Nesco FD-1018P 1000 Watt Food Dehydrator Kit with 5 Trays - Electric Drying Machine for Jerky, Fruits, Herbs & Vegetables - Perfect for Home Kitchen, Camping & Food Preservation

Returned the first one due to Amazon's crappy packaging. I will say this, the return was super painless since it was shipped from Amazon themselves. I just clicked a couple of buttons, repackaged and put the thing on the porch, UPS picked it up the next day, the day after I got my replacement via rushed shipping. Didn't cost me more than 5 cents worth of tape to reseal the box. Kudos to Amazon for that, and shame on them for the crappy packaging to start with.As to the actual product, I've had the dehydrator for about a week now, and used it a couple of times. Overall, the quality is good (not great, but still good). The plastic trays are a little lighter than I would prefer but adequate, and getting them to click and lock together is reasonable but could be easier. You can't put the hard trays through a heat cycle in the dishwasher, and the silicone inserts (almost always have to be used) need to be hand soaked/washed. A little bit of a pain, but not too bad. All and all, better than average quality and maintainability, but not perfect.The results obtained are VERY good, the unit does get everything on every rack at the same temp and humidity, with no hot/cold spots. I got in a hurry and just went and bought some thin slicked sirloin, spent one minute reading the directions, cut into strips and soaked a few hours in teriyaki, red pepper and a dash of soy sauce, then cranked it up to max for just under 5 hours. My wife hates store jerky and won't eat it, but she loved this. (you do need to know how to cut the meat, against the grain, etc.) I also did some fruit dipped in some sugar, which gets brown but came out ok. They have to be done at a lower temperature, so they will take twice as long. The unit is a little noisy, but any dehydrator is going to be since it *must* have a fan. The thing *does* have enough power to do the job quickly. No timer, just temp and on/off, but you really can't use a timer anyway, as each batch will always be different and you don't want it kicking off early. If you are into dehydrating anything, you are just going to have to baby sit a little.I plan to use for drying herbs, beans/peas from the garden, and the occasional fruits. I'm already confident that it will work perfect for these uses. I'm also convinced that I will end up buying a tray or two as replacements over the next 10 years, but really, that isn't so bad, and they are readily available. If someone was planning to use this for commercial use, well, it might not be enough machine for that. If you expect to use it once or twice a week, year round, then it should hold up fine. In all, I would call it medium duty and a reasonably priced dehydrator for regular home use.==== UPDATE ====Changed from four to five stars after using it a few months regularly. We have made a ton of jerky with this unit and it always does exceptionally well, and perfectly even. I'm very happy with my purchase! The silicone inserts are a bit weird to clean (I soak them a day) and WILL stain a bit from soy sauce/teryaki, but that doesn't affect how they work. If you want a good quality dehydrator, just buy it.