Not a problem at all, Lisa. I figured that was what it was.
Hey! I got my VacMaster Pro 350 machine yesterday afternoon. Boy that was QUICK! Only 2 days!
I gave it quick test last night, just playing around. (Of course being a man, I didn't read manual until after I was done.)
Works better than I expected. And no, I didn't screw the machine up by not reading manual first. LOL
Every feature is clearly marked with English words, instead of some weird symbols for us to figure out. Easy and straightforward!
If you do need to read the manual, (and you really should, you know) it is an actual booklet, and not a 4 - 5 foot wide square of paper folded, with 12 languages included. If you can find your language on those sheets, it's usually only about 6X9 inch with no help at all.
The amount of maximum vacuum it pulled ( (27.5hg) approximately 89-90% vacuum (I had to goggle vacuum hg to learn what hg was) ).
The maximum possible for any vacuum is 29.92hg (usually rounded up as 30) as I understand it.
It was much stronger than my foodsaver ever was, even when it new! Much, much faster too!
I found out that foodsaver is only about 20hg - 22hg. Didn't find that out from their site either. Had to find some other sites who had tested various vac-sealers for that info.
A couple of features I wasn't sure was necessary:
Bag storage and roll cutter. Big deal, right? HA! I LOVE them both! Plus, I can store power cord in there along with a full 50 foot roll with no problem.
And making bags is 1000% faster than with shears, without having crooked cuts.
Another feature I thought didn't amount to much, was the "see through lid" to chamber. How could that help, I thought.
Well, it helps a lot! You aren't guessing if you have edges in straight, too far, or not far enough in, and see wrinkles. Surprise, I loved that immediately too.
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I tried the pulse, and it is awesome. We squished some soft bread flat at max normal seal, and did the pulse on another slice to just before bread started to collapse, and sealed. Perfect! FYI... soft bread when squished flat WILL NOT return to size after breaking the seal.
It remains about 1/16" thick. But I knew that, Pinch with fingers, it stays squished too.
Love the manual seal. Now I can make my bags any size I want. Not possible with the 20+ year old foodsaver that I currently have. Also can just seal most any plastic bag similar to Zip-Locks. Not vac-seal, but just sealed. Going to do that with our Christmas cookies that won't be delivered for a couple of weeks yet. Zip bags leak air at the lock end after sealing.
5mm sealing width is even better & wider than I thought it would be. I'm a happy camper with that seal.
BTW Lisa.... It stores just fine, tipped back on it's back side under top cupboard and counter. Just have to rig a plastic clamp to hold lid from dropping down when tilting it back to store. And of course I'll make a storage bag to cover it. Right now it has a small garbage bag over it.
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I still have a lot more testing, and learning settings, and etc. of course as I use it. But I can already tell this is the real deal vac-packer for reasonable price. Two fans for cooling. No more unit shutting off every 10-20 minutes or so. Now that's cool! (Pardon the pun)
I will keep notes, as I use this over the next few months to a year, Lisa. Then I will do a review for you. You may use it on this site, your home page, or any other sites you visit.
It will be an honest review after some time in use and testing.
I can't slam foodsaver. I bought my unit over 20+ years ago, and it is still going. Weakly, but still going anyway. LOL
I'm sure they have improved on them a lot. But not to the quality of this unit. And their new ones are more complicated than this one. Bells & whistles for the most part. Newlywed stuff of dreams. Ya know?
