It doesn't have the best reviews, and is much lighter than my LEM (also purchased from Costco several years ago). Much lighter would be super (they are typically extremely heavy) provided it works. Like you said, with Costco's policies you could pretty risk free get it and put it through the paces and make sure it meets your needs (and let the rest of us know!). I will caution expectations a bit. At least for me, I really like my chamber sealer, but its not as "life changing" as I had been led to believe. For me anyway, I still need/use my big sealer that can handle wider and pretty much unlimited length bags for lots of larger pieces I like to seal to freeze or for sus vide use. My chamber can handle up to a 12x15 inch bag. That sounds pretty big but you can't fit near as much as you might think in that bag. Also, living in CO, although you can seal liquids, at this elevation, you need the food chilled to frig temperature, otherwise the liquid will boil before the seal time is reached and you end up with a mess (in AK that likely won't be an issue for you). That said, I use it a lot, and love the results. But I still have my traditional sealer.
