I love this dehydrator and use it every two weeks to make chicken jerky for my dog. I also use it to make jerky for the family. It is easy to use and the trays are easy to clean.

After much research I chose this Samson Silent Dehydrator instead of the Excalibur that was rated higher due to the reviews that complain about that brand's loud fan and wiring issues in the fan enclosure. I am very glad I made this choice as this Samson dehydrator works perfectly and is very quiet. We have had it running every day for the past week and have dehydrated apples, pineapple, strawberries and a full load of beef jerky. All of these came out perfectly in less than 10 hours. Some of the jerky took about 12 hours but that's much faster than my old dehydrator. I did not miss the extra wattage or fan power of the Excalibur. The Samson has the fan in the back of the unit instead of on top or bottom so I think that helps it dry things evenly. An excellent appliance so far and I would recommend it highly. Time will tell if the components last (especially the pressure bubble switches) and I will update this review if things change. Right now I am very pleased with this unit.

I've had an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator for over 15 years. Actually still works fine but the plastic housing is breaking up on the bottom. This Samson unit came today. Very securely boxed in its factory box. It's smaller with only 6 trays but that's what I wanted. This has a digital timer and temp control and that's also what I wanted. The trays from the Excalibur are 15 x 15 inch and do not fit in the dishwasher without taking the top rack out. The Samson has 12 x13 inch trays and they fit nicely in the dishwasher bottom rack. The Samson is WAY quieter than the Excalibur. The racks are sturdy and the mesh is also very hefty and thick. I expect this unit to last me another 15 years. The only thing that can really go wrong is the digital controls. Time will tell but I'm smiling looking at this Samson unit. I use a dehydrator for making jerky. This size can handle 6 pounds at a time. That's plenty. That boils down to 2 pounds of jerky.

***UPDATE***

Did my first batch of jerky. Came out fantastic! Now, my old unit had 9 15x15 trays and would have only used 6 trays where this one I used all 6 trays and reloaded another 3 trays, but my old unit didn't have a timer and sometimes I wasn't there to shut it off so my batches were too dry.

This unit is WAY quieter than my Excalibur and the mesh is finer and non-stick. There are no mesh grid marks on my jerky! I love this Samson unit! I might buy another just to be able to do the same quantity as I did with my Excalibur. You might think that crazy but look at the price of a 9 tray Excalibur!

The one thing I would ask the manufacturer to change is to either eliminate or shorten the beeper that comes on after the timer is done. It beeps for 20 seconds which is WAY too long. Two or three beeps would do, especially if it's going off in the middle of the night. Otherwise it's a flawless unit and as a person who has been dehydrating for 40 years I'd tell you to buy this without hesitation!

Only wish the trays were dishwasher safe. Otherwise great product. Quiet. User friendly.

I've been using this unit nearly non-stop since we got it. It dries evenly. I've been using Teflon drying sheets so cleanup has been a breeze. It is an excellent product and is as quiet as advertised.