I've been a FoodSaver user for better than 20 years now and, quite frankly, they work "good enough", and I use the hell out of them. Problem is, I find myself having to replace them every 2-3 years. Whether that's due to too heavy of use, buying lemons, or the fact that they are just not that high of quality...who knows. But, up until now I've been pretty happy with their performance for the price.

What I'm looking for now is a higher quality chamber sealer that I don't have to replace every couple of years. Also mandatory is one that has a jar sealing attachment, and I'll be damned if I can find one.

They do make some that are large enough that a guy could put a jar inside of it and seal it that way, but that's not what I want. Just a tube that hooks onto a sealer that fits over the lid is what I'm after...FoodSaver style.

Does anyone know where a guy might find one of these contraptions? I've searched the webs and have come up empty.

I have a vacmaster and it’s great

Cabelas’a Pro Elite or Commercial Grade based upon budget it what you seek.
They both have the canister port and use FoodSaver accessories so you should not have to buy any new.

^^^^

what he said. I got so tired of breaking food savers I bought the Cabela's 15" pro version. A bonus is you can buy spare parts.

I've abused mine for 6 years and it is going like a tank.

Worth every penny

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
I have a vacmaster and it’s great

Which model do you have?


And thanks for the other suggestions guys, but I'm looking for a chamber sealer, not the FoodSaver type sealer.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
I have a vacmaster and it’s great

Which model do you have?


And thanks for the other suggestions guys, but I'm looking for a chamber sealer, not the FoodSaver type sealer.

I have the duo550.. its a combo unit, strip and chamber

https://www.vacuumsealerdigest...acuum-sealer-review/

only 2 irritants I have is there is not an instant seal if your making bags off a roll, you have to go to 18 bars before you can seal and the chamber can be somewhat small to work with, but I just figure it out

if I was going to purchase a different one it would be the 215. its possible to find deals for them around 800 sometimes

https://www.vacmasterfresh.com...um-sealer-backorder/

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
I have a vacmaster and it’s great

Which model do you have?


And thanks for the other suggestions guys, but I'm looking for a chamber sealer, not the FoodSaver type sealer.

I have the duo550.. its a combo unit, strip and chamber

https://www.vacuumsealerdigest...acuum-sealer-review/

only 2 irritants I have is there is not an instant seal if your making bags off a roll, you have to go to 18 bars before you can seal and the chamber can be somewhat small to work with, but I just figure it out

if I was going to purchase a different one it would be the 215. its possible to find deals for them around 800 sometimes

https://www.vacmasterfresh.com...um-sealer-backorder/

I was looking at the 210/215, but neither has a jar attachment. I use that function nearly daily, so it's pretty much a necessity.

Gustofer:
What size jars are you planning to evacuate? I use my VP210 to store coffee beans in Mason jars. I package small (1/2 cup) for individual doses and quart jars for bulk storage. I buy 5 lb. of roasted beans and put the majority in quart jars , then what ever is left over goes into the smaller jars which are used day to day. When the smaller jars are empty I transfer another quart into the individual dosing jars.

I can evacuate two one quart Mason jars simultaneously in the VP210, three may fit but I have not tried. The lids are placed on the jars and the screw down rings tightened enough to hold the sealing lids in place. The jars are placed on their side during the vac operation. This may not work with liquids but I have never tried it so cannot give a definitive answer but suspect it might be somewhat messy. Perhaps someone else can supply more info on sealing liquids but drys work great. I know folks use the bags to seal soups and other liquids so maybe my suspicions regarding leakage may be wrong.

I also much prefer the condition that the heavier bags keep frozen meats etc. versus the results I obtained with a Food Saver.

My email is in my profile if you have further questions and want to discuss directly.

Dave

^^^ That's good to know. I would say that 99% are quarts and pints, so it sounds like it would work well.

Also, snwgst referred to this, but with the 210, are you able to use rolls and make your own sized bags easily, or do they just use premade/presized bags?

Curiosity got the best of me and I just vacuumed a pint jar of water, leaving about 3/8" of space below the lid. There was some minor leakage, maybe a tablespoon. I would probably go with sealing in the bags for liquids as it keeps the "bubble" near the sealer bar versus up in the broader part of the jar which is above the sealer ring of the jar. Maybe if the jar were tipped to make the "bubble" contact the sealer lid it might have less discharge. Truthfully I will stay with drys in my jars.

I still have a couple of rolls of Food Saver material but have not tried to make longer bags with it. My understanding is you make the first seal and then put product in bag. The filled bag is held by hand outside the vac chamber with the open end going into the chamber and between the sealer bars. Then the machine is actuated. Have not tried this process either.

To be honest, I can't really see doing too much liquids in jars. Any jarred liquid pretty much needs to be canned for storage anyway, so....

Hmmm.... It's looking like a 210 might be coming my way. I've got a ton of Amazon points to use up, so the price won't be so bad.

One other question, if you don't mind, what are the dimensions. Amazon says 24X19X19, but one of the question responses gives different dimensions. Just want to make sure it'll fit on my counter.

19 1/4" deep X 14" height to top of plastic dome X 14" width including the lid hold down bracket and bolt.

Add about 1 1/4" for the electrical cord in the back. This maybe able to be bent a little.

Amazon often seems to list the dimensions when the product is in its box. These are actual dimensions of my VP210.

Awesome. Thank you much.

I have the VacMaster VP 215. If you can find one, get that over the 210. I have heard VacMacster had recently stopped selling them or they are out of stock or something, that is why I said: "if you can find one".

The 215 has an oil pump vs. a piston pump. The oil pump will last much longer and will allow you to process more stuff without the unit overheating and needing to be left to cool down.

I use mine weekly and have never had an issue. Oil changes are super simple and only need to be completed every 6-8 months depending on use.

My $0.02

Amazon has the 215s for roughly the same price. I just don't like the idea of the oil changes.

I understand that it's likely a better system, but it's just "one more thing to keep up with".

My freeze-dryer came with an oiled pump requiring oil changes and they've recently come out with an oil-less vacuum pump that I will be purchasing soon for the same reason.

Thanks for the input though!

How much do you use the units? I've had a food saver pro for 10+ years. Pretty much use it for venison. Couple deer a year sort of thing. It's like a tank.

I talked with the service guy at Vacmaster and he did say there was a difference in the life of the 210 vs. the 215. But if you neglected oil changes like many do this could easily reverse. In my case the 210 is in an area that has carpeting and I chose to keep away from the oil changes as it would be a heavy mother to move to the garage for service. I also suspect that I do not use mine enough to require the oil lubed pump. As far as sealing performance the tech said there is no difference between them. Were I doing sealing for a business, I would have opted for the 215.

Well, the Vacmaster 210 came today and boy-oh-boy does this thing suck!

It's heavy as all get out, but fits on my counter next to the fridge nicely. It's a LOT quieter than the multiple Foodsavers I've gone through, too.

And, while it doesn't have a dedicated jar sucker, pints fit upright inside easily, and quarts and half-gallons fit in side-lying, so it'll work great for that.

While quite spendy, I'm very happy with the purchase and I expect it to give me years of great service. I could have bought two of them for all of the Foodsavers I've gone through.

Question for the other owners/users though...any suggestions on sucking times or is it just a trial and error kind of process to find what works for me?

Also, do they make rolls of bags rather than individual ones so that you can adjust the size you want? And, if so, how do you seal the empty end? Just lay it in there and reduce the suck time?

I think the only downside to this machine is the limited bag size. I like to buy half-racks of baby backs from Costco and seal them up individually. Easy to do with a long bag with the Foodsaver, but this will require cutting them in half. Small price to pay IMO.

I cut mine to the size I need

If the 210 is like my 550 the chamber needs to get to 18bars then push the seal button

Im not sure the settings on the 210

Be careful with liquids, you can drop the pressure enough it will cause them to boil. pretty cool to watch. I did it just to see it.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

Be careful with liquids, you can drop the pressure enough it will cause them to boil. pretty cool to watch. I did it just to see it.

Funny you mentioned that as I just did a small bag of water this morning just to test it out.

Yes, it did boil, but surprisingly didn't leak much.

Unfortunately, there is no seal button on the 210 as it's all automatic. It'll suck for an adjustable amount of time and then seal/cool. I'm thinking I can just reduce the time to 5 seconds or so and that would work. Maybe I'll cut one of my bigger bags and test it out.

Where do you get your rolls?

ETA: Looks like Amazon sells the Vacmaster brand rolls.