FD-60 Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2015 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: White
• Brand: Nesco
• Model: FD-60
• Platform: Windows
• Dimensions: 13.50" h x 9.75" w x 13.62" l,

Features

• 500-watt 4-tray food dehydrator dries in hours instead of days
• Top-mounted fan; adjustable thermostat from 95 to 155 degrees F
• Converga-Flow drying system; flavors don't mix; no need to rotate trays
• Includes fruit roll sheet and 2 original-flavor jerky spice and cure packets
• Measures approximately 13-1/2 by 13-1/2 by 9-4/5 inches

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful.
A Great Starter! And Made in the USA!
By J Keistler
I just bought this dehydrator as a gift for a good friend. So why am I writing a review on it, and how do I know what to rate it? Because I owned one for many years! I just replaced my FD-60 with the new almost-square FD-80 several months ago. I did it not because my dehydrator had broken, but because I have a limited amount of room and the FD-80 holds more in the same space. However, my FD-60 went to a young couple who is financially challenged and they are saving money with it.

I've been dehydrating for 30 years with Nesco. I've been aware of Excaliburs and other more expensive dehydrators because friends have bought them. I have no beef with that, but my Nesco machines have worked perfectly and inexpensively. As with so many other kitchen appliances, a dehydrator ain't gonna do you any good if it's sitting somewhere, unused.

There are two things on this FD-60 that you absolutely want: an adjustable thermostat and a fan. There are others on here who have bought machines lacking one or both of these features and they've regretted it. You need a higher temp for jerky, for instance, than you do for bananas, etc. The fan keeps the hot air circulating and things will dry both faster and more evenly. Nesco has the fan on the top of these, which makes sense to me because that way food won't drip on it. L'Equip has now rebadged and started making the old Magic Mill dehydrator, but it's got the fan built into the base! Excalibur has it in the back as does Tribest, but that also means it takes more counter space. The top is easy to lift, and most importantly for me, it's very, very quiet. In my kitchen, using this FD-60 or my newer FD-80 I have to be right next to it to hear it at all.

Don't make the mistake of thinking you've got to have some huge batch of food to dry, either, at a time. Not so. The other day I had two bananas that were going bad and a couple of baking potatoes that were starting to get 'eyes'. While watching TV I sliced up both the bananas and potatoes, put them in the dehydrator and by the next morning I had banana chips and raw potato chips. I have some Roma tomatoes in the icebox right now that are doing in there some time today because they're going to go bad otherwise. I often use my dehydrator for such things and it's absolutely saved me wasting good food.

Another use for this dehydrator is rice! Anyone ever thought about that? You can cook a pot of rice, let it cool enough to handle it, then dehydrate it. Then, whenever you're making a soup or whatever and want rice in it, just drop the dried rice in the hot soup and in a few minutes you've got perfectly cooked rice in the soup. Not only much, much cheaper than 'Minute' rice, but also doesn't have that funky texture, either.

This FD-60 is a perfect size to get started with dehydrating. Nesco has a great guide that comes with it, and you'll find tons of informatio n all over the internet to help you get started. If you learn how to use it wisely, it will absolutely pay for itself within a year. Good luck, and I wish all my purchases were so wise!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Nesco FD-60 Snackmaster
By Jeanne
We bought a Snackmaster, Jr. about twenty years ago and never had any problem
with it. It finally died. So we looked for another one and we found this one.
The air and heat comes from the top of machine and circulates around the food that is being dried. It seems to dry the food faster than the old one and it is much
easier to clean. We really like it so far.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Good value
By T.
I purchased this dehydrator so I could take advantage of the fresh produce that is about to be in season in our area.
This is the second dehydrator I have owned. My first, a different brand, had no temp. control and the heat/fan unit was in the bottom. I hated the thing. The food wouldn't dry evenly even with tray rotation. This Nesco drys from the top and drys more evenly. I still rotate the trays but do not have to do it as often.
The only issue with this unit is like with most of the dehydrators out there, the drying tray ventilation spacing is to wide for some foods. I suggest buying the Clean-A-Screen inserts to use when drying foods that will shrink up a lot.
Overall I really like this dehydrator and would purchase another in the future if I cannot afford a more expensive unit.