Looking for Vacuum sealing machine recommendations

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hangmanli

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Feb 2, 2017
99
35
Long Island, NY
I know it’s not about smoking but I’m eventually planning on replacing my Costco Foodsaver machine.

It works however it doesn’t have the ability to keep working. After @ 6 to 8 bags it has to be shut down and allowed to rest for 10 minutes. Then it will work again for a while.

I would like some advice on a really good machine that will keep going and last for years.

I have plenty of the food saver bags and the other bags from Vacuum Sealers unlimited. So I have to stick with something that can vacuum seal these types of bags.

Thanks for any help for recommendations!
 
Might not be what your looking for but my 15 year old cheapo food saver crapped out a year or so ago so I started the quest for something better. The prices on supposedly good units from say Cabela's and supply shops about gave me a stroke. One day I was in Shopko after Christmas and they had this unit http://www.shopko.com/product/Foodsaver-V2866-Flip-Vacuum-Sealer/141909.uts on sale like it is now with a bunch of bags for $99. I decided to give it a try and I have to say it does a wonderful job of sealing anything I put in it. I talked the unit up to a buddy who purchased one also and he likes his as well.
 
I just ordered a VacMaster Pro 350 last night from vacuumsealersunlimited.com

Denny
 
I have been researching sealers. Reviews on the Pro 350 are great. I think this is the best higher end sealer. Myself being new to sealing and for light duty, I am going with FoodSaver FM2000 $60.
 
I have been researching sealers. Reviews on the Pro 350 are great. I think this is the best higher end sealer. Myself being new to sealing and for light duty, I am going with FoodSaver FM2000 $60.



What he said.
 
I finally upgraded to the VacMaster 380 a while back from a foodsaver. So glad I did and never looking back!
 
I have the Vacmaster pro 380. It's well worth the money & it has a 16" sealing bar.
So you can use the 15" bags & rolls. It's a little more than the 350, but in my opinion it's worth every penny.
You can even seal 2 bags at one time, & continually seal without it ever overheating & needing a rest.
If you can swing it, that's what I'd get.
Al
 
I have the Vacmaster pro 380. It's well worth the money & it has a 16" sealing bar.
So you can use the 15" bags & rolls. It's a little more than the 350, but in my opinion it's worth every penny.
You can even seal 2 bags at one time, & continually seal without it ever overheating & needing a rest.
If you can swing it, that's what I'd get.
Al


I kept going back and forth between the Pro 350 and the 380, finally settling on the 350. I never thought of sealing 2 bags at once. Oh well, it beats what I was using.
 
I have one of the Costco Foodsavers, and if I were to purchase again, I'd go with the Vacmaster. There is nothing wrong with the Foodsaver, but as has been mentioned, it is not designed to do many bags sequentially - the heating element eventually stays hot enough to cause premature sealing of the bag without completely creating a vacuum, so it needs a cool down period. Works great if you only need to do a few bags in a session.
 
Talk to me on sequential sealing. Am I missing something? You guys smoking really large stuff/batches and portioning? Hard to imagine needing the throughput.
 
Lots of people report great results with the Vac Master.
I have been using the Weston Pro 2100 for about 6 years now and it is rock solid and no worrying about overheating or stopping due to heat.

My lessons learned with vac sealers are that they are NOTORIOUS for crapping out and doing so fast. I think you gotta go to the $350'ish or higher price range to get something that is real and will last.

Avoid Food Savor brand, Black and Decker brand, or any Vac Sealing under the $350'ish mark. They just don't aren't designed well and will dissapoint you. Even the ones in the $200-300 range. I have learned this lesson the hard way :(((
 
Talk to me on sequential sealing. Am I missing something? You guys smoking really large stuff/batches and portioning? Hard to imagine needing the throughput.

When I smoke cheese, I end up doing 8 racks on a Bradley which just about covers the entire counter with packages of cheese - this is usually once a year. I'll also purchase large quantities of things like boneless ribeye, New York, or a number of other meats when the price is right and package for freezing. Quite often these will be in packages small enough and perfect for dinner for two - these work great with sous vide.

These days I usually end up using the sealer for larger quantities of packages more often than smaller batches.

In order to prevent the heating ribbon problems with the Foodsaver, I'll cut the bags to length and seal one end, then let the machine cool while I fill the bags. Then usually enough time has lapsed so that the machine has cooled enough to prevent sealing problems.
 
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My old food saver would act up if I was sealing bags to fast, with the newer model I haven't had a problem but I think about it when sealing and don't stack up a bunch of bags at once. I fill and seal as I go so the sealer gets a rest in between each seal job. Guess it just comes natural after dealing with my old unit. On smaller jobs I will do 5 to 10 seals back to back without an issue.
I've never used an expensive sealer but my $100 unit sucks the living snot out of stuff, I just don't see how a $300 unit is going to seal any better although maybe faster with less wait time. If this current food saver last another 10 plus years like the 15 year old $40 unit did I figure I will be ahead of the game. Heck for the price tag I could run 2 of the food saver units and still be money ahead over a $300 unit.
If you want a fancy unit go for it but don't be afraid of the food saver brand units, I wouldn't buy the cheapo food saver but there higher priced units seem fine to me.
 
One of the biggest draws for me was the ability to control more of vacuum and sealing settings. The one I used to have was all automatic. Not only can vacuum and sealing be done independently, but I can set the vacuum level and seal bar time etc. This is handy when different mil bags are used. The PULSE function is huge for finesse sealing when liquid is present or marinating. I now use the accessory hose with vacuum canisters quite a bit too. I found myself needing to double seal everything. Even then I had failed seals in the freezer. With the 5MM wide sealing strip of the VM 350/380 its a one-and-done. So me there were substantial feature upgrades with a better unit. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the cost is made up in the long term in no more freezer burn waste!
 
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The best price I've seen on the Vacmaster 380 or 350 is at the Webstaurantstore.com It's currently $299 for the Pro380 and $225 for the Pro350. For the increase in durability over some of the Foodsaver models, that is not much of a price increase. Also I've been buying my bags pre-cut from them for a number of years and am quite satisfied with both the quality and prices.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ar...aging-machine-with-16-seal-bar/120VMA380.html
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ar...aging-machine-with-16-seal-bar/120VMA380.html
One of the nice things about the Vacmaster Pro 350 and 380 models is you can buy a heating element maintenance kit for $10. I'm also pretty sure if you have the Foodsaver wide mouth jar or regular jar (mason jars) vacuum accessory, it will work on the Vacmaster.
 
I'm also pretty sure if you have the Foodsaver wide mouth jar or regular jar (mason jars) vacuum accessory, it will work on the Vacmaster.

Yes. I can personally attest to this. I have both sizes and it works amazing. Ahh! Pickled eggs!
 
Also I just did a quick peek at the Vacuum Sealers Unlimited site (sponsor of the forum) and they have the 350 for $224 and the 380 for $305, but they also include free shipping to the lower 48 states. That edges them ahead of Webstrauntstore.com in total purchase price with the free shipping.

http://shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/VacMaster-Home-Use-Vacuum-Sealing-Machines_c12.htm
http://shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/VacMaster-Home-Use-Vacuum-Sealing-Machines_c12.htm
Current Vacuum Sealers Unlimited discounts for forum members (code for discount on bags & free shipping in this thread):

https://smokingmeatforums.com/threa...s-discount-coupon.119694/page-16#post-1779062
 
Yes. I can personally attest to this. I have both sizes and it works amazing. Ahh! Pickled eggs!
That is extremely important to me. I would say that at least half -- probably 2/3 -- of all the sealing I do is to my various wide-mouth canning jars. So, when my 20-year-old Foodsaver -- which has been limping along for years, but still working OK as long as I stand on one foot and recite mystical incantations, backwards, for thirty seconds -- finally refuses to suck, I too want to upgrade, but only if the fancier model can also accept some sort of wide mouth canning attachment. It would be even better if it had attachments for the other canning jar sizes.

Glass is such a wonderful substance in which to store food (never takes on a smell) and jars are great for things like soup that I don't want to freeze. I can keep soups for 30+ days in the fridge, and they still taste perfect a month later.
 
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