It makes great beef jerky, dried eggplant, carrots, fruit etc.. I make sure the lid is closed (no holes) and it takes about 8 hours for three racks of food to dry. Powerful, quiet. Ordered with Marys complete dehydrator cookbook, great book for people just getting started and those who didn't know eggs and milk (and other cool stuff) can be dehydrated. Looking forward to healthy snacks for some time to come. I love the trick of dipping fruit and veggies in o.j. or lemon juice so they don't shrivel or get brown from oxidation. working on making leather or fruit roll ups with applesauce and yogurt, cant wait! great kitchen tool, to use extra food from dinner and snacks. Doggies love the jerky as well as the man!

I'm sure this dehydrator would be fine for simple things like making fruit roll ups or beef jerky, but I tried to make kale chips with it and it doesn't have enough height on each layer to accommodate the kale, it felt like I was squishing it. And there is no way to make more room because the trays are all stacked up on each other. Also, note that the temperature settings are low, med, high. There is no way to set a specific temperature.

Works great for beef jerky and easy to clean, the air circulation is the only issue. You have to rotate the trays quite a bit during drying but for the price, its not a big deal.