I'm not sure about having to use 16" I am just thinking it would be nice if needed. I sometimes will package whole deer legs and they don't always fit with my current one but it can only do 11 inch bags so they might fit it the 14 inch.
Hi there and welcome!
I hunt and fill the freezer (just filled it last weekend).
The 15 and 16 inch bars are nice if you do a lot of processing and want to seal 2 bags at once. When processing a bunch of animals every bit of speed you can gain at any step helps immensly!
As for a whole deer leg, im not sure you will be able to get a whole leg in there. Maybe a front leg or a really small bag leg but a 90 pound deer bag leg, I highly doubt it.
It's also nice to be able to vac seal a whole smoked pork butt or brisket with the 15/16 inch bags using the rolls to cut a bag as long as you like.
HOWEVER, I have cured and smoked 9-10 pork shoulders to make ham (vs using bag leg) and I had to cut off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the ham to get it to fit into the 15/16 inch bags I cut from the roll.
Finally, vac sealers are notorious for crapping out fast and unexpectedly. I would only go with tried and true brands unless you want to blaze a trail and risk failure.
A lifetime warranty sounds great as well... until a company goes out of business or cuts their line of products. This company may be a new flash in the pan that tends to unload product and then tap out so a lifetime warranty is easy to offer when you are not around.
I know nothing about them but they may also be an up and comer trying to change things in the vac sealer industry. Not sure it's a market ripe for innovation though :)
So I hope this real life experience of mine will give you some info to help make the decision.
[Edit: may as well mention my vac sealer]
Well since I'm giving my 2 cents. I rock the commercial grade Westin Pro-2100 since 2012 and bag hundreds of pounds a meat each year as a hunter. It should be up for consideration for you as well, in my opinion.
I tried the $200-$250 range of FoodSaver and will never use another food saver product again, it lasted 1 season and that was it. Did my research and landed on the heavy duty 15" double piston fan cooled Westin.
It doesn't seem to be as popular as VacMaster and LEM VacMax models around here but I can attest to it working well and lasting this long. If it dies I'll get another because I know what I am getting.
Also don't let bag holder and cutter features sell you on a model.
It's cheaper, 100x more convenient, and easier to buy the already pre-cut bags than to make your own AND you can still buy 1 bag roll and cut a custom bag when you need. This is the reality. Don't buy into all that bag holder and cutter gimmick nonsense :)
Steve H
mentioned, I rarely need a bag over 12”. I just smoked two shoulder hams and both fit very nicely into a 12” bag. I’ve only used the 500 on giant leg hams.
