This 10 tray stainless Weston is the one I bought before the holidays. Christmas present to myself. But I only paid $180 (member price) for it and it was also marked down on special when I ordered mine. I wanted one with no plastic parts. Not much of a "manual" comes with it. Just basic usage information.
Have only used it twice so far for jerky (5-6 lb. sirloin didn't even fill 10 trays up!). Dried completely in 4 hours!! But smaller pieces fell through the grate as they shrank with drying. Sadly, this happens with most dehydrators, even the smaller one I used to own. I fixed some untreated aluminum window screen I hooked over the 10 trays for the second batch of jerky and that stopped that slippage issue.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/...r.aspx?a=546362
Next time I tried cranberries in it but I didn't pre-cook the berries to pop the skins (just to see if you could do that) and after 20 hours they still weren't popped/dried! Interesting thing, they didn't explode either, however, like they might in a microwave without poking them with a fork.
Next time I'll pre-pop the skins in boiling water (like you do for cranberry sauce) so the moisture can escape properly during dehydration. But that was not due to any failing on the part of the machine.
I used to have an Elite 5-plastic tray model I used the heck out of for about 3-4 years. Only problem is plastic and heat really don't work well together after long heat exposure. Just like plastic flower pots that are left out in the sun for years, the plastic trays will begin to have bits crack off in a couple years. Eventually, I knew I'd have to order all new trays or a whole new machine.