Vacuum sealers

[Magicman]

This is probably the same guy that showed up on another forum and was leaving some muddy Spammer tracks

 

[RCW]

I dont think you can tell the difference in something vac sealed in a $50 machine as opposed to a $500 or more??? They all do the same but some have more bling than others.

My Sboly F88 holds 11" rolls, has a built in cutter, and will vac seal something with liquid in it! It also does jars, but you have to purchase the lids. I never used that anyway even when I had my other unit. Its quick and quiet. I especially like the price tag! If it ever breaks I could buy several and never reach a huge price tag! Time will tell!

Lever - - can't debate that. When a $50 unit works, nobody knows the difference.

All I can say about buying a more heavy-duty unit is that they tend to seal more reliably, possibly with more vacuum, and more quickly.

At the tail end of the link Fordtech86 linked, I posted the first sealer we bought.

Seems it was $60 or so. I really wanted to see if we would use a sealer or not. Found we really did use it. Probably too much for light-duty unit.

Worked great for a while, but then tended to fail to seal about 25% of the bags. Sometimes those seals failed in the freezer. Seal was a single line, and not very wide.

I can't get parts for the $60 sealer. I can get parts for the commercial Weston sealer. Bet you can get parts for many Foodsaver sealers, but just guessing.

 

[leveraddict]

Up here it costs $500 or so to have an elk processed and about half that for a deer. The vacuum sealer I bought paid for itself and then some the first week I bought it. The last thing I want is to have 300lb of elk meat and 150lb of deer meat go bad because I used a cheap vacuum sealer.

Well I hope you didnt take offence? My reply was for the OP who stated

" I kinda would like to keep the cost with in reason ".
Maybe skeetz thinks a $500 price tag is reasonable for his needs? If so disregard my post.

mcmki if I processed that amount of meat I would have bought a better larger model myself! I only do a couple hundred lbs in a years time!

 

[leveraddict]

Lever - - can't debate that. When a $50 unit works, nobody knows the difference.

All I can say about buying a more heavy-duty unit is that they tend to seal more reliably, possibly with more vacuum, and more quickly.

At the tail end of the link Fordtech86 linked, I posted the first sealer we bought.

Seems it was $60 or so. I really wanted to see if we would use a sealer or not. Found we really did use it. Probably too much for light-duty unit.

Worked great for a while, but then tended to fail to seal about 25% of the bags. Sometimes those seals failed in the freezer. Seal was a single line, and not very wide.

I can't get parts for the $60 sealer. I can get parts for the commercial Weston sealer. Bet you can get parts for many Foodsaver sealers, but just guessing.

I guess Ive been burned by high dollar items too many times.
My latest a $1400 360 transducer from Humminbird bit the dust 2 years after the warranty went out. Humminbird will fix it for $600 plus shipping both ways. Theres no guarantee it wont go down again. I took care of it. Stored on boat in garage and my bedroom in winter. It just gave up the ghost with no warning! Anybody need a $1400 boat anchor?

 

[Crash277]

i have the mid range model from costco. ive had it for at least 7-8 yrs. i use it for splitting up bulk meat purchases, for when processing wild game, and for freezing fish, it was about $100 when i got it. works great.

 

[mcmxi]

Well I hope you didnt take offence? My reply was for the OP who stated

" I kinda would like to keep the cost with in reason ".
Maybe skeetz thinks a $500 price tag is reasonable for his needs? If so disregard my post.

mcmki if I processed that amount of meat I would have bought a better larger model myself! I only do a couple hundred lbs in a years time!

No offense taken. I was just making the point that there are many reasons why we buy different things. As @RCW stated above, some models are serviceable, and typically the higher end "prosumer" models offer that, and are far more robust in design using higher quality components.

For me, the most important features are quality of the vacuum, quality of the seal and the reliability. You can imagine having 100lb of elk steaks and 200lb of ground elk/bacon and having the vacuum sealer crap out in the middle of that. Not a good situation.

Duty cycle in just about any machine is related to cost. Welding machines for example, compressors, vacuum pumps, pumps etc. If you're processing a lot of food within a short amount of time it requires a higher duty cycle for the vacuum pump and for the heating element. A quality machine will be able to deal with the demands of a higher duty cycle.

 

[skeets]

If I was 30 years old again, and knowing what I know now,,, yes I would have spent 500 or 600 bucks,, but Im not 30 years old,,, Im old, fat, crippled, crazy and lazy and, really how much m ore time do I have anyways A 100 bucks yes I think is probbly a fair price, for as much as I would use it. And after Im gone, the kids will probbly pitch it anyways

 

[RCW]

Skeets - I think some of the $100 sealers can be pretty good. Again, I get back to Foodsaver that many guys liked. Never had one, but I think some of them are pretty reasonable. As leveraddict said, some are pretty pricey.

Just seemed like a brand that many liked.

 

[Vince1230]

Agree with ont let. I took process deer and dont want to have issues with seal or breakdown. Also the ability to fix if needed. Finallt tgevcost of usage. The rolls are expensive so that adds to ingoinb price. Skeets, you have tons of time left. D