VacMaster Chamber Vacuum Sealer - Considering a purchase

[luvmystang67]

Hey Hunt-WA, anyone have one of these?

I'm thinking of getting a chamber vacuum sealer instead of my crappy foodsaver one.  I'm on my second foodsaver and my relationship with it is love-hate at best.  I love what it does, but I hate using it most of the time.  Its a hassle, bags are expensive, juice is a problem, the vacuum is only so-so... I basically only like what it does and how it keeps my food when its actually working.

Now... Vacuum chamber sealers are becoming less expensive.  I'm thinking at a bag cost of $0.05 each and a much better vacuum job and reliable sealing this will pay for itself (and I won't have to buy replacement food savers every couple of years).

Here's the one I'm thinking because I like the oil rotary pump:
https://www.vacmasterfresh.com/vacmaster-vp215-best-selling-commercial-chamber-vacuum-sealer/

Here's the more homey version, but it has a dry pump that sucks less hard, has a longer cycle time, and has a reduced longevity:
https://www.vacmasterfresh.com/vacmaster-vp112s-home-chamber-vacuum-sealer/

Has anyone used these or have a similar model.  Anyone wanna go in halvsies?  Kidding... kind of....

[jackelope]

@Whitpirate
Chris has a chamber sealer, not sure if it's this one or not.

[WSU]

A friend of mine has one. I don't know the model but it is awesome. They are really heavy though, so it wouldn't be convenient to take on fishing trips, etc.

[NRA4LIFE]

Stang,

I have the VP215C with Oil pump.  I have had it for 3.5 years now and couldn't be happier. Pay a bit extra for the 215 over the 112.  You will not regret it.  Look around at the chamber sealer bag sites and see how much you can save just on bags.  I am not joking, I have now probably recouped the cost of it just in bag savings.  I now vacuum seal almost everything that goes in the freezer or long term fridge storage.  All meat now, deer, beef, pork, chicken, etc. I probably do 500-1000 bags a year, depending on the volume of hunting, fishing, garden material, etc. I buy bags in quantity, usually 500-1000. There are lots of advantages to the 215 over food savers.  Double sealing, tighter vacuum, cheaper bags, etc.  You can seal liquid too.  Vacuum marinating is the bomb.  You can marinate meat in a half hour instead of overnight, literally.  I have demonstrated to non-believers when I seal water.  Also, look up "retort bags".  With the double sealing you can use these to make your own MREs.  Haven't tried that yet.

The one drawback is it is a BEAST.  I think it weighs around 85 lbs if I remember.  We took it out to Neah Bay a couple times and ran an extension cord and just left it in the truck.

One suggestion, for stuff that will be in the freezer for a while, go with 4 and even 5 mil bags.  All my fish and game meat goes in 5 mil bags.  Some of the 3 mil bags will puncture when clacking them around in the freezer for long periods of time.

PM me if you want more details.

[Whitpirate]

@Kenzmad and I have the VP215.  They are great.  I can't imagine ever going back to a Food Saver or anything like that.  They are heavy as the dickens and take up a bunch of space and I order my bags in lots of 1000 from webrestaurant store online.

Pic is 3 pieces of a Canadian bacon I made.  The 215 is the only way to go.. don't fall for the less pump.

[NRA4LIFE]

Another nice thing about the 215 is you can take out the 2 plastic spacers and vacuum seal huge stuff.  Whole chickens, large roasts, large bags of trimmings, etc.

[luvmystang67]

Sounds like the 215 is where its at.  The newer 215C has the double seal bars right? 

Anyone tried retort pouches in the 215c?  It sounds like VacMaster suggests it shouldn't be used for that, but many people seem to have good success with it....

They're relatively inexpensive right now compared to historical prices.  I wonder what the quality implications are?

[NRA4LIFE]

Yes, mine has a double seal.

[sirmissalot]

I've used the retort bags in mine plenty, they work great. Takes some tinkering to get used to it, you can't jam all the bags in the pressure cooker like I thought i could, and you have to change some settings on the sealer when you switch to retort bags but we love it for canned tuna and venison. I still prefer jars for the most part but retort bags are great to give away, throw in a pack or a trailer, they also store pretty well stacked up flat in a pantry too.

I also have the 215c they are well worth their weight

[Magnum_Willys]

Have used the 112 a lot.  Good job but slow.  If it had two sets of seals to allow two bags at once it would be great.  Would definitely go with larger pump units

The link to the 215 says out of stock ?

[luvmystang67]

The link to the 215 says out of stock ?

I think that one is, just wanted to make it easy for people to see what I was talking about.

[WSU]

Another use is freezing salmon eggs in jars.  They vacuum seal great and the eggs don't get smashed like in bags. 

[MtnMuley]

You won't regret the purchase if you vacuum seal often. 

[quadrafire]

Stang,

I have the VP215C with Oil pump.  I have had it for 3.5 years now and couldn't be happier. Pay a bit extra for the 215 over the 112.  You will not regret it.  Look around at the chamber sealer bag sites and see how much you can save just on bags.  I am not joking, I have now probably recouped the cost of it just in bag savings.  I now vacuum seal almost everything that goes in the freezer or long term fridge storage.  All meat now, deer, beef, pork, chicken, etc. I probably do 500-1000 bags a year, depending on the volume of hunting, fishing, garden material, etc. I buy bags in quantity, usually 500-1000. There are lots of advantages to the 215 over food savers.  Double sealing, tighter vacuum, cheaper bags, etc.  You can seal liquid too.  Vacuum marinating is the bomb.  You can marinate meat in a half hour instead of overnight, literally.  I have demonstrated to non-believers when I seal water.  Also, look up "retort bags".  With the double sealing you can use these to make your own MREs.  Haven't tried that yet.

The one drawback is it is a BEAST.  I think it weighs around 85 lbs if I remember.  We took it out to Neah Bay a couple times and ran an extension cord and just left it in the truck.

One suggestion, for stuff that will be in the freezer for a while, go with 4 and even 5 mil bags.  All my fish and game meat goes in 5 mil bags.  Some of the 3 mil bags will puncture when clacking them around in the freezer for long periods of time.

PM me if you want more details.

Well I can attest to NRA's use of this unit. He came over last week and brought me a bad of goodies vacuum sealed. I have the cabelas commercial unit as a regular vaccum sealer and it looks like his are way better quality as mine.

[Antlershed]

I Bought the VP215 a couple years ago and haven't looked back. 

VP215 for $699 with free shipping

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ary-vacmaster-vp215-chamber-vacuum-packaging-machine-with-10-1-4-seal-bar/120VMASVP215.html