This one is my personal favorite

although my Gardenmaster is years old and different color. But the various models from Nesco usually get really good reviews. The 3 important aspects IMO are as much wattage as you can afford, top fan heater rather than bottom one, and temperature control. Different foods require specific temp ranges.

There are many previous discussions on this forum about this question the search will pull up if you want to read through them for more recommendations. I know many recommend Excaliber models but my personal luck with them has been poor.

Dave

I have the big 9 tray Excaliber and I love it, I've had it nearly 10 years. It replaced an old Harvest Maid that caught fire and melted in the garage.

I do like the fact that it's a square box and I can remove all the trays and use it to make quart jars of yogurt. The Harvest Maid was also square, looked like an old microwave, and I also made yogurt in that. I've never had one of the round ones.

Annie

I have a nine tray Excalibur. I have had it for over 30 years and it works wonderfully for me.

I second Dave's recommendations. If you garden or want to put up serious amounts of food, I recommend getting extra trays. I'm just a back yard gardener but kept my dehydrator with extra trays going most of the summer till just before autumn. Get extra tray liners, too, both the solid ones and the ones with a finer mesh than the regular trays have.

I have this Nesco Snackmater. It is actually my second one. The fan went out on the first one after about 15 years so now I have 8 trays total instead of just the 4 trays that came with it. The one fruit roll sheet that comes with it is handy when dehydrating anything that is small in size like garlic chips that would fall through the trays. Walmart usually has them at a good price.

I thought Dave's recommendation sounded good, so I added that model to my Christmas list. As luck would have it, Santa's helper who drives big brown trucks happened to deliver a box yesterday that was not disguised. Now, I just have to wait a month to open it up and give it a try!

Funny yall I got one on the deck need to us it Bought it used off CL while living back in the city, Nice lady lived acroos the river and met me at local Seed store downtown then... just went out and got it.. carried it downstairs to an empty spot. Its a Montgomery Ward There was stiil a handful of berries I forgot in it....l m gonna ask yall about pumpkin too LOL

Sorry this is a year out, but it may give someone food for thought later on...

I have both the NESCO (American Harvest when I bought it back in the 1990's) and an Excalibur 9 tray from 4 or 5 years ago.

I like the stacker because you can use it for a few or up to 10 or 12 trays. Fewer trays dry faster. But for leafy things like kale, if you don't want to take the time to lay them out flat a stacker works better. On the Excalibur, leafy things will role if they're laid on too thick. On a stacker, they just get stacked on. Everything else works pretty much the same. You can make your own mesh screens from plastic canvas sheets found at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Cheaper than those made by the vendor. They work in the dish washer as well. I don't have a problem with bottom fan fed heat. Get plenty of circulation. Works very well for me. They used to sell these trays that the screens would pop out of so you could do larger things like flowers or shrunken apple heads. I have some of those as well. I found another dehydrator just about exactly like this at a thrift store for $2.50 with 4 trays that fit mine. That was a good day.

The Excalibur is what it is. But it's large and always large. Use 1 tray or 9, it's the same size. Trays really should be rotated for lengthy runs that are full. But it works. Solid tray inserts can be improvised by using those cheap flexible cutting boards at the dollar store. I got my Excalibur with some academic discount when I asked if they offered one. Not sure if that's what it really was or if it's a generic discount code they hand out when someone from a special interest group asks. I took advantage anyway.

I'm happy with both.