Which food vacuum sealer?

What do you use as a food vacuum sealer for your needs? I am looking for a good dependable food vacuum sealer and I am having a hard time deciding on which one. The reviews are all over the board on the different ones. I am looking to spend less than $200.00 on one. I do want the ability to stop the vacuum process at my discretion and seal the bag at that setting. There are so many brands and types out there that I am at a loss. This will be my first one and I want a quality sealer so I will not get aggravated with it and give up on a sealer all together. Thanks for any info.

I have a ARY Vacmaster Pro 260 and love it. Better than any Foodsaver I have ever used and it fits your price range. One nice thing about this sealer is it seals closer too the edge so you have less wasted bags. I also buy bags and rolls from https://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/
Their prices are way better than foodsaver. Their bags will also work with foodsaver.

Do you know anyone that gets Consumer Reports?

I have the one from sears. You can stop it at any point and it has the vacuum tube for the containers.

I ended up getting a FoodSaver 4800 from Costco. It can seal bags with the heat sealer or it can use FoodSaver zip lock reusable bags with the accessory function. I can stop the vacuum process at any time and seal the bag at that instant which is what I was wanting. It was $149.00 at Costco.

I have a Food Saver V3460. Sometimes it doesn't seal all the way in spots when sealing fish. Have to seal multiple times. It woks well for dry foods though.
I would go with the higher end model if doing it again.

Tallpine said:

I have a ARY Vacmaster Pro 260 and love it. Better than any Foodsaver I have ever used and it fits your price range. One nice thing about this sealer is it seals closer too the edge so you have less wasted bags. I also buy bags and rolls from https://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/
Their prices are way better than foodsaver. Their bags will also work with foodsaver.

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Just got one these I love it :beer:

Bringing this to the top! How is the Vacmaster sealer holding up?

Jim said:

Bringing this to the top! How is the Vacmaster sealer holding up?

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Jim - Still loving it - It is great - really don't know what I did before having one :beer:

I see they don't make the 260 anymore?

Is the 350 close to the one you have?

https://shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/VacMaster-Home-Use-Vacuum-Sealing-Machines-Accessories-Parts_c12.htm

It looks different but seems to have the same type of options

here is a link - still looks like they have them in stock

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ary-vacmaster-pro260-vacuum-packaging-machine-with-12-seal-bar/120VMA260.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjwKEAjw4s2wBRDSnr2jwZenlkgSJABvFcwQBvZxwbnSv3i4eXfRmR7Dut9Yykv5zCehKLhXtTZiixoC22Dw_wcB

Let me know

Sorry to be a pain! What bags are you using? Worth springing for the premium ones?
:lol:

I have the basic name brand "Food Saver" machine .. . . .
it is not the machine itself, but, the plastic bags.

I often freeze left over blue and fiddler crabs from sheepshead fishing
and the sharp spines of the crab puncture the plastic and it
looses the vacuum. Same with other sharp objects. So I wrap
them in newspaper or small paper bag then vacuum with no issues.
I just wish there were more heavy duty bags available.

Jim said:

Sorry to be a pain! What bags are you using? Worth springing for the premium ones?
:lol:

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yes buy good bags - the good ones have a mesh like inside if that make sense

fool4fish1226 said:

Jim said:

Sorry to be a pain! What bags are you using? Worth springing for the premium ones?
:lol:

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yes buy good bags - the good ones have a mesh like inside if that make sense

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Ok perfect! That was the difference between the economy vs the premium.

For those interested here is a quick blurb on econo vs premium: https://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/Economy_Bags_vs.html

I'm on my second foodsaver brand vacuum sealer. My current unit is a model V3835. My first one was one of the really early foodsaver models. This one is a far better machine than the old one but there are still things I'd like to see changed. That Vacmaster Pro 350 looks more like what I would want if I were to have my choice of units. I love the idea of that clear lid that you can manually control the closing and see what's going on while you vacuum the bag down. But I guess there are good points about an automatic that leaves your hands free while it's being vacuumed n sealed. I'm just more of a control freak I guess as I prefer to have more control over the process. Both of my foodsavers were given to me by my brother. Now that he's retired, he's a garage sale fanatic and he's got so many of these things and the hard vac containers, he's borderline hoarding them. LoL He's been buying the foodsavers (all models) for $5 - $25. It's crazy how cheap these things are at garage sales, and some of the stuff has never been removed from it's original box. :mrgreen:

I'm not 100% sure I understand what they are saying about the difference in the premium bags vs their regular bags but if I do understand it correctly, the only time it would be advantageous to have the premium bags is if you're sealing a lot of things with liquids. I'll have to check their bags out though as that's the one complaint I've had about foodsaver, it's the high price of their bags. Sort of like the PC printer folks selling you a printer for next to nothing, then robbing you blind with the price of their ink.

BTW For those of you that use a safety razor, take your extra blades (once you've opened the vac sealed package) and put them in one of the small canisters and vacuum seal it. Your blades will keep longer. I can only assume that moisture causes rust on the edges which in turn dulls the blades. This is very useful for me since I alternate between using my electric razor a lot.

linehand said:

I have a Food Saver V3460. Sometimes it doesn't seal all the way in spots when sealing fish. Have to seal multiple times. It woks well for dry foods though.
I would go with the higher end model if doing it again.

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Thats because the moisture from the fish cools the plastic trying to seal. Use the moist setting if it has one, or hit the seal button before the liquid gets to the machine.