who makes a good vacum sealer?

[beachbunny]

I.ve got a food saver that really does not save food.the bags ,which are their bags, always fail.they are not over stuffed, abused ,etc.
so who has a great vacum sealer that does not let them down. i would like to know the brand.
this food saver is a total let down.

 

[realunlucky]

Which food saver is it? I've used mine for over 7 years and have no problems. I also use thier brand bags which seem to do the best of all I've tested. I'll be interested in the responses to this.

 

[go4thegusto]

Cabelas

 

[Brendan]

I upgraded to a Vacmaster VP112 after burning out a foodsaver. Unit is more expensive, big and heavy, but bags are much cheaper. Also, with a chamber sealer you can seal liquids (soups) and you're not going to worry about suction pulling blood / etc into the sealing area.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

I'm with Brendan, I'm watching vacmaster website like a hawk and hoping a good Black Friday deal pops up on a vp215. They are supposed to be awesome.

They are really expensive but bags are 10x cheaper.

 

[beachbunny]

wow , that vac is a pricey one.
i do not know the model foodsaver, but basically, they should all work.

 

[Lawnboi]

Vacmaster here. It will save you money in the long run.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Foodsaver here as well. Have had it for like 15yrs. I am pretty anal about running some clean, warm water through it after packaging up a bunch of meat. Then a little water will canola oil to lube the pump.

Although I can't say I've have had a lot of issues with foodsaver bags, I do prefer the Vac Master bags. Particularly the zippered bags for DIY dehydrated jetboil meals.

I know you can spend just about any $$ figure on this vac sealer or that, but if your on the fence just go.down to goodwill and buy one, you have 15 days to return it if unhappy. Then go home and clean the pump like I advised above with warm water and test it. For under $20 your in the vac/boil bag scene.

Use the crud out of it and save $$ for purchasing a super duper commercial grade sealer down the road.

I have one for the kitchen and I also keep one in the camper for processing fish afield.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Stid2677]

After years of using cheaper sealers I bought a VacMaster VP115 and love it. We use our all the time, awesome for saving leftovers, Sous Vide cooking, sealing socks and other clothes, marinating meats. Love being able to drop a bag into hot water while setting up camp and have a hot meal ready once camp is set and no clean up.

 

[elkmule123]

My wife and I used some gift cards that we received when we got married to buy a cheaper model of the foodsaver. It worked fine for little things here and there but when we started using it when processing game animals, it couldn't keep up. So we have since purchased a cabelas brand commercial sealer. When we first got the cabelas brand sealer, we tried their bags and I actually preferred them over the foodsaver bags, but they have changed the style and it seems like it sucks up more blood/liquid like the foodsaver bags. So sometimes I've ran the manual seal to make sure I get a good seal. This has cause to sealer to over heat (built safety feature that won't let you use it until it cools). I am now starting to eye ball the VacMaster style sealers. I'm starting to get into processing the game meat by make pastrami, and other thing. By having a sealer that can do liquids, it would make the brine process a little easier. With the other sealers, you have to guess as when to hit the manual seal button before you suck up to much liquid.

 

[beachbunny]

looks like a will save for the vacmaster.
which bags do you use for them and what are their availability?
thanks,BB

 

[ACC]

I bought a Vp 215 from webrestaurant best price I could find on one, they have every kind of bag you could want.

With the 215 I bought a 1000 of the 8x12 4 mils, on the next order of bags I will get 500 of a smaller size bag and 500 of larger bags in 3 mil. The 3 mil bags are plenty tough and it's nice to have an assortment of bag sizes.

 

[Brendan]

I got lazy, ordered my bags from Amazon. I use mostly 8x12, but have some larger. Have been using 3mil, and have had a couple leak In the freezer, probably handling. Just ordered a whole bunch of the 4 mil.

 

[BrentH]

After burning up numerous FoodSavers and a couple Cabelas "Commercial Grade", I took the plunge and ordered a Vacmaster VP215 last year. It should be the last vacuum sealer I ever have to buy. Webstaurant store was the cheapest with their free shipping. Bought a little Harbor Freight cart to wheel it around on since it weighs 75-80lbs.

 

[colonel00]

Been rocking a VP215 here for several years as well. It is great if you can swing the price. But, like most of our "toys" the buy once, cry once rule applies. I do still have some foodsaver sealers for use around the house as well though. The only downside of the Vacmaster is it can be kind of slow if you are sealing up a large batch of something. However, as a chamber sealer, it will do a much better job and in the long run, if you factor in the "cooling" time a regular sealer eventually needs after you run a bunch through it, I guess the time evens out more.

 

[Poser]

My foodsaver sucks. I like all of my Weston stuff, so looking to get a prosumer grande Weston sealer.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

Glad to hear people are liking the 215! I ordered one on Black Friday. I saved 150$. Excited for it to get here!

 

[ACC]

Glad to hear people are liking the 215! I ordered one on Black Friday. I saved 150$. Excited for it to get here!

You won't be disappointed, I think my wife likes the 215 more than I do and that alone says something.

 

[beachbunny]

huntnfish,i sent you a PM

 

[bourbon]

Definitley the VP215...there isnt a better machine for consumers.

Looked and until midnight tonight (12/18) Vacmaster has 20% and free shipping!