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

I’m have had this dehydrator over a year and use it often (probably at least once a week) during garden season. It has shown no wear and I love how much space it has. I had a small, heat-setting-only with on/off button dehydrator before and this upgrade changed the game. Consistent, even drying and easy to use.

After using this dandy dehydrator for the first 3 days after receiving it, I couldn't be more pleased. In the past I used an Excalibur. It's size and design were a slight inconvenience to work with which prompted me to let my daughter have it. She began turning out dehydrated nuts ( better nutritional value if soaked in brine and dehydrated) that were delicious. Made me want a dehydrator again, but it wouldn't be right to ask for it back. Hence, the search began. After searching off and on for over a month, the decision was made to purchase this HB dehydrator. The decision was based on Reviews ( very very grateful for Review capability on Amazon), the size, technology features, and price.The pecans, almonds, & walnuts dehydrated perfectly. The peanuts, even after 14 hours, still had some unknown amount of less than crispy nuts. I concluded it was because of the peanuts themselves.As the machine is operated in a dark corner on the hearth there was no concern for exposure to light. The clear lid was more of an advantage than not in being able to check at-a-glance on the process.Clean up was a breeze. The noise level was obvious, but not disturbing. It was much like another reviewer described as less than a window fan.There are only 2 suggestions I wish Hamilton Beach would consider. The manual that came with the dehydrator was sufficient, but wish they would have included a recipe for Nuts. And as the tray's grill is fairly large allowing pieces of nuts to fall through, more mesh screens would certainly be worth the extra expense. So far, it doesn't appear they can be purchased on Amazon. I will go to HB's site for possibly buying more. And perhaps I will go to Michael's like one reviewer did, and buy some thin plastic sheeting that was reported to work very well. But since it's not likely PBA free, I would have to pause on doing that.IMHO, Hamilton Beach has designers that turn out functional well-made products that seem to take into consideration the users. I have purchased many HB products and cannot remember one that was unsatisfactory. I'm an HB fan as Hamilton Beach Has It (for me).

Dehydrator works really well. Love how you can control the heat and the timer. It’s a bit noisy but that’s alright. It does hold quite a bit of food- worth the price!

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!

Did not write a review on this for months as I wanted to use the heck out of it before I did a review. The "Fat Wyoming Norwegian" gives it very high marks for sure. I dehydrate all my jerky in this during the winter months. It is easy to clean if you stack up the trays and spray a little cooking oil on them before loading. I like the clear lid and the digital timer and temperature controls. I have never been to Hamilton Beach before (ha) but this Hamilton Beach was a winner for me and lets you get your jerky just like you like it. It comes with two fruit mesh trays that fits into the other trays (I use them for the tiny bits of jerky that are always present and try to fall through the regular trays).Sure, we all wish our dehydrator's had more square inches to place our perfections on but this one is fine and does not have a huge footprint.Glad I chose this one as there are many, many to choose from. All I know, it that this one works for me.

Perfect dehydrator. Evenly dries fruit, from the top tray to the bottom with no need to rotate. Very easy to clean, the trays are very durable and food does not stick to them. I love the temp and timer feature. It comes with a recipe guide telling what temp and time to set for certain standard items, which was helpful--no guesswork. It doesn't take up much counter space but fits quite a bit of sliced food per tray. I can dry about 5-6 apples at a time. With all trays full, it takes 10 hours at 135 degrees to dry apples and they end up with incredible flavor! I have never had a silent/quiet dehydrator so the sound of this one was expected - it is equivalent to a fan set on low. I actually prefer the soft fan sound so that I can hear when it stops running/completes a cycle so I can start the next batch. It's also very handy that it auto shuts off after the time is complete, b/c I can start new batches at any time of day and let it run overnight.