Sunbeam DT5600

Like many of you ,I wish we had read the reviews on the DT5600 model as we partly used it last year and have just started using it this year and it has been threatening to die for a while and it just has .
just hope they have either fixed the problem or changed the model ,really don't think this one deserves even a 1 star. Graham T

This unit only worked properly for first year and has worked intermittently for last two years and now fan motor keeps fluctuating and stopping. Wouldn’t buy this brand again. I feel it should last longer.

Motor died way too soon given the $90 I forked out for a plastic item. Only had around 60 hours and since it was a dehydrator, the motor clearly needed to operate for long periods over the life of the item. Hope someone can point me to another brand with more product life! Do NOT buy this item!

You'd think I would have learnt from purchasing this product the first time, let alone a second. Gave it the benefit of the doubt so bought a new one after the first one died after 16 months. This one went sooner. Total rubbish and would never get one again. Expensive for what it does and how long it lasts.

I was so excited to begin dehydrating the excess apples from my parents orchard. Mum has a much larger more expensive dehydrator and has been using it for years with great success on all sorts of fruit. I figured I’d give it a go and purchased the Sunbeam dehydrator.
Everything takes so much longer than described in the instruction booklet. Fruit leathers 5-7 hours according to the booklet. Yeah right ! Even after 12 hours they are nowhere near finished. The first time I thought I’d made the fruit purée too runny in the beginning. The next time I followed the recipe to the letter. It was no better.
It’ also quite noisy. I’m so disappointed.

Unit only lasted a couple of years before the motor started making variable speeds noises. It wouldn’t have done 100hrs work. This season fan motor run for 5mins then stopped. Outside warranty and will have to throw it in the bin. Will make me think twice if buying a Sunbeam appliance in the future.

Bought the dehydrator after a food camp in AUS from NZ ...bought at Briscoes NZ. Hardly used but now the fan motor siezing. Very disappointed, made in China...that's fine..if the thing worked.

Really upset actually...they charge a mint for a crap product.

Buy off ebay...it could not get worse. Noisy from the get go...did not last...not much use...Sun-what???

Living on past yay days it looks...selling crap products for over the top prices. And you know it...either realise Sunbeam is now crap or pick up your game...another DaeWoo (now GM Korea, i.e Captiva crap boxes).

We purchase our dehydrator for making Jerky , have only had it for 4 months but don't seem to have any issues YET. I make Jerky out of chicken, beef, turkey and Liver treats for our dog. Have followed instructions from Google, and Manual and it seems to work fine so far. All meat needs to be sliced FINE, and anyone not following this instruction deserves issues with the meat. Our dog hates liver treats from the vet or store, but loves his Sunbeam Liver Treats. Both the poultry and beef cook fine, and according to instructions they suggest changing the trays halfway through the time. ie: 5 hours cooking, change at 2 1/2 hrs, but I don't, it means the bottom trays are dryer that's all. I guess it maybe too early to tell yet??

I was given this as a present, worked pretty well if you don't mind swapping the trays around every half hour or so. Then, as so many other people have experienced, it just stopped.... Luckily at the end of making a batch of jerky. Having nothing to lose (out of warranty) I pulled it apart and found the heating coils okay, but the fan difficult to turn. (I'm an electrician - don't try this at home!!) A bit of bike chain oil on one end of the motor... Still tight. I couldn't remove the fan, so drilled holes through the hub to gain access to oil the other bearing. Voila! It's been running for 6 hours today making my latest batch of jerky. Come on Sunbeam - an appliance that's meant to run for several hours at a time should not be failing through lack of lubrication.

Very disappointed with my silly stupid self for not reading these reviews in the first instance. Could have saved my money time and food
..but I have always loved my other Sunbeam products. This TD 5600 Sunbeam Food Dehydrator has performed very poorly and in much the same way as others people have commented. I purchased mine just over 12 months ago attempted to dry super thinly sliced apple for healthy crisps. After a full 12 hours the apple was still soggy. Had to then finish them off in the oven. Just unpacked the dehydrator to give it the benefit of doubt...the fan and motor fizzled and died...and I've done my dollars!

Noisy, ineffective. I have compared with my friends dehydrator. My tomatoes took 24 hrs (and still some soft) and hers took 6 hrs. I now do mine in the oven and its very effective. Very disappointed so want to avoid other customers having same trouble. I don't usually leave bad reviews by the way...but this is a doozy!!!

It lasted exactly 7 months and stopped working it has done hardly any work at all
I will not purchase another sunbeam product because this has been ongoing since 2012 as I have found out and nothing has been done by Sunbeam to fix it
Very disappointed in this product
I would have scored it no stars at all but it wouldn't let me

I wish I would have read these reviews before buying mine...I've just now turned it on for the first time to make my dog some chicken breast treats...it was so noisy I wasn't sure if it was broken or not....I'm a bit concerned that everyone on here is unhappy with their sunbeams and I hope that it's not as bad as they say. If not I will expect a full refund because if i refuse to pay for a product that is useless and will take up valuable kitchen space. I treated myself to this for my birthday which happens to be today so I hope it doesn't ruin my day. The only reason sonar I have rated it a #1 is because of the noise ....when it's finished my chicken I'm hoping it will be worth more stars.

I pulled my dehydrator back out from the cupboard after putting it away disappointedly on my previous uses. Today I tried to dehydrate celery; the book states 4-5 hours with a 1cm dice... well it was more like .5cm dice (so yes some has ended up at the bottom... but after being out for the day (to avoid the noise) turning and rotating on return and letting it continue... 9 hours later I have had to turn it off... I will have to turn it back on tomorrow for another 4 hour minimum I think as some are still soft! >:-( Save your money and get something else. After this I think mine will be back in the cupboard for good :-(

Used mine for bananas... Perfect! the longer you dry them the longer they last. Apples... soak in lime juice and their ready when they feel like rubber.
I brought mine to preserve meat and it has not disappointed me after about 100 hours of use.
All it really is is a hair dryer blowing hot air down a series of sieves and is effective at that.

Noisy and takes far too long to attempt to dry anything. Had to put it out in the garage and could still hear it. Tried to do banana chips and the time frame in the booklet is completely off. I dried all night and then again for the following day. All it did was make it go rubbery and chewy. Dried for a bit longer and not a lot of change. Tried drying apple slices and the same thing. Complete waste of time and money. Sunbeam have definitely lost a lot of credit with this product as far as I'm concerned as you would probably get a drier product with a hair dryer!

As others have said this is very noisy. After a few uses the fan has slowly seized up and the internals have started to melt. Nowhere near as good as other dehydrators I have used.
Better off buying an Ezidry, unfortunately I'm stuck with the extra accessories I paid top dollar for.

I am appalled at the poor performance of this Sunbeam dehydrator. This machine is unbelievable noisy, airflow from top down, directions in booklet are way off, the tomatoes, and figs for that matter, took three times longer than the recommended time in booklet.
A dud, complete waste of money, thankfully Good Guys did not hestitate to return my money. I won't entertain purchasing another Sunbeam product.
I have since purchased an Ezydri food drier - it does the job no problem.

Like many people I believed in Sunbeams quality products. The Dehydrator should be withdrawn immediately before some-one has an accident, as it is I feel not up to their usually high standards. I have tried a few things in it and put up with the horrible noise, and takes far more time than the booklet says. The biggest mistake is no thermostat to the machine. Because of this horrible design does nothing for your credibility for future products.

Where do I start! This dehydrator must be the worst domestic food dehydrator on the market. It is a well made, but very poorly designed device. I am astonished Sunbeam market such a poor performer.

Bad points:

1 - It is noisy (too noisy for sleeping if on the same floor of the house).
2 - It is power hungry. As it has no thermostatic temperature control the heater remains constantly on.
3 - It is an inefficient dryer by design. Airflow is top down so the top layer gets most of the heated airflow and dries faster than the lower levels. Faster being a relative term (the dryer has to be on for days to dry anything).
4- The noisy high speed fan motor is of the brushed universal type. Low quality with bronze bearings that will wear quickly. It's basically a ladies hairdryer fixed into a racked food container.

Good points:

None - I have since purchased an Ezidry (no I don't work for Ezidry) dehydrator. This is an excellent dryer whose design addresses virtually every shortfall in the Sunbeam. The fan is larger and is powered by a quality low speed shaded pole induction (no brushes to wear out) motor. The heater is electronically regulated and the unit is fitted with a variable temperature controller. By design, heated airflow is evenly distibuted to all trays and as a result food dries quickly and evenly. Most importantly, it is quiet when operating. Sounds like a quiet extrator fan running in the background.

Conclusion:

Don't waste your hard earned on the Sunbeam DT5600. If you're in the market for a domestic dehydrator do yourself a favour, buy an Ezidry or second hand Harvest Maid dehydrator. These units are both of similar design and quality. They reliably get the job done, quietly and efficiently.

Request:

Sunbeam please don't respond to this post with your automated reply. Standard replies are at best fatuous, insulting and pointless.