Hamilton Beach - 5 Tray Digital Food Dehydrator - Silver/White

Works great! I have dehydrated all kinds of fruits. Bananas below. So yummy! It seems to take a little longer than the recommendations in the book, but I am loving the outcomes! It’s small enough to fit on my counter. Easy to clean. It sounds like a small fan is blowing so the noise isn’t too bad at all. And the price is great!

This is my first dehydrator and while I am still getting the hang of using the item to its fullest potential, I can certainly assert that I am pleased with my purchase. After doing some research I knew digital controls were a must to ensure the temperature was correct. I originally thought five trays might be a bit excessive for my needs but, as it turns out, having the additional space is fantastic, if not necessary! And I love the tray accessories. Finally, I have to mention how pleased I am with the item being cool to the touch during use. As a klutz with a smaller kitchen, this could potentially be a lifesaver. (Literally.) My only problem is making sure the dried mango makes it from the dehydrator to a container without interference from my mouth. For my purchase, Best Buy provided me with a price match to Amazon.com, which made this deal even better!

So far, so good with this dehydrator. I’ve used it to dry sourdough starter, and it worked really well—no issues and easy-to-follow directions. Bought extra silicone mesh sheets on Amazon and cut them to fit, rather than ordering extras from Hamilton Beach. The silicone ones worked great. I’m really looking forward to using it for other things like fruit, veggies, and jerky down the road.

I bought this Hamilton Beach dehydrator to preserve my organic produce from my backyard garden/orchard and, with grocery produce that are on sale. Tried making kale chips the first time and it turned out very crisp. Also made carrot, banana and mango chips but they turned out a bit chewy. Still experimenting to find the ideal temperature and drying time for each produce/combination. I do not intend to make meat jerky since hand cleaning the trays take time, besides you don't want cross contamination. Would have given it 5 stars if not for the noticeable noise of the fan motor.

This was not the cheapest dehydrator available, but the cheapest with 500W power. This is the minimum you need to really make the process efficient, so I think it is still a good deal. Its design and functionality rivals some of the more expensive brands and it is an improvement over the Cuisinart I used to own. In this one, the trays do not need to be rotated to dry uniformly. The design is based on the central “column” which distributes hot air into each tray. I dried apples according to the manual (135F, sliced, 12h) and it worked. They were chewy, but it is how I like them. They may get crispier after longer drying, but it is not a freeze dryer, so they will never be powdery-dry like the crispy freeze-dried fruit sold commercially. The base does get warm, but not hot. It is not too loud (Cuisinart was much louder). To me it sounds like a cooling fan in the old desktop computer. I also like the rectangular design – much easier to fit on a typical countertop and take advantage of the space. Only the digital display is funky. When the machine is on the countertop and you are standing and looking at the display, you see 188. You have to look at it straight up front to see the actual number. I also wish the trays had translucent sides to see the progress of drying on different trays. And I hope it does not die on me when it is time to dry persimmons…