I picked up a unit from Cabela's,
Cabela's branded, no idea who actually made it

works well so far, had it maybe a year

quote:

I've NEVER had anything less than a perfect seal with my Weston Pro-2300.

Same with me and my Foodsaver. Great machines but buy roll stock, not their pre-made bags. With the roll stock you can accommodate a very large variety of food and other items, including long guns if desired.

Splurged on a VacMaster chamber vac on Amazon using CC points.

The two things I like about it most over the food saver sealer I had are (1) the duty cycle —I can bag dozens of items one after another without it overheating, (2) I can bag food with liquids (wet stew, soups, etc).

I like the darn thing... though I don’t think I’d ever get money money’s worth using it.

Still.... something to consider.

Overall FoodSaver is a 'good' machine, I have had various models over the years and more or less happy. That said they can be temperamental recognizing the bag and starting the vacuuming process.

For the money it's good enough for light use but if you are going to do a lot vacuuming a different brand may meet your needs better

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Got my food saver at Costco when it was on sale, been very happy with it.

Me too. Love it for sacing fish, steaks, etc. Grea tto use with my Anove sous vide, too.

I bought a Cabelas commercial vac sealer. It is 3 years old and I use it a lot. I mainly buy whole cryovac bag meat and cut it myself. It has worked great.

After reading this thread, I'm convinced I need a vacuum sealer. Since Foodsaver seems to be the consensus for reasonably priced home units, I've started researching them. They seem to be priced all over the place. My question is, what model would be the best bang for the buck? I doubt this will see a ton of use but I want one that does the job.

Thanks to the following members:
maladat, Gustofer, FRANKT in typical SF fashion you three really came through for me. Based on your comments on the Weston I bit the bullet and purchased a Weston. Wow what a difference from Foodsaver, much more heavy duty with a robust vacuum that really works and the bags don't leak.

FoodSaver double sealer here.

I have a FoodSaver as well and it works well for my light duty needs of freezing meats I purchased in bulk. It has saved me money by not havign to throw away freezer-burned foods. My original machine still works fine (albeit finicky) but if it were to break down, I'd likely upgrade to a Weston.

wife bought an unused foodsaver unit at a garage sale several years ago for like $25. Has worked great and we use it.

I bought Vac Master VP112 4years ago. I also bought 3k bags for $234 at small, med and large sizes. We use this thing everyday. The duty cycle is continuous and the bags work out to be .07 each. I probably won't need to buy more bags till 2020 or so.

I can fit a whole roasted chicken in the unit in a large bag. Liquids like spaghetti sauce work real well and stack flat in the freezer for optimal use of space. The unit cost $579.

Wife used a Food Saver for several years, but a year ago we bought a small commercial Waring unit. Much easier to work with.