Pros:Good capacity. 9 traysTimer keeps it from running forever.Temperature control works well.Fan blows air back to front across all the trays instead of through the trays from underneath.Not too loud for me.Cons:Large footprint if you have a small kitchen.The controls are on the back edge of the top of the machine - they can be difficult to see if you have the machine under upper cabinets.This product is a good product but in this occasion the Excalibur arrived with the door broken and no instructions in the package.I am not going to return it because I need this item right now, otherwise I would.we use this primarily for dehydrating chicken for dog treats. It is great for jerky for us too. I have also used to make yogurt in mason jars which worked out well. I find it has even drying on all sheets and does a great job. I like that it has so many shelves. It did cost a bit more than other dehydrators but it works better than my old dehydrator and can do more (jerky / yogurt) so it was worth the extra money for me.I've had this product now over a year and love it. I've used it for drying apples, plums (for fruit roll), bananas, citrus, herbs, and even flowers. Some of these have been for food preservation; others have been to make pot pourri. The shelving it came with is good, but because I wanted to try some fruit roll drying, I also bought silicon tray covers; they worked well. Machine is easy to clean - has a low hum when it's on - and the auto shut off feature is very convenient. Also, I find the range of temperatures on this machine perfect for a wide variety of tasks. That ultimately is why I selected this machine, along with the general reputation of this make and model.Arrived today and put to work.All is well at this point.I had NO idea how fast and easy it was to make FANTASTIC beef jerky. Overnight, I marinated ribeye steaks strips (little less than half inch thick slices) in four different flavors (brown sugar/cinnamon/vanilla, jalapeno, salt and vinegar and 18-year-old scotch), set the dehydrator to 155° for 6 hours and out came the best tasting, most(ly) tender jerky I could have imagined. I had my doubts about my choices of marinade, but, surprisingly, they all taste really good. The jalapeno gives a really nice, warm burn and the brown sugar is so sweet. I'm really excited about this thing, I kid you not.The unit itself arrived in perfect shape. It's lighter than it looks because it's mostly empty space. It comes with plastic grills to lay on top of the trays. It could be considered a little bit loud, I guess, but it's no louder than your average microwave. The fan blows just hard enough where you can kind of feel the breeze coming out of the sides where it's vented.It has a nice clean look to it and the dials (one for the heat, one for the timer) feel sturdy, not cheap. In fact, the whole structure is very solid, so I'm not worried about beating it up when I move it around.The book that came with it has general instructions for different kinds of food; several types of jerky, fruits, vegetables, etc. and suggested dehydration times. The jerky was sliced in different thicknesses, so the thinner slices were a little too dry and the thicker slices could have used another 30 minutes to an hour, maybe, but I definitely liked it just like it was. You can tell the book wasn't slapped together, like you might expect as an added "accessory" used as a selling point. it is actually useful.I might add to this after I've dehydrated some fruits and other things, but, as fast and easy as it was to make this, I don't see how I could be disappointed. One thing is for sure. I have bought my LAST bag of beef jerky from the Internet/store.UPDATE: 06/17/2015In addition to the more expensive ribeye, I'm also dehydrating thick cut pork chops the same way. They are even better than the ribeye. I marinate overnight and dehydrate for 6 hours and they are done.I've also been dehydrating a dozen bananas at a time in addition to apples. I sliced them kind of thick, maybe a little larger than a quarter of an inch and even bigger on the apples since they dry out down to nothing. I usually add cinnamon to the bananas and dehydrate for 12 hours. The book says less, but 12 hours gets them nice and dry. They end up a little leathery and chewy. It's very sweet, like I've added sugar to it. Very surprised how sweet they get.The apples are amazing. They also are extremely sweet. I usually add a little cinnamon to those as well. I don't add sugar to any of the fruit I dehydrate, ever. It is just that sweet all by itself. The dehydrator will hold about 10 moderately sized apples on the 9 trays.I also am dehydrating Roma tomatoes. If you've ever eaten the sun-dried tomato or had it on your salad, you will absolutely LOVE the dehydrated tomatoes. I snack on them straight out of the bag or put them on sandwiches which gives it a flavor I've never tasted before. Needless to say, it is excellent. I sliced them very thick -- like nearly a half an inch - since they shrink down to nothing. if you like them thin, then they are excellent that way also.Next I'll be dehydrating watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi and mango. After dehydrating, the flavor and sweetness multiplies by 10, so anything you can think of that is sweet will be supersweet once it's done. I can't believe what I'm eating is all natural!The plastic mesh comes with the dehydrator, but do yourself a massive favor and by the Teflon coated dehydrator sheets specifically for this model. They are about $14 for 9 of them. It is WELL worth it, because cleaning up the mesh screens that came with it is rather difficult.Use this dehydrator all the time. Easy to clean and easy to load the 9 trays. Only wish the racks were metal instead of plastic and you didn’t need to pay over $100 to get metal ones.This unit was not properly assembled. You can see screw tabs and holes where the screen between the drying chamber and fan are supposed to be. Pulled it off the fan. Probably returned which is why the box shows evidence of resealing, knob was off as was a screw off the back. The unit itself was out of square and the drying trays jammed against each other. I trusted you Amazon and just put this on the shelf when it arrived. Too late to return it. I will not make that mistake again.Haven’t used it yet, will update. First thing that I’m not to happy about is the bogus 10 year warranty! Don’t be fooled.International 1 year warranty! See attached photo. Amazon Canada needs to remove the false advertising that says 10 year warranty on the Canadian site. This is one of the reasons I spent $520 tax in on a good dehydrator. Let’s hope it lasts 10 years, which I very much doubt.Bottom line it’s a 1 year warranty for international buyers on amazon, and they’ll probably make us pay shipping for a used or rebuilt part if needed. Not very happy- time will tell.This dehydrater is quite sizeable, so you can put in lots of goodies to dry. It's well worth paying the extra because it works like a dream. It has a very good instruction book, with lots of tips. I've been drying lots of apples and pears. It' suggests drying live food below 50degrees C , in order to preserve the enzymes. So this is what I've been doing, they take about 7 -8 hours and it does a great job. This machine is made in the USA and the quality tellsGot this for my work as a chef, so many different options and foods can be made using this.I prefer this dehydrator compered to the rest because the temperature can reach 75 degrees Celsius, so can make jerky and pork scratchings ??Can use a bit of electricity though so stick to the smaller size if using at home.Product arrived the following day after placing my order. I am new to dehydrating, so I am taking it slowly to start off. Just dehydrating fruits, but I am planing to make some onion bread in it next. Visually it looks good in the kitchen, about the same size as a microwave, noise wise, you know it's on but it's not horrendously noisy. About the level of a dishwasher.Love this! Testride your choice of veggies/fruits, then decide on your own which food type & thickness. Other features I've yet to use, but am very pleased with purchase. Automatic turn off makes it easy. Favorites: bell peppers, beets, sweet potatoes & kiwis