Lem vs Meat your maker vacuum sealer

[Ronin75]

Looking at purchasing an external vacuum sealer and have narrowed it down between to Lem and Meat your maker. Any first hand information would be appreciated.

 

[duckp]

dont buy a lem bought one of the best ones they have its junk. dont seal unless you push the lid down wih a lot of pressure

 

[Ronin75]

Thank you very much for the info

 

[HoneyDew]

I have the MEAT Pro external. I think it’s good for what it is. It has some quirks you need to learn and there’s a rhythm/pace. I’m happy with the purchase but have realistic expectations of an external sealer. I haven’t used LEM so take my opinion with a grain of salt. MEAT also has sales pretty often so I’d be looking for a sale rather than paying full price.

 

[fishsqueezer28]

Between the two I would pick Meat, but I prefer VacMaster

 

[Ronin75]

How is the warranty with vac master ? What is better about that brand, I’m trying to buy once, even if I have to spend more money. I’m looking for an external vac sealer

 

[satchamo]

Neither - buy a chamber vac.

VEVOR Chamber Vacuum Sealer, 260W Sealing Power, Vacuum Packing Machine for Wet Foods, Meats, Marinades and More, Compact Size with 15.7" Sealing Length, Applied in Home Kitchen and Commercial Use | VEVOR US

VEVOR Chamber Vacuum Sealer features a 6.5 m³/h pump rate, stainless steel build, and automatic control for perfect sealing and longer food freshness.

m.vevor.com

I paid $225 for that model just a few weeks ago and I’ve been nothing short of impressed. It’s very heavy and built like a tank. Most of those meat and lem are just the same rebranded Chinese models so skip the upcharge.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

I have a Weston 2100 and it’s great. 5 years or so and no problems

 

[NRA4LIFE]

FWIW, I've had a VP215 for almost 12 years now and have ran 10000+ bags through it. No problems yet. Change the oil now and again and that's all I've done to it.

 

[hunthikecamp]

I'm curious how LEM, MEAT, vacmaster, etc all compare to the basic foodsaver ? Is foodsaver generally on the lower end of vac sealers people use? I have a foodsaver from when i lived back east and pretty much ran a whitetail through it per year. Ever since ive been running bigger critters and multiple per year (if im so fortunate), it's starting to show it's age, not pulling a great seal, requires a lot of fighting it to get it to seal, etc. I'm thinking it's time to upgrade over the winter.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I'm curious how LEM, MEAT, vacmaster, etc all compare to the basic foodsaver ? Is foodsaver generally on the lower end of vac sealers people use? I have a foodsaver from when i lived back east and pretty much ran a whitetail through it per year. Ever since ive been running bigger critters and multiple per year (if im so fortunate), it's starting to show it's age, not pulling a great seal, requires a lot of fighting it to get it to seal, etc. I'm thinking it's time to upgrade over the winter.

The only problem I have with my foodsaver is, after running non stop for ten mins or so, the seal strip heats up and I have to take a short break. I f I slow down some I don't have this issue. My friend has a chamber sealer which is fantastic. He got it about four years ago and paid $800. I'm not really sure why he got it. He goes out on multiple day fishing trips, then when they get back in, he drops his catch at one of the fish processor in San Diego.

 

[Danny Hoey]

I'm curious how LEM, MEAT, vacmaster, etc all compare to the basic foodsaver ? Is foodsaver generally on the lower end of vac sealers people use? I have a foodsaver from when i lived back east and pretty much ran a whitetail through it per year. Ever since ive been running bigger critters and multiple per year (if im so fortunate), it's starting to show it's age, not pulling a great seal, requires a lot of fighting it to get it to seal, etc. I'm thinking it's time to upgrade over the winter.

I've had my foodsaver for 15 years or so. Still going strong.

I don't vacuum seal my deer or elk tho, that's all butcher paper and saran wrap.

 

[Kwe1982]

I’ve got a VP215, I like it, I double seal the bags but it seems like every so often I get a bag that has an air leak. Where there’s air in the bag, Varys from fillets of fish to hamburger.

Not sure if it was due to older compressor oil, I try to change it once a year.

No folds in the bags or anything weird.

Using the standard vacmaster 3 mil bags, not sure if other bags are better.

 

[MThuntr]

I've had troubles with the plastic getting very brittle in the freezer more so than not sealing. So be sure to use good bags and keep the folds/kinks out. Even when I do keep mindful of the issue, I still get bags that fail and freezer burn so I don't trust it for anything long term.

I've stopped sealing items I plan to store long term in favor of plastic wrap then freezer paper. We get big rolls for brown freezer paper from the butcher at the grocery store for $30. Those rolls seem to last forever.

 

[RifleDisciple]

I have had the MEAT medium chamber vac (not the biggest one) for only 1 season so far, but I enjoy it a lot. Christmas gift from my parents last year. It is bulky, but it seems all the chamber vacs are these days. I was having trouble getting a good vacuum on it until I looked at the oil level gauge and saw that it was low on oil. It comes with a bottle of oil in it, so probably the first fill was drained by filling all the internal lines and they send a bottle to top off the tank after all the lines are filled. Now it is working well and pulls vacuum very quickly. Cycle time is pretty good since it pulls quick and seals quick. I have it on a rolling cart from Sam's that it lives on, just wheel it over to the kitchen, plug it in, and get to sealing. My MEAT 1.5hb grinder is on the same cart, but I have to relocate the grinder to the counter top, which is a bit of a chore with a 40lb grinder.

As a comparison my Dad has 2x of the Vacmaster 112's that were discontinued. They are 1/2 the size and a little lighter and have been running strong for years. I'm guessing it is an oil-less design vs. the oil pumps of today. If they were still available, that is probably what I would have, but the MEAT does seem to cycle faster. I can pull a strong vacuum in 20sec and seal in 2sec. With one person bagging and one sealing, the bagging+weighing is the slower operation. I need a pre-sized container that will scoop ~1.25lb of meat so I don't have to "trickle up" (reloading term) the weight in each bag. The VP112 does appear to have a larger chamber volume, which was highly disappointing when I'm using equipment 2x the size and cannot even fit as much meat as the smaller VP112. Only an issue if I wanted to seal a whole hog quarter or something like that. Would either have to paper wrap it, or cut it into smaller sections. I have not had that problem yet though.

I did a good bit of research and it seemed the MEAT was well liked and a good value when on sale. Should be on sale now for Black Friday, which is the perfect time to strike. I am happy thus far, but am far from putting it through the paces.