Gourmia GFD1850 Food Dehydrator With Touch Digital Temperature Control, Ten Drying Trays Plus Beef Jerky & Sausage Hanging Rack, Sleek Design, Transparent Window & Free Recipe Book - White

This is the best Food Dehydrator I have ever purchased. The options are really limitless. I started out by using fruit, first apples and then strawberries. These make for delicious healthy snacks. I sprinkled cinnamon and a small bit of sugar on the green apples I dehydrated. and then with the strawberries I just sprinkled a bit of sugar. Dehydrating can leave some fruit to be bitter or tasteless. Next I am trying Bananas! I don't think with these I will need to add sugar or anything. I like to dehydrate to a point that the fruit is chewy and not crunchy. Though I have had dehydrated fruit that is crunchy and that is about as satisfying as eating potato chips. Super delicious!The dehydrator is easy to use. It comes in a box, inside another box. It's shipped well and well protected. I like the controls at the top being touch sensor and self explanatory in my opinion. I used the included booklet to learn what temperatures and times for different foods. The door is nice that it has a small window. I would like it to have a bigger window but it does work just fine. Also in the design I'd like to see a small light inside the dehydrator. It would really make it easier to see what I'm dehydrating easier. There are more than enough trays to do a lot of different fruits at once. Or anything you are dehydrating. These trays are easy to wash. I just use a normal dish sponge and dish soap. I need to check to see if these can be top rack in the dish washer. Overall this machine works very well. I'm highly satisfied. And can't wait to try meats!

Updated review below the initial review...I really wanted to like this but I had to return this as it did not do the trick. I tried to dehydrate apples and bananas as per their included recipe book using four trays 3 with single layers of sliced apple and 1 tray of sliced banana and all were single layer with the temp set at 131°F. The bottom would heat up but the top would not get any heat. After 24 hours of trying to dehydrate and rotating the trays in this small batch they were still not dehydrated and I had to finish them in my oven. The design is nice but if the machine don't dehydrate it is not worth the money for a pretty box.Update 12/18/2016:Gourmia read my initial review and sent me another to try because they really believe in this product. I let them know I would update my review after I tested this new one with the same recipe. So here goes:Packaging:This came double packaged which was different than the first (the first came tripled packaged). The manual and recipe book was nice and pristine unlike the first one which was crumbled into a ball. The shipping of the trays need to be rethunk as like the first package they were off-kilter in the dehydrator which could lead to damaged trays and or a damaged interior.Product Appearance:The product has an aesthetic quality to it that is somewhat lacking in most dehydrators. On first impression one would think this would not hold a lot of produce but that is not the case. The removable door is nice but I would have liked some kind of latching mechanism as if you move or bump the dehydrator the door would fall off.Use:After an initial washing of the trays they were placed back into the dehydrator for the initial tempering for a half hour @ 158°F. I slight odor was detected but this was expected. I used the same recipe as I did the first dehydrator which was for spiced apple and banana. The apples (I used McIntosh) were sliced 1/4" thick (with a Kitchen-Aid mandolin) and then cut in half to form half-moon shapes. These were then placed in a orange juice bath (juice of 1 Valencia orange freshly squeezed) in a zip-lock bag, shaken, and immediately taken out and placed in a single layer on the tray. Since these apples are small I filled 2 trays from 6 apples. I then did the same with 3 bananas which fit on to 1 tray. I have a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, and sugar that I use and lightly dusted the apple slices before putting the trays in the middle of the dehydrator with an empty tray between the filled trays and empty trays in the remaining slots. I set the dehydrator for 8 hours @ 131°F as per the recipe. I opened the door to check the fruit at the 2, 4 and 6 hour marks and the front and back of the trays were hot but the center of the trays were cold (say from approx 2"-3" in on both edges) and cold on the sides. I'm not saying a slight difference but a night to day difference. Once the timer went off after the 8 hours I let them cool for 30 minutes.Results:The end result were like the previous dehydrator and the fruit were not dried. The recipe calls for the "beads of moisture" to be gone from the surface of the fruit and which there were no "beads of moisture" present. The fruit were not dehydrated all the way through but this was an improvement over the first machine I received as the first machine took 24 hours to reach this level.Overall IMHO I would have to give this a thumbs down as the fruit were not dehydrated. They were on par to being placed in an oven for an hour or so. The slices were okay for immediate consumption as the exterior were firmish but the centers were soft and mushy. After trying two of these and having two different heating issues I'm leery of Gourmia's quality control. I'm going to continue testing this and trying different settings to see what works for me my one star rating stands as initially posted. This rating is for the product itself and on its usage and not the company or its employees. The one employee I talked to was courteous and is a firm believer in this product. I wish I could share their enthusiasm but alas I cannot.

So yesterday I put sliced apples in the dehydrator for 12 hrs. At 158 degrees, the default setting. They were to be done about 4:30 am. I'm up at 3 am and the unit is off. I think apples are ready. NO WAY! Not even close. Still 1 3/4 hrs to go on stove timer.I guess I should have realized that it was not going to be smooth sailing when I plugged in the unit. It came on and the fan started and very shortly you could feel the unit warming up. However, the rapid flashing of he display panel should have warned me. After about 30-45 minutes the flashing stopped anew the lights stopped flashing and were steadily on. The timer was on and I the unit continued as we went to bed. We were unable to get the control panel to allow me to increase or decrease the time or the temperature.Next concern is that; Why can't fit the price of this unit I can't put the trays in the dishwasher to clean them? I want to wash them and am not needing to dry them by the dishwashers dryer.Lastly, the manual could use some improvements. I want a users manual, not a bunch of glossy pictures . Ok for a few recipe suggestions. Do you know how many recipes are on the internet for the dehydrators? A lot!Summary:1. Poor display and ability to use control panel.2. Trays can't go in the dishwasher.3. User manual nearly worthless.Finally, I transferred the apple slices to my OLD Harvest Maid (now NESCO) dehydrator to finish the apples. No timer but I have several options there. Easy temp control. I slide a temperature probe into the center and can the temperature throughout the drying time.I hope the supplier and I can work this out. If we can I'll add the outcome to this review.So the unit was returned and received a replacement. This unit is working fine and the temperature is fine. Did some pear slice on it but they needed a little more time. Blueberries fall thru the openings in the tray. Unless they are large blueberries I wouldn't dehydrate them in this unit-needs fineeah screens. Oh and yes the tray and inside of unit cleaned up easily without much effort. I still feel trays and rack should be dishwasher safe and manual is an embarrassment. Changing to 5 stars because of great customer service.

Its easy to use n works well however in the centet of ea tray is a 3 in hole for air circulation it makes it difficult to do fruit leather and wastes space.

The product is very easy to use and looks very high-tech. Just leave the fruits overnight, and the next day it will be ready to eat. At first I was a bit worried about how to clean it, but the trays are easy to wash and the dehydrator itself when you take the trays out. The recipe book has some delicious recipes that I am excited to try. The only thing is that the bottom tray dehydrates faster so just put juicier fruits on the bottom.

For the price of this unit I have to say I am very impressed. Was worried when I had read some of the negative reviews but found that there was no problem with the unit I received.Runs very quiet and does a great job on jerky and dried fruits I have been doing.

Sketchy unresponsive buttons

Works great and is very quiet. Temperature control doesn’t allow for complete control - it goes between preset temps (for example: from 149F to 140F to 131F to 122F) so I can’t select 125F. Highest temp is 158F, lowest is 104F. The trays were also a disappointment with holes to big (1.3cmx1.3cm) to dry things like peas an corn without having to line the trays with parchment paper and the large hole in the middle of each tray is in the way. I will probably be looking into getting a better one☹️

Overall a good product. I only gave 3 stars because the one I received was used: it was dirty, scratched, was missing parts, and had a funky smell when I first turn it on. It's OK after a good cleaning. Fortunately, I plan on using it in my shop to dry filament spools for my 3D printers rather than for food. It runs quietly and is easy to set up. The drying cavity is HUGE - another plus for this unit. For the price, I was expecting a few more features like a built-in hygrometer and better quality materials (it's all plastic), but it does the job I purchased it for. If you're planning on buying this unit, wait until it goes on sale.