Looking for recommendations on getting a new vacuum sealer under $500. I have always used cheap Amazon sealers. Looking for something that may last a little longer. Thanks
Vacuum sealer
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Last: 3 days ago by schmellba99
I have been very happy with my Nesco VS-12, but you might something more than that price point ($130).
ETA: with your price point, I would definitely look for something that handles wet food. I have to freeze my meat for about 30 min to not suck out juice.
ETA: with your price point, I would definitely look for something that handles wet food. I have to freeze my meat for about 30 min to not suck out juice.
Google/youtube some of the cheaper smaller chamber vacs. There is a pretty big price jump from the sucker models to the chamber vacs.
I've had a Food Saver "Game Saver Plus" for nearly 10 years. Keep it clean, clean the seals, replace the seals when needed, it's just fine.
I use the "Out of Air" bags these days
Edit - not sure how I got that emoticon
I use the "Out of Air" bags these days
Edit - not sure how I got that emoticon
Being in TexAgs jail changes a man……..no, not really
Drundel said:
Google/youtube some of the cheaper smaller chamber vacs. There is a pretty big price jump from the sucker models to the chamber vacs.
+1 on chamber sealers. Major game changer.
We got the Cabelas 15 inch commercial sealer probably 20 years ago. still sealing like a champ, only thing we did was replace the vacuum seal strips. think it was like 350 then.
This guy has a couple of videos and does a pretty good job of explaining the differences.
I have a VP230 and use it on all sorts of stuff from chili, to fish, sausage, seasonings I buy in bulk, chum, did some dried herbs for making tea the other day, etc.
A hint on these is you can seal multiple bags at once if they fit, ie, I have a 12" bar and can seal 2-6" bags at once, so when making link sausage, I have 6x12" bags to cut my sealing time in half.
I have a VP230 and use it on all sorts of stuff from chili, to fish, sausage, seasonings I buy in bulk, chum, did some dried herbs for making tea the other day, etc.
A hint on these is you can seal multiple bags at once if they fit, ie, I have a 12" bar and can seal 2-6" bags at once, so when making link sausage, I have 6x12" bags to cut my sealing time in half.
B-1 83 said:
I've had a Food Saver "Game Saver Plus" for nearly 10 years. Keep it clean, clean the seals, replace the seals when needed, it's just fine.
I use the "Out of Air" bags these days
Edit - not sure how I got that emoticon
Mine is going on 20 years now. I've replaced the seals maybe 2x. It just keeps working.
I"m sure the chamber sealers are nice, but they take up a lot of counter space compared to a Food Saver style. If you are using it quite a bit, I am sure the chamber sealers make it worth while. But for your run of the mill use, the food saver is just fine. For me anyway. And I usually seal about 150-200 lbs of sausage every year along with a bunch of ground venison in 1lb bags on top of the normal stuff like buying steaks and sealing them individually, etc.
I even seal quart bags of stock with mine without any issue. Took a little finagling to figure it out but have been doing it for probably 10 years now.
schmellba99 said:B-1 83 said:
I've had a Food Saver "Game Saver Plus" for nearly 10 years. Keep it clean, clean the seals, replace the seals when needed, it's just fine.
I use the "Out of Air" bags these days
Edit - not sure how I got that emoticon
Mine is going on 20 years now. I've replaced the seals maybe 2x. It just keeps working.
I"m sure the chamber sealers are nice, but they take up a lot of counter space compared to a Food Saver style. If you are using it quite a bit, I am sure the chamber sealers make it worth while. But for your run of the mill use, the food saver is just fine. For me anyway. And I usually seal about 150-200 lbs of sausage every year along with a bunch of ground venison in 1lb bags on top of the normal stuff like buying steaks and sealing them individually, etc.
I even seal quart bags of stock with mine without any issue. Took a little finagling to figure it out but have been doing it for probably 10 years now.
Same - 10+ years with the Game Saver. In addition to all the usual stuff like meat and fish, I like to make a huge pot of pinto beans and seal up dinner-sized portions that I can pull out, warm up in a pot of boiling water, then serve or smash for refrieds.
I bought a LEM a couple years ago to replace my cheap Food Saver. It may be the bags I have but for some reason the LEM will not reliably make a good seal. Very frustrating and I find myself pulling out the old Food Saver most of the time now because it is much more reliable on sealing the bags. For this reason I recommend staying away from the LEM sealers.
I'm seriously thinking about biting the bullet and moving to a VacMaster chamber sealer. It would be nice to be able to seal liquids and such. I wanted one when I got the LEM but I just couldn't make myself spend the extra dough. Wish I would have now. OP, if you could up your budget to about $900 you could get a nice VacMaster....
I'm seriously thinking about biting the bullet and moving to a VacMaster chamber sealer. It would be nice to be able to seal liquids and such. I wanted one when I got the LEM but I just couldn't make myself spend the extra dough. Wish I would have now. OP, if you could up your budget to about $900 you could get a nice VacMaster....
Wait till Black Friday, I got mine with a 40% off coupon.
I have this one and love it.
https://avidarmor.com/products/avid-armor-ultra-series-model-usv32-chamber-vacuum-sealer
https://avidarmor.com/products/avid-armor-ultra-series-model-usv32-chamber-vacuum-sealer
Gil '91
Texaspainter said:
I bought a LEM a couple years ago to replace my cheap Food Saver. It may be the bags I have but for some reason the LEM will not reliably make a good seal. Very frustrating and I find myself pulling out the old Food Saver most of the time now because it is much more reliable on sealing the bags. For this reason I recommend staying away from the LEM sealers.
I'm seriously thinking about biting the bullet and moving to a VacMaster chamber sealer. It would be nice to be able to seal liquids and such. I wanted one when I got the LEM but I just couldn't make myself spend the extra dough. Wish I would have now. OP, if you could up your budget to about $900 you could get a nice VacMaster....
This. The wife got me a Lem 500 for xmas several years ago, don't know why as we had the Cabelas. Bu it was light and handy to use whn steaks and chops were on sale. Worked nicely, although I didn't really Like the locking system. Put it up one day after sealing some steaks, when I got it out next, would not come on. Absolutely nothing. So I called customer service, they said it was probably a bad board, charged me 30 bucks for a new one. Put it in, And yes, it came on now, but it would not cycle to the seal function. Just sat there running forever. Got tired of messing with it and put it up. Finally a while back I decided to mess with it again. Ordered another board, put it in, and it started working correctly, but the seal was hit or miss. sometimes a good seal, more often than not, not sealed well. Would stay far away from Lem.
gwellis said:
I have this one and love it.
https://avidarmor.com/products/avid-armor-ultra-series-model-usv32-chamber-vacuum-sealer
very interested to hear more about this Avid Armor. I looked them up on the link you provided but it doesn't give ANY major details as to the type of pump it has or any more detailed specs like the VacMaster provides regarding their machines. Makes me a little leary. But, that's a really good price for a chamber sealer if it of good quality.
How long have you had it? How has it performed? Does it provide a consistent vacuum? Does it provide a good seal that stays sealed after putting in your freezer? Any issues at all?
Vevor Chamber Vacuum sealer. I bought mine for around $350.
Hope Is A Good Thing
Thanks everyone for the responses. Definitely going to go with a chamber sealer this time around
I got my Anova countertop chamber vac off a suggestion a few years ago on food board. They have sales now and then, think I paid around $350. Works great for leftovers. Have my brothers Vac Master in the barn for big stuff, but the Anova puts in work.
One benefit of the a chamber vac is a wet seal.
We defrosted some steaks and prepped them for cooking Monday. Olive oil, season, seal, and marinate for a few days.
We defrosted some steaks and prepped them for cooking Monday. Olive oil, season, seal, and marinate for a few days.
I have the foodsaver and my only real complaint is that some times I wish it would stop pulling the vacuum sooner and wish there was a way to force it to stop and just make the seal.
Generally with items that are on the juicy side. I can alleviate it by lightly freezing the product first but i still sometimes get a wet seal that then fails. If I'm concerned about it I try to leave room for a second seal, clean the space really really well then seal a second time.
Generally with items that are on the juicy side. I can alleviate it by lightly freezing the product first but i still sometimes get a wet seal that then fails. If I'm concerned about it I try to leave room for a second seal, clean the space really really well then seal a second time.
Drundel said:
One benefit of the a chamber vac is a wet seal.
We defrosted some steaks and prepped them for cooking Monday. Olive oil, season, seal, and marinate for a few days.
I know this may be sacrilege here. I lived in high rise in ATL for a few years. Grill was 14 floors down so I learned to sous vide and reverse sear on a cast iron. That wet seal would be awesome for that.
Also, although I'm now on 20+ acres, I still do this from time to time - put steaks like those in the freezer. When you are short on time or don't have time to set up and watch the grill, take 'em out of the freezer and just plop 'em in the 132 degree water. No need to thaw. Thaw, cook - all in one step. Don't need to even watch them cook. Just 30 minutes or longer and you're good.
Not as good a good grilled steak, but still pretty dang good. A little bit of liquid smoke and the uninitiated would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
I know of the guys on the lease that will do that. He gets the meat prepped to cook, sealed, then freezes it so when he wants to cook some, he just defrost it and then cooks it sous vide style.
We did that a few times last year. I shot a lot of cranes and would cook them that way.
We did that a few times last year. I shot a lot of cranes and would cook them that way.
For the guys who say they have issues with the seal bc of juice from the meat...try folding up a paper towel and putting in the bag to capture juice. It'll hold enough to give the vacuum time to pull out air but block the juice and the seal to take
They make products for that.
https://a.co/d/02XbwJXE
I've used them and folded paper towels and would grab what was handy.
https://a.co/d/02XbwJXE
I've used them and folded paper towels and would grab what was handy.
Avid Armor is awesome. They have a couple different sized chamber vacs. I fully "process" at home now due to obtaining a Cabela's grinder and a chamber vac.
I ended up getting the Avid Armor USVX Ultra. Been pretty impressed with it so far!
https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Armor-Automatic-Liquid-Rich-Infusions/dp/B09Y4L56GW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=G0JE0NZQI66H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VaWVNUNxlkhOQLIRj7TQNyANkEVtsRgzNuV6ZS3XYTd_GGugFeikTaUQdDvNcX_srKd6O5rCy38FlahDgT5PqVhYt6j_OkkCIzEtkmMAulCF_oLYEt1NpEST4uGxtS3NUu-NvYWOpXG3hAvg0tkkhgvtPD8_qEJtm29GihK-MjoyEJXIRsL_yuZAis_Dk9ifsCQFoAra-_GCW8E3adLTkw.K8IxzdJ-_LvIQP9pD8uWYT2wcuZfKqwNqOb8IlmqEd4&dib_tag=se&keywords=avid+armor+vacuum+sealer&qid=1782068911&sprefix=avid+armor+v%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Armor-Automatic-Liquid-Rich-Infusions/dp/B09Y4L56GW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=G0JE0NZQI66H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VaWVNUNxlkhOQLIRj7TQNyANkEVtsRgzNuV6ZS3XYTd_GGugFeikTaUQdDvNcX_srKd6O5rCy38FlahDgT5PqVhYt6j_OkkCIzEtkmMAulCF_oLYEt1NpEST4uGxtS3NUu-NvYWOpXG3hAvg0tkkhgvtPD8_qEJtm29GihK-MjoyEJXIRsL_yuZAis_Dk9ifsCQFoAra-_GCW8E3adLTkw.K8IxzdJ-_LvIQP9pD8uWYT2wcuZfKqwNqOb8IlmqEd4&dib_tag=se&keywords=avid+armor+vacuum+sealer&qid=1782068911&sprefix=avid+armor+v%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
I've used a vac master chamber unit for several years. It has a leak and won't pump all the way down. I replaced it with a meat wet pump chamber system and it's been great so far. It's more than the stated budget but worth the upgrade in my opinion.
Texaspainter said:gwellis said:
I have this one and love it.
https://avidarmor.com/products/avid-armor-ultra-series-model-usv32-chamber-vacuum-sealer
very interested to hear more about this Avid Armor. I looked them up on the link you provided but it doesn't give ANY major details as to the type of pump it has or any more detailed specs like the VacMaster provides regarding their machines. Makes me a little leary. But, that's a really good price for a chamber sealer if it of good quality.
How long have you had it? How has it performed? Does it provide a consistent vacuum? Does it provide a good seal that stays sealed after putting in your freezer? Any issues at all?
Its been great.. Had it over a year with zero issues. My first chamber vac. Was interesting to do my first seal when it sits there and pumps and nothing happens then all of a sudden the air goes out and its seals. pretty neat actually.
Gil '91
I have had a Vevor Chamber sealer for a few years now and its very impressive. Can literally vacuum seal soup
VEVOR Vacuum Packaging Machine 1700W Chamber Sealer
VEVOR Vacuum Packaging Machine 1700W Chamber Sealer
That is the same one I have. I love it.
Hope Is A Good Thing
Looks like Avid Armour is having a sale now. Have their Ultra one chamber vac for 189. I know nothing of their sealers, but love their bags.
Not to derail the thread, but do you guys treat the sealing gaskets with anything to keep them flexible? Have an old seal a meal that works well yet, but the seals are getting dicey, and can't seem to find that model seals online, even from foodsaver. I can moisten them with water and it helps a few times, but jus wondering if something like silicone might nelp.
Isn't it just a foam gasket? If so, can you make one?
Kenneth_2003 said:
I have the foodsaver and my only real complaint is that some times I wish it would stop pulling the vacuum sooner and wish there was a way to force it to stop and just make the seal.
Generally with items that are on the juicy side. I can alleviate it by lightly freezing the product first but i still sometimes get a wet seal that then fails. If I'm concerned about it I try to leave room for a second seal, clean the space really really well then seal a second time.
Mine can do that, and I do it quite a bit. Nice feature that I thought all of them could do, but evidently not. I can see some of the complaints about the foodsaver if you can't force a seal whenever.
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