NESCO FD‑80A Square Food Dehydrator for Snacks, Fruit, Beef Jerky, 4‑Tray White Electric Dehydrator with Even Heat Drying

I had sought out a Dehydrator after having a scare of the Chicken Jerky Dog Treats that were being made in China. I have two beautiful Papillon children and would just die if I fed them something that would cause them harm. I figured I could make chicken jerky and dehydrated sweet potato snacks for the dogs that would be healthy and poison free. I read several reviews of the Nesco brand models and decided on the FD-80A square shape unit because it just seemed to be the most logical for what I wanted due to the amount of usable rack space. When the unit arrived I immediately unpacked it and pulled out the instruction manual. The instruction manual is very comprehensive and the recipes included are extensive! Honestly, this unit is larger than I had originally thought at purchase. The size isn't really a deterrent to me but if you have limited counter space you might want to consider the dimensions before purchasing if your desire is to keep it on the countertop. The dimensions are as following (in case you missed it like i did in the Amazon product description). Dimensions: 15.2 x 10.2 x 15.6 inches ; 9.9 pounds (as stated by Amazon). Those dimensions are wonky if you ask me. I measured this unit all put together (with the included base and 4 trays) to be about 13 inches squared (width and depth) and 8.5 inches in height (with the handle laying flat). I didn't have a way to weigh it but I also doubt the 9.9 lb weight claim. I mean all the weight would come from the top fan unit because the trays are as light as an empty take out container! The power cord measures 4 feet. This seems more than adequate. The manual states that the trays and the base (NOT the top fan unit people!) are dishwasher safe, top rack only but you must remove them from the dishwasher BEFORE the dry cycle. Well, I don't know how many of YOU have a dishwasher that informs you when the dry cycle is starting but I sure don't have one of those. I won't trust it in the dishwasher because I wouldn't want to take the chance of a tray getting misshaped by the hot water/steam. But to me that is a moot point because they are soooo easy to wash by hand. A quick rinse with your sink sprayer and you are done. I really like the fact that this dehydrator has a TOP fan. Some are fanned from the bottom up, resulting in slower and more uneven dehydrating. The top fan fits easily onto the top layer rack. It has a dial that starts at 95 degrees F to 160 degrees F and their Celsius equivalents. Printed on the top of the fan is a degree guide. Herbs & Spices 95 degrees, Nuts & Seeds 105 degrees, Fruits & Veggies 135 degrees and Jerky, Meats & Fish 160 degrees. I want to tell you guys though that ONE fine mesh screen that lays on one of the regular trays is INCLUDED with this unit. So if you have seeds or smaller items that might slip through that you want to dry, you don't have to worry about having to order the "extra" fine mesh screens. Yes I agree with all that say this dehydrator is quiet. I am a light sleeper and I can hear my stupid GE Profile fridge easier than this dehydrator overnight. At first I got concerned that because it was so quiet it wasn't working right. Then, after it dried everything perfectly, I figured it was just a design win. As I mentioned at the top of this post I got this dehydrator mainly for the use of making safe treats for my dogs. But as I go along day to day I find a lot more uses. For example: Two days ago I peeled about 15 "Cutie" oranges to put through my juicer. In the past I would have taken those peels and tossed them in the trash. But as I was peeling them I thought "Hey, these peels would be good after dehydrating to use in baked goods or teas or several other things! I also had some apples in the produce bin on their last legs that had been intended for an apple cobbler that didn't happen...so I thought "hey..I can dehydrate these and use in baking or for snacks or to put in my oatmeal!" Then I realized I had a score of cilantro in my produce bin as well that I had used for guacamole...YES..I dehydrated that! So, you really will be amazed at the amount of money you can save by dehydrating the items you would normally be tossing in the trash. A TIP FOR EASY CLEANUP: Only use the amount of trays that are housing items. If you have an empty tray(s), remove before starting the process. Line the bottom catch base with foil or parchment to catch anything that might "drip". I highly recommend this dehydrator. I love it and I think everyone should have one! ON A SIDE NOTE: If you want to make Jerky for your dogs (or for yourselves) research the Nesco Jerky Gun here on Amazon. I bought the dehydrator and then realized that the Jerky Gun is imperative to make nice Jerky treats from ground meats (cheaper to do it that way too).

I love this dehydrated so much this is my second one plus I’ve gotten them for my adult kids. I have a big commercial dehydrator but this is my go to. The size is very convenient, fits nicely on the counter. I use it to dehydrate vegetables and fresh herbs that I am not using fresh. No waste and I can still have that fresh flavor.

I selected this item due to solid reviews, and the fact that high-end models tend to have square trays, rather than round. Reviewers observe that the square trays hold more food. I first dried a batch of parsley, rosemary, sage and chives. The herbs dried to my satisfaction in about 26 hours, about two hours longer than specified in the manual. I next dried a batch of spiced apples and pears, dried to my satisfaction in the ten hours called for in the recipe, to a pliable texture. The motor is quiet, and the trays cleaned nicely, with no transfer of flavor from batch to batch. Bear in mind, you may need to purchase accessories to use this product as you intend. It comes with four trays, and one screen (that rests on top of a tray) to hold small items that might fall through the trays, such as herbs. If you wish to dry small herbs (like thyme and chives), you should have one screen per tray. Screens sell for about $8 for two and are reusable. You can add four trays maximum, as this unit will hold eight trays total. If you want to make fruit roll-ups, you will need reusable fruit roll-up accessories. I've already purchased extra screens for herbs, and may purchase two additional trays. Bear in mind that drying is time-consuming, so extra trays will be efficient, so long as you are drying a big batch of items that can be dried at the same temperature. In terms of capacity, with four trays, I dried six apples and two pears that were widely spaced. That produced two pint jars and one half pint jar of dried fruit. Hint for apples--don't core them. Just slice them (preferably with a mandoline) without coring them, but knock out the seeds. The center of your apples will have a star shape. Slice the pears lengthwise--they will be a beautiful, recognizable pear shape. No need to peel the skin from either. This is an affordable, quality product.

I bought this back in 2013 and am still using it in 2025. It's not an everyday sort of thing, but I've been using it on and off since I bought it. It works well, and has made jerkey, fruit leather and dried fruit pretty consistently. Noise level is low, just sounds like a fan in the background. It's easy to use, just lay down the trays, pick a heat setting and plug it in. My only issue is how hard it is to clean. If you make jerkey or anything that is messy, it can get stuck on the grates and it takes forever to scrub off. Sometimes I'd not use it for a while because it was such a pain to clean. But that's my only issue, really. Overall very happy with my purchase.

I live in a Tiny (540 sq ft) House in farming community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Winters can seriously hamper and/or disrupt transportation. Electricity can be off for a day or two. My son and his wife said dehydrated food takes up less space than canned or frozen food. It was their suggestion I look at dehydrators, most specifically the NESCO FD-75A Snackmaster Pro since it is not only a workhorse but comes with fruit sheets and extra screens. In fact, some of their trays are from my husband's and my NESCO dehydrator from the 1990's! Thought the screens are yellow (due to age) they're still going strong. After reading reviews I decided to purchase the NESCO FD-80A Square Shaped Food Dehydrator due to its square shape. Utilizing every bit of space is essential in a Tiny House. Though my house is on the large side for a Tiny House, space is still at a premium. When not in use my NESCO FD-80A Square Shaped Food Dehydrator sit atop my refrigerator. with other small appliances. When in use it is on the counter or kitchen table. This little dynamo worked great right out of the box! I've dehydrated apple slices from a local orchard. Tomatoes are next, as well as fruit leather made from local plums. I seriously recommend the NESCO FD-80A Square Shaped Food Dehydrator to anyone who wants an economical money and space saving impressive and effective food dehydrator.

This is a great priced item. Ive been using it continuously since I got it. I did not want to start out with a more expensive dehydrator if I didnt know I was going to use it enough. Who knows maybe it wont even be my starter dehydrator....I may not upgrade if this works for all my needs!!! I definetly had to buy more trays because I couldnt dry enough in one sitting, I have not received the extra trays to see how well it will hold 6 trays versus the 4 that it comes with. Ive currently made fruit rolls, dehydrated apples, strawberries and chicken jerky made by the strips. All came out wonderful. I will be making chicken jerky (with jerky gun) for my shepherd who is very picky when it comes to snacks. Im happy to be able to give her a snack that I know wont be recalled next time I go to the local big box pet store.......which has happened several times!!! Im currently making a batch of chicken jerky using my jerky gun and ground jerky......really looking forward to tasting this!!! We hike, camp and I cycle for miles at a time so having these items on the shelf will be very benificial to both my pocket book and not having to eat all the extra preservatives. UPDATE 4-24-13 I purchased the extra trays (2) and found that it does increase the drying time by what I found to be 1-2 hours. This is not a deal breaker for me but I was a bit disappointed and needed to schedule my going into the dehydrator time accordingly. My trays are a bit discolored from drying a batch of carrots which again is not a deal breaker but for some I know that it would really bother them. I have dehydrated about 8lbs of meat and quit a few apples and strawberries so far and they all have turned out great. I do switch the trays around and have labeled them 1-6 so I know what trays have been switched and to where. I really feel this aids with the drying as the top two trays get the most heat. All in all I'm still happy with my purchase .

I've only used the FD-80 a few times to make dried apples and 4 different flavors of beef jerky. Since I mainly bought this for jerky here are a couple of thoughts (on jerky) for those who may be interested. The recipe states 5-15 hours of drying time...that's a huge range. I sliced the beef (I use about a 1 1/2 lb london broil) into roughly 1/8" slices-sure it could be a bit more. I marinate it overnight in the fridge. (Try using MIKEE'S SESAME TERIYAKI SAUCE-it was outstanding.) The pound and a half london broil filled two trays which took 5 hours to dry. You can experiment with the flavors by adding ingredients for your taste-such as extra pepper or hot sauce to kick it up. The flavors/ingredients are endless...try it and enjoy. UPDATE 4-30-14 A MAJOR problem has occurred with the FD-80. It stopped working. Using it on a limited basis, this should not have happened. This particular time it had been on for 7 hours @ a temp. of 135. I contacted NESCO and they did authorize a return (under warranty). Though they were pleasant there still is the inconvenience of re-boxing (just the head) and returning it. Based on this experience I cannot recommend a "buy" at this time for this unit. Since this is their newer model perhaps there are still some bugs that have to be worked out.

I have used dehydrators for the last 10 years and after giving away my old one, This model had big improvements over what I had been using: 1) Easy cleanup. My old dehydrator had the fan and motor on the bottom, with flecks of dehydrated food getting into the motor. This model's design is far superior. The fan and motor are on the top and the bottom tray can be easily and fully washed. The top (containing the motor and fan) hardly needs cleaning at all. I like the handle at the top because it makes the top easy to remove to check progress and also the handle lays flat for storage. 2) Square is really good. I found I could load a lot more produce using fewer trays (I bought two extra so used a total of six per batch). Extra trays aren't that expensive, but I enjoy having fewer trays to cleanup and store. I recommend rotating the trays once or twice while dehydrating juicy tomatoes or anything with alot of moisture in it. Otherwise, I haven't found the need to rotate trays to get even drying. 3) Temperature control. Vitamin C can be depleted in fruits (including tomatoes) if they're dehydrated at too high of heat. It's nice to be able to adjust the temperature and get the most nutrition out of the food you're processing, or it you want to rush things you can turn the heat up. The dehydrator worked very well for my 2013 garden harvest.

Pros: I've only used it for a short while but so far it works as expected and is satisfactory for my needs. I love the knob feature for selecting the temperature, much quicker and easier than digital. Cons: The plastic screens in the trays are thin and look delicate, so I clean them very gently, for fear they'll break. It would have been great if the unit had an on/off button so we didn't have to unplug the unit every time we want to check the trays, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I'd recommend this unit for small quantity dehydrating.

Horrible product. The first one dis not work and after replacement the second one worked for 30 secs before the fuse went off and there was smoke coming out.

We got end of march an ordered dehydrator brand Nesco Model FD-80. Unfortunally the transformer which has been sent was to week. It had only 250 W instead the needed 700W. This transformer would have been burned immediately. We have send it back to the adress Amazon gave us. Color Paper in Maharashtra . Three times now...after explaining in detail what we need, they seem not to understand and have sent us twice a stabilizer. Once it was already broken when it arrived. The screws were not fixed and all was a mess. Several telephoneconversations and whattsupps have been exchanged. We explained in detail what is needed to run an american product here in India where we are having 220V, the american machine runs on 110. So a transformer is needed, not a converter. It was my birthdaypresent and I am in the meanwhile totally embarassed. I really looked foreward to use my dehydrator and now it is more than 2 month standing unused in my kitchen. Please, help us and get back to us. Thank you Agnes and Bernd Theilmann

The plastic racks are a bit fragile. It wouldn't take much force to break the grate away from the frame but with a little care should be fine. We bought the silicone screens to go with it so nothing falls through and very easy to clean. I like that it is expandable to eight layers. A great unit for those new to dehydrating that won't break the bank and can grow with you as you learn and do more.

The appliance burned after 1 minute of working. Black smoke coming out of the upper panel