Good4u 10-tray Food Dehydrator with 40-hour Digital Timer, White

After much research, I decided on this dehydrator. I liked the idea that it has a timer. I anticipate that this feature will be helpful with my busy schedule. I have never owned a dehydrator before, so I cannot compare it to any past experiences. I am just beginning my journey toward an all raw diet, and I knew a dehydrator would be essential. Surface area and cost were also factors that led me to purchasing this particular unit.I opened it the day I got it, washed the trays and liners and started to use it. I filled up the top 5 trays with raw jalepeno corn chips, one tray with kiwi, one tray with pear and one tray with pineapple. I turned it on and stood next to it for a while to ensure that everything was running properly. For some reason, I began having difficulties breathing. It was as if there was something toxic that was burning off of the heating element. I didn't notice an odor or experience a chemical burning sensation, just difficulty breathing in. This was very alarming. I quickly turned off the unit, removed all trays in order to keep all that food from being contaminated and turned the dehydrator back on. I left the room and my breathing returned to normal. I again stood next to the dehydrator and again had difficulty breating (thus proving it was truly an issue with the dehydrator that was causing the problem). I left the room and let it run for several minutes. I came back in to check things out and everything seemed ok, no difficulty breathing. I think there must have been something on the heating element that burned off. So before you do all the work to prep foods for dehydrating, make sure you let it run for a while first.With that problem resolved, I loaded the trays in and began dehydrating. The fruit dried nicely on the fine mesh tray liners. The corn chips, however were a different story. The top two trays had the corn chip mash on teflex liners. The next three trays had the corn chip mash on parchment paper (I am waiting for the additional teflex sheets that I ordered). After 24 hours in the dehydrator at 105 degrees F, the top two trays of the corn chips on the teflex sheets appeared to be burned. This ovbiously defeats the purpose of dehydrating to accomodate a raw diet. I am not sure if the top two trays got too hot, or if the teflex sheets had something to do with it. A little more experimentation should resolve that issue as well.Ultimately, despite the above issues I am pleased with this unit. It is quite large (about the size of a small microwave), but I have a big kitchen, so no worries there. If you are limited on space, check the measurements before buying. I find that it is not very loud. I like that it's white - it goes nicely with my other small appliances.

After the product warranty expired, the control stopped working. We had lost the manual so just contacting the company turned out to be a nightmare. When I finally did, the company wanted me to return the whole machine, paying shipping both ways at our cost. They would not sell me the defective part so that I could install it myself. I will not buy another Good4U product, ever.

This review is about an older version of this, I don't know how the new models are different other than the new ones have a timer.After medium heavy use for a few years the thermostat started wearing out so I replaced it with a solid state temperature controller for about $20. Works very well now and expect a lot more use out of it.For anyone with limited funds, this is a good machine.One note: Food in the bottom to middle dries faster than food at the top, so we load from the bottom up often leaving the very bottom shelf empty with one of the non-stick sheets on it to catch drips.

Great dehydrator, but having problems with the controls right out of the box. Would not recommend for this reason

We purchased this item about a year ago and used it quite a lot, especially in the summer. It worked really well. Then this summer we set it up and used it for a week and found that the timer no longer worked. We contacted the company and was told we had to send it back to them (paying postage both ways)for repair/replacement. It would have cost over $50.00 to mail one way. That you could not get the component on line to replace our self. We looked on line and found the timer component for a reasonable price from their company, ordered it, paid for it and waited for it to come in. Two weeks later the cost had been charged to the credit card but no part. So we called and was told you could NOT order the part. When questioned about charge to CC and ability to order from their site - we were told they would check into it. Needless to say about a month went by before the part came in. When we installed the new unit we found it was a used (previously installed) part and the timer did not work!!!We would suggest looking further for a dehydrator before setteling on this one!!!