My wife wanted a dehydrator, so we purchased one of these a few months ago on Amazon. Rating: 4.8/5 stars (Note: Higher than Excalibur units)
Similar models are being sold under various brand names. I've seen variations up to 11 shelves.
I've never used a high-end one, like Excalubur (we didn't want to spend that much), so can't offer a point of comparison, but on every visit to a grocery store, she's returning with some sort of fruit (mostly apples, peaches, pears, bananas and plums) that will be sliced and dehydrated. She loves it and has been dehydrating up a storm. Easy to operate; quiet; dries quickly and evenly across shelves; attractive enough to leave out on the kitchen counter. Can't speak to longevity, but the electronics are simple and the shelf construction is all-metal (which I like) and the shelf wires are thin, so sticking is minimal, but strong.
Also, it's not too heavy. My wife typically loads it up and then takes it out to the garage to do a run (which usually makes it smell delicious). There's a load of sweet, juicy peaches out there right now. The aroma...!
If I had to do it over? We're pretty satisfied. If you plan to do a really large amount of dehydrating, you might find one with more shelves, but this one works very well for us; probably in only 1 in 4 loads do we fill them all.
P.S. My wife is using a little vegetable slicer/mandolin to make quick/easy work of the slicing.