The children and I purchased this item for Dad for Christmas. One thing we did not plan for was Dad being home when the UPS truck arrived. Since it was delivered in its original box (and we knew this could happen) he of course could not wait until Christmas. Since I have not read the manual or used the unit, I can only tell you of my observances and the enjoyable outcome.
They (my husband and son) are using this daily. They have made dried apples, pears, pineapple, peaches, and fruit roll. They all were great! My son had to put a note on the unit so we would stop "stealing before completion". My husband bought a roast, sliced it thin, and marinated it in teriaki overnight. The beef jerky was the best. I am not a beef eater ~ but I had to taste it. My son even tried canned fruit. Please note: If you do this, expect the fruit to be teeny tiny and a bit sweet. My husband orders homemade smoked bratwurst, which is supposed to hang dry for two to three weeks. He placed it in the dehydrator and it was ready to eat in 3 hours.

It takes some adjustment hearing the fan. This is not really a problem as you can relocate it to a basement or laundry room as we do. I am the only person this sometimes annoys, as I am not one for extra noise in the evening. Cleaning is also very quick and easy.

Before I bought this make and model ~ I researched websites, catalogs, asked coworkers and relatives that have the much cheaper brands from discount stores. I decided to spend the extra dollars for a system that can be added to at anytime, has a fan for better drying, and has easy cleanup. This was a wonderful Christmas gift. I highly recommend it.

This is a fine dehyrator. It's quick and powerful. The description says the trays are 13.5 inches but that text was lifted from the description for the FD-50/60. This model (FD-1010) has 15.25 inch trays which adds almost one square foot to the area of the 13.5 inch tray. Multiply those larger trays by 30 (the maximum capacity) and you got a huge amount of drying surface.

My husband and I love our food dehydrator. We have dried cherry tomatoes (great snack), regular tomatoes, apples, nectarines and made jerky with great results in all cases. During the harvest season it runs almost constantly. I highly recommend it.

I make beef jerky in LARGE quanities -- I run 12 trays on this machine to do 15# of beef at once, usually two batches a weekend, many times a year. The air circulation of the American Harvest line is invaluable -- I could not do without it for the speed and quality it produces. The tempature range is wider than my smaller 'Snackmaster' model, and the metal-shell base unit is better made. The indents in the base for handholds are invaluable when I have to move the unit. To clean the trays all I do is remove the top drawer in the dishwasher and pop them in.

Thanks to the superior quality control of this model, I have been able to send jerky to just about every weather and camping condition known, from the desert in winter to humid rainy warm places, and to military friends far and wide. I have been able to safely and tastily dry both thick and thin meats. I have reccomended this brand to so many people in the international history group that I work with, for so many years, that the joke is Nesco should be my sponsor!

I have an American Harvest dehydrator that is 15 years old. Some of the best money I've ever spent! After this amount of time, I just can't see buying a new one. Mine works great! Do yourself a favor and make the investment. You really won't regret it.