I did the same as mez (better yet, I got it as a gift!) It's been working fine for me for 6 or 8 years or so now. With 5 trays I can do about 4 pounds of meat (before dehydrating) at a time.

I believe it is a "magic chef" and cost about $30 at the time.

A full load of fully loaded trays takes between 12 and 14 hours to dehydrate.

I do highly recomend the Cures, jerky board, knife and jerky shooter kits from Hi Mountain:
http://www.himtnjerky.com/