I started dehydrating a few things several years ago and as time has passed I have experimented with a lot of things. My first dehydrator had no fan just a light. It did ok to play with.
I got an better one with a fan on top and temperature gauge. It has done very well, but I want to go on a larger scale so I got a 10 tray w/all the bells and whistles.
I also bought a book on dehydrating besides the ones that came with the dehydrators.
One thing I can tell you is some things will last a long time vacuum sealed and some others won’t. There is a lot of info here and on to help you.