Presto 06301 Dehydro Digital Electric Food Dehydrator

I am new in the world of dehydrating (been at it for about 6 months). I found this in my search for the solution to my kids expensive taste for Jerky. I took a leap or faith, per say, and purchased this and NEVER LOOKED BACK! My only complaint is completely on me.... I should have bought a bigger one!!! I am now making jerky for my entire family and taking orders from co-works and making cheap homemade healthy snacks for the people and animals in my life. I am considering buying another one in the near future just to keep up! My Chihuahua is very dear to me and I was concerned about the treats I was buying in the stores as the only ones I could afford were made overseas; Made in USA were just too pricey. ,(Don't get me wrong family comes first, but lets face it you have less control with pet food and my pets are members of my family as well) Well now he eats like a king! I can dehydrate anything for him! (except pork, you can't dehydrate pork safely from what I have read) I can purchase boneless skinless chicken breasts from the store or I go to a friend of mine and purchase raw organic chicken from her makeshift farm at a dirt price (a whole chicken traded for a live young chick) and 4 hours later I have heaps of treats at a fraction of the cost of the commercial dogs treats without any mystery or artificial ingredients, just chicken. I am now expanded into the fruit realm of dehydrating and now for my family and co-workers they get Jerky and fruit leathers (Fruit roll ups) to order. I have found the fruit leathers to be a wonderful project for the kids. They are learning to cook in a safe manner for their age, learning what tastes good mixed together and what doesn't. and the money I save from not having to throw out slightly over ripe fruit..... I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that this machine has already paid for itself in 6 months!Functions:- Has digital controls for temp and timer.- Timer works 2 ways:- You can set it for 4 hours and walk away and the machine will shut off when the time is up. (set it and forget it!)- You can start the machine w/o setting the timers and it counts the time it has been on.- If you used the timer, a green light flashes when the time is up. So it is very easy to check. You can tell from across the house.- Temp ranges from 95 degrees - 165 Degrees- Timer goes into double digit hours.- Trays and lid are dishwasher safe on top shelf only, you must hand wash the mechanical portion. (but I used a fruit leather tray under the jerky trays to catch any drips and crumbs to keep the unit clean, and then I can just throw that in the dish washer also. :-), laziness is the mother of invention in my world.)- The noise it produces is simply white noise from the fan. I can place this in the garage or just in another room and I forget it's even on. 1/4 of the noise a box window fan makes by my estimate.- Mine came with 1-lid, 1-dehydrater, 2-fruits leather trays, 2-fruits drying trays, 5-jerky trays, and wait for it......... Instructions!!!!Please don't hesitate take the leap I did. You won't regret it!

Excellent product, awesome for making jerky, highly recommend.

Update after 1 1/2 years of moderate usage: this dehydrator continues to perform very well. I purchased a couple of extra trays and screens as well as a tray for fruit leather. NOTE: I find the fruit leather tray extra useful as I put it in the very bottom tray to catch any stray bits or drips, then stack the other loaded trays on top of that.I am doing a lot more dehydrating this summer, so I just ordered a second one of this wonderful dehydrator.Original post:After reading about using a food dehydrator to make “sun dried” tomatoes (which I usually do in my oven), I spent a couple of days reading about dehydrators online and getting an idea which were the best for home use. After also reading reviews on Amazon for those reputed to be better choices I chose this dehydrator along with 2 extra regular drying screens for the unit.Knowing that it was finally time to be able to harvest a good crop of Roma tomatoes from my garden I was glad when this dehydrator unit arrived. I prepared the base and screens for use (ran the screens through my dishwasher on a short cycle), and then loaded it up with slices of the tomatoes. Turned the slices over once and rotated the screens at the same time, about half way through the drying process.This morning I gathered the dehydrated slices for storage, then washed screens in dishwasher and reloaded with more tomato slices. Easy process from start to finish.The lid is clear making it easy to do visual checks. The size of the drying trays are generous. When running, the unit sounds like my tower fan, so not annoying. Setting temperature and timer are quite simple. The trays fit together very nicely for usage, and then can be restacked in a very compact manner for space saving storage. The booklet that comes with the unit is helpful. I am a little disappointed in the “Classic Jerky Spice” packet that comes with the dehydrator as the ingredients listed are mainly sugar, brown sugar and maple sugar, plus a few preservatives. Ugh! That, however, is inconsequential.All in all, I am very well pleased with this unit so far. If I encounter any problems down the road I will amend my review, but this unit seems to be well made and easy to use at this point.

Works well. I made jerky with it for my significant other and some treats for my dog, and I tried the jerky. I usually hate jerky, but I loved this.Machine itself works well, lots of options to customize the setting. I can see using it this harvest season to dry seeds for saving, spices and herbs, and vegetables. I will also dry liquids using the fruit puree tray, so that I can make seasoning powders and preserve foods. I have also successfully washed the trays in the dishwasher.My only quibble is that especially for an apartment dweller, the unit is larger than expected, and a bit of a pain to take out and set up if you only want to dry a small amount of something. Also rather loud, so can be distracting in a small space. I wish it came in a model with a much smaller diameter (a "mini"), but with multiple trays so that you can still add on and dry a large amount of items. As it is, it takes up about the entirety of one section of kitchen counter (i.e. the size of one drawer/door width). Though, if you expect to use this for large batches at a time, the size will likely be an advantage. Overall, a good value with a lot of trays and options that will essentially cover everything you will likely need.