I started out with a Foodsaver V3825 that I still use occasionally, but for some reason doing large batches quickly caused it to fail a bit. The sealer bar would remain so hot it would prematurely seal the bags leaving a large air pocket within the sealed bag. Letting the unit cool would fix the problem, but it was kind of a bother to need to work slowly to prevent the issue. What really bothered me though was the 1 inch plastic waste when anything was sealed. I need to push the bag in so far the seal is actually 1 inch from the cut edge of the plastic which I always thought was a big waste of plastic.
For quite a few years now I've used a Vacmaster Pro 380 which allows the use of up to 15" wide by 50' long rolls. A good feature for me is that there is very little plastic waste - only 1/4 inch (or less if you are good at it) when creating the bag, and very little waste when vacuum sealing the bag.
The best part for me is that I can go as fast and as long as I want and never have the seal failures that I have with my Foodsaver. I like to do my sealing assembly line style creating a bunch of bags, then filling them all, then finish by sealing them all in quick sequence. I can't do that with my Foodsaver. Of course, mine is old and they have probably improved quite a bit since I purchased mine 30 years ago.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy using the Foodsaver whenever I have small amounts to seal. It is light weight so way easier to use that dragging out the heavy Vacmaster.
