Is there any other (and easier) way than what I'm reading on line (drying racks, cheese cloth etc) or a dehydrator?  I thought I could just put them in the oven on low heat, but apparently not.  
If I have to buy a dehydrator, what kind do you all recommend?

I have not done this, but you can probably put the oven on for a few minutes every so often, and do it that way. The main elements of drying are heat (without cooking) and circulating dry air, so the the moisture in the fruit will be released into the air. Drying in the sun at 100F is "milder" than putting them in the oven at 250F. The heat of the sun, and a gentle breeze encourage drying over a period of time. 250F in a closed oven is cooking, which is a different "chemical process".

As far as dehydrators, I'm very happy with my Excalibur, which I researched for quite a while before selecting. It's fast, dries them evenly, and can handle a lot of figs. It also is great for making them into fruit leather, which my kids love.

Before getting it, I dried figs in the oven (okay, but as Jon says, kind of "cooked"). I've done them in sunshine (slow, and you have to protect them from birds and bugs) and I've also dried small quantities on a cookie sheet on the dashboard of a parked car in the sun (no birds or bugs). In Arizona, that also ends up getting them a bit too hot. The dryer works best.

I have a convection oven on my new oven.  I wonder if that will make drying easier? 

Sure seems like it ought to.

I dry mine in the sun on clean tea towels, hot dry sunny day. Also tomatoes mixed with hot peppers this way to make tomato paste, but dont use the towels with the tomato. I never had  a dehydrater, never used one, they seem interesting. What modern technology!

Im 100% with maggie. In the old country back home, no need to dehydrate using modern machinery. Seems like the natural method is better for development of sugars, and you can hone in how dry you want your figs or fruit.

Hi lreiley
i cannot recommend dryer as i know little about them, some years back i had one that plugged into wall was round with 8 plastic trays with many holes for air circulation and it had some sort of small fan on bottom , instructions said to rotate the trays for even drying. I did not like this as it seemed to take forever to dry figs and fruit slices. I forget the brand , im sure there may be better dryers out there.
For me its hard to dry figs as after they ripen the days are much shorter and cooler here but in a good season i can get some to dry.
Here is picture of store bought white figs and a few that were left over from 2008 of dark figs i dried the other 2 dozen or so i dried were eaten before picture was taken.
Top row i left skin on, bottom row i had peeled skin.
I used a clean board covered them with chesse cloth to keep the bugs off them, useing a screen or hanging them thru string or fishing line for better all around air circulation would help them along a little faster, i did dry some cut up san marzano tomatoes with those, i sprinkled a little sea salt on them to help them along and they tasted really good.The figs here for me take around 3 to 5 days to dry like i wanted them, leaving about 20% moisture (estimated) seemed good for them as to dry they get hard. Oh they tasted much better than the store bought ones which can be a hit or miss in my experience. I just wish i could have the weather each year to do this.

If anyone has a picture of a homeade dryer, will you please post?  I'm going to need to do sundried tomatoes too.  I'm thinking just buy a screen window or something like that and cover the figs with cheese cloth? 

And I'm going to try the string drying idea!  I live in VA where it has been in the 90s now for a week.  Needless to say, I will be able to dry the heck out of fruits and veggies.

U can string them like we string Chile for ristras. Take a look here:

Most are just cabinets or boxes, with a door on the front, several tray (which can just be window screens of the appropriate size. You need a fan and a small heating element.

Here are a million links with info.

Cabelas.com and so does Craigslist.com

I dry my beef jerky in the oven on LOW. I also dry my herbs this way, though quickly. Don't want to loose the oils. Why couldn't figs be dryed this way?
Sue