Elite Gourmet Food Dehydrator

I bought a spinning one with five layers, and it was round. I bought it used maybe 12 years ago, and it's been busted and can't spin for the last 2 years because a bad kid decided to play with it! Since it took longer, like 12 hours to 14 hours to do the five rows of beef jerky, I chose to buy this digital one. I'm not sorry, wish I had bought it sooner. It's fantastic! I put it for 8 hours, and the top two rows and the very bottom row got heat first and finished first, so I moved around the other two. It still took about 9 hours to do all five racks, but I got a lot of beef jerky out of it. It took as little as just over 3 hours to cook the first row, which is crazy because my last one took a minimum of 6 hours. I love this thing, even though I've only used it once. Once you take the top off, even if you're just looking at the meat, it pauses the operation. Once you put it back on, it starts again immediately from where it left off. It's not very hot, but warm enough at 158°, which is perfect for creating jerky that's not too dry. It's very compact and I actually used it in my bedroom while I slept, so I didn't have to keep going down to the kitchen to check on the meat. It's not loud at all, although at times when it was first going it made some high-pitched sounds, but afterward, it was very quiet. My room smelled like beef jerky, but I could think of worse things for it to smell like! LOL. The racks are also easier to clean and are dishwasher safe, and they can fit in the standard sink, something my last one couldn't do because it was round and oversized. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who loves beef jerky as much as I do because it makes it quickly, especially the very thick pieces, which is what I use, cubed beef.