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

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).

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 food I 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.

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.

I bought this to make dog treats. I was disgusted with the warnings about buying them, so I really paid attention to the ingredients. I then spent some guilt ridden hours over what we had been feeding our babies. A downside of making treats without preservatives is that they can get moldy. Add in humid Florida weather, then make room in your freezer. Hence, the dehydrator. I spent weeks comparing makes & models, going back & forth. From other reviewers I knew that I wanted a timer, the right fan placement, and not too noisy. Price of course, for what I was going to use it for. This fit the bill. I started just drying the dog treats after baking them but then I got cocky and decided to make jerky. OK so the 1st batch was disgraceful and inedible. Hint: you are warned to not make the meat too thick. Well the opposite is true- don't make it too thin, either! I had the butcher slice some meat for me, but I also found thin slices of sirloin that I simply had to cut in half with scissors. Perfect. I partially froze a chicken breast to slice it, and that was easy. Flank steak is wonderful. I even sliced a beef heart and wrapped it with sweet potato strips that I steamed for a few minutes to soften. While I've made some mistakes, they were all mine, the unit performed great. I never have to move items around because one section is drying faster. Keep everything the same size, or at least the same size on each tray where you can pause the unit to remove a tray and keep the rest going. I have 6 months at this and I couldn't be happier. That includes 3 dogs (one diabetic ) one daughter and one very happy jerky loving son-in-law. Not to mention the money I've saved and why I bought it in the first place. If offered a store bought treat or a homemade one, they immediately go for homemade. Smart dogs!