I was a professional meat cutter by trade for 35+ years, I have used lots and lots of excellent quality slicers, most notably Berkel, Globe, and Hobart. NO slicer works perfectly. Period. Blades wear, sharpening stones wear, bearings wear, etc. etc. etc. Even a brand new Hobart doesn't slice perfectly clean, I have witnessed it many, many times.
That being said, yes the more you pay the better they perform in most cases.
For my home use, I have used Nesco slicers, inexpensive, around $80 - $100. 7", 8.5" blades, good enough to slice meats, cheeses, etc. When they wear out, no problem, cheap enough to replace. I get them online from Walmart. Delivered right to the door. Had one I bought in the fall, the blade wouldn't go back on, sent it in for service, meanwhile bought another as I had an event i had to slice up 3 turkeys for, got it back, the blade had warped and they replaced the blade, no charge, all it cost me was $20 in shipping (UPS) and now I have a backup in my garage. They stand by their warranty! Cost was $79.99 for each. Couldn't beat it!
Check into them. For occasional home use, they work fine. If the meat starts getting raggy on the bottom, just flip the piece and continue slicing. I've had $5,000 Hobarts do the same thing. We buy bottom and rump roasts for dinner, then refrigerate what's left then slice the remaining piece the next day for sandwiches, very thin. Delicious! And, they handle it fine. Last one I had (last fall) I had for 3 years, finally the motor quit, it didn't owe me anything, I paid $59.99 for it.
Now, if i had to depend on it every day, then that's different. But, once every two weeks to a month, these do just fine.
Slicing one of 6 half turkey breasts (from 20 lb. turkeys) for our May picnic, worked great, filled up a big pan of it!
Cured and smoked goodness! Plus the other parts'n'pieces:
Boned, rolled, cured, smoked and cooked pork shoulder, sliced on the slicer:
Smoked cheese, cubed:
All delicious! Party for our stroke club in Fort Worth.
