Im in the market for a new one. The current one I have is a foodsaver brand, it's ok but it's auto function. Meaning you have to trigger the process with the bag, which wastes a lot of material. It also shuts down after a couple of seals because of overheating. Anyone have one they're happy with? So many out there it's hard to choose, hands on experience would be helpful. Thanks
Can I come along for the ride too? ;D
I want one too.
I've been in the market for a new one too! I'm thinking of going to one of the local butcher shops/slaughter houses to see what they are using and ask how long they've been using it, then go from there!
I had one of the auto start ones. Pain in the ...
Bought another food saver
but this time I got the sportsman model. Manual start and better pump so you don't have to wait for it to cool down when doing a lot of packages.
We have a "Food Saver", no problems in 10 years or so, freezer went out, so we sealed the ones that were not completely thawed and put in another freezer. Ran steady for about a half hour. Oh, no auto.
Food Saver but not automatic. Press a button when you are ready for each operation.
We have used one of the large foodsaver automatic machines for 4 years now and love it. we do a couple hundred bags a year and never have had a problem with the machine. It has the pulse function so you can do wet items like chicken and still get a perfect seal without sucking liquid into the seal area. It also has the vacuum hose that pulls out and allows us to use the canning jar adapters for vacuum packing dry goods with standard lids and rings. I use it to keep all the food we dehydrate fresh. It does take a extra inch of bag but we buy big boxes of the rolls at Costco. I tried the low cost rolls off Amazon once and had trouble with freezer burn and sealing so I only use the foodsaver brand rolls now.
We use food saver vacuum sealers in our trading post and have for many years .We take three beef or three bison at a time to be processed to central New York .The butcher shop uses a commercial vacuum sealer but we still end up sealing the ones that are not air tight when we get them back .i think that the food saver brand rolls are the best and that is we have used for years.When we are doing a lot of sealing we will use two sealers alternating between them so as not to burn the sealing element.
Zeke
I have an older FoodSaver GameSaver model from BassPro that has served us well for several years. When/if it bites the bullet I'll seriously think of getting one of the chamber vacuum systems at around 1K. Bags are much cheaper and you can do liquids like soups and sauces without having to pre-freeze or otherwise mess around with it.
Thanks for the input! Foodsaver seems to be the most popular of the homeowner brands, I've had 2 or3 over the years with mixed results. I went on there site and it happens they have a sale on now till 9/1. I'm going to try the FM5460, it has a separate sealing bar for bag making and will supposedly seal 30 bags in a row. I'll report back after I've put it through a workout. Thank you again.
Update.. Gave the new bagger a run of 24 bags of peppers, no overheat issues. Has a strong suction and a see through window that let's you control the amount of bag past the seal strip. The old one had to have a good inch on either end of bag (auto). Can take this one down to 1/4". So far so good!
I've been interested in getting one of these. How easy are they to use for when you buy enough for 3 packages. Does it take long for setup and use?
I keep mine on a shelf. Pull it down, plug in, put your bag in and push start. I use it a couple times a week.
Simple and easy.