Vacuum sealer recommendations

7mmMag

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Our vacuum sealer crapped out and we are looking for a new one. I've been looking online and its hard to find one that doesn't have a bunch of negative reviews. My wife uses it quite a bit for meal prepping and I use it for meat processing so we use it a fair amount so we don't want a cheap one. I know a bunch of you do your own meat processing so I figured this would be a good place to ask for real world reviews.
 


Bullsnake

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I recently got a foodsaver gamesaver wingman plus from Scheels and it seems to do the trick we process our own pork and deer, and repackage bulk meat that we buy
 

Tymurrey

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I have had a vacmaster vp112 for probably 8 years now. Used pretty hard for butchering our own pigs and deer and a lot of fish. I won’t ever buy a cheap vacuum sealer again. The bags are way cheaper this route and have paid for the sealer already in just what I’ve saved. I had to replace a few small parts over the years but that’s expected some I guess. I’m just glad it’s easily repairable. The size of the item you can vacuum seal is limited is the only problem. I also do pint jars of dehydrated foods in it a lot, just leave the lid a little loose, run the vacuum and it stays sealed for a couple years now.
 

troutslayer

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Vacmaster VP215. Price upfront is high, but the bags are cheap. It does take up some room and you are limited as to the size of things you can vacuum seal, but we leave ours set up all the time.
 

KDM

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We use a food saver and they've held up very well. We vac pack well over a ton of stuff every year from meats to veggies and these non commercial ones have lasted between 5 and 10 years. Our current one is on year 6. What usually breaks down is the gas seal and once that goes, the machine is done. We've tried to replace the seals, but the replacement seals rarely make it a year so when one craps out, we've just dropped the shekels and bought a new one. Good Luck!!
 


7mmMag

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We use a food saver and they've held up very well. We vac pack well over a ton of stuff every year from meats to veggies and these non commercial ones have lasted between 5 and 10 years. Our current one is on year 6. What usually breaks down is the gas seal and once that goes, the machine is done. We've tried to replace the seals, but the replacement seals rarely make it a year so when one craps out, we've just dropped the shekels and bought a new one. Good Luck!!

Thats exactly what happened to ours. I fixed it and a less than a year later its crapped out again so I'm biting the bullet and buying a new one.
 

luvcatchingbass

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Food Saver for us too. Gets used a lot and has held up for probably 8yrs so far. I would like the fancy types but space and portability is one thing that is a hang up for me, sometimes I'm in the kitchen or the garage or in the basement
 


guywhofishes

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as luv said.... the chamber units are NOT portable

on the plus side it is nice to have a station set up with all your various bags nearby

I’ve gone to 4 mil - I got tired of pinholes causing freezer burn

I even have bags with ziplock built in for snack items, etc.

only downside to chambers is long items like whole salmon etc
 
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wjschmaltz

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I have it down to the Vacmaster 380 or Weston Pro 2300. So if anyone has a recommendation on either of those, please speak up! Can you do two bags at a time with that 16” bar? I would like a chamber, but anything that fits a whole salmon fillet is going to run $3,500+ and then there is the whole space issue.

We have (broken now) the top of the line food saver. It lasted 4 years which is more than I was expecting from it. It’s great for doing 10-20 bags here and there, but we put that thing through the gauntlet. Coming home from a weekend of fishing and having 100+ bags of salmon to do in an afternoon was a tall order. Especially 6-10 weekends of that every summer plus fall wild game processing.
 

Retired Educator

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I also use a FoodSaver, on my 2nd and they have worked well for several years and then time for a new one. The one I use is in the $220-$300 rang and I use rolls and make my own size bag. I'm pretty sure they make better vacuum sealers but I have never wanted to spend that much or a bigger deal for me is the size and weight of bigger sealers. Wanted to be able to put it away conveniently when finished. Or more precisely, my wife didn't want it sitting out when not in use. Most of us have gone down that road.
 

honkerslayer

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I bought a Nesco about 3-4 months ago. So far so good. I like the way the lid locks down better than my old food saver. The food saver did great for about 10-12 years so don’t have anything bad to say about it. I just wore it out. I thought I’d give the Nesco a try.
 

NDwalleyes

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Foodsaver for me, we are on year 7 or 8.

One of the things I've found is that once the unit is done vacuuming all the air out, hit the seal button so it seals sooner. Most units will run for several seconds after the air is sucked out before it automatically seals. This time frame where the unit is vacuuming but not removing any air makes the motor work hard and shortens the life of the motor.
 


Migrator Man

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My $35 foodsaver lasted me 10 years before it crapped out. Seals went out and then replacement seals worked a couple years. Picked up the game saver wingman and it has worked well so far. Doesn’t over heat like the cheap one.
 

CJR

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Vacmaster 215. We messed around with the regular units for years before going to a chamber unit about 5 years ago and would never go back. The downsides are easily overcome for us...It’s paid for itself in bag savings. I went to 4 mil bags as all my jerky was poking holes in the 2 mil bags. We sous vide quite a bit so this thing gets a workout. I recently put my fifth or sixth order of bags in on Amazon...I pick up 1500 at a time...just to give you an idea of how much we use this thing. Highly recommend.
 


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