrator is the best thing I have ever received. I love it and love all the possibilities. These "plates" work great. I just blend some fruit (similar to a smoothie), poor it in, and let the dehydrator do the work. I do wish that the edges were a little higher, because sometimes the liquid overflows, but that's user error. Love the Product.

These sheets work pretty well in my vintage Mr. Coffee dehydrator. They are a little bit taller in the middle, so I just can't use them in the top tray, or the lid doesn't sit on top correctly. That's ok, because they otherwise do a great job for making flax crackers and chia + fruit cracker/leather, which is what I got them for.

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.

It works okay. I am just not sure making home made fruit strips is worth it. Some parts will dry out quickly and get hard whereas another area remains wet.

Works just fine, although it scratches easily and it isn't non-stick at all. I suggest some parchment paper or a cooking spray.

more sticky than I had hoped, but okay

Oil them down when making fruit rolls. I had to soak and trash six trays worth because they stuck to it. After I oiled them and put my fruit mixture down it worked fine.

The trays are fine, however, the first wash in the dishwasher they warped. We turn off the high heat to save electricity when washing dishes. They were on the bottom rack because they'll never fit in the top. They are still usable as long as they are perfectly balanced in the dehydrator. Otherwise the puree runs off the warped side.

They are smaller and weaker than the original ones that came with the dehydrator. They still fit okay, just wish they were bigger.

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.

They did not work in my dehydrator.

It takes way to long to dry food and makes a lot of noise. i thought i would love it and use it all the time. I'm trying to sell it....

Did not fit the dehydrator trays

I bought this as it was suggested for my dehydrator, however the size was too small for my trays. Will not buy again.

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!

This was part of the add on with the dehydrator, I only receive one tray instead of two.

Followed the directions and it makes nothing even close to fruit leathers or roll ups. Really bad the kids wouldnt even eat them! Gave them to the dog.

Don't fit the my dehydrator

Why bother? I just use wax paper and it's a lot easier to peel. These came as an add on item, I had decided not to buy them and somehow they got plugged onto my order the next time I logged in without really asking me.

arrived cracked

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.