food saver vs

[rosscrazyelk]

Anyone have experience with vacuum sealers?  The food saver at Costco is affordable but wondering how much differences there can be  with the cabelas or weston?

[TheHunt]

Hi Ross,

My study showed that the food saver or Cabelas products are good for lite use overall.   If you are going to use it every week packaging multiple things the more professional grade would be something to consider. Here is a review that I found which seems pretty accurate from my research.

http://www.vacuumsealerdigest.com/   

[jackelope]

Kenzmad had a thread on here a few days ago re: a vaccum sealer he was raving about....

[jackelope]

Kenzmad had a thread on here a few days ago re: a vaccum sealer he was raving about....

Just found the thread.
Wow...holy smokes. $800.00

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,164821.msg2173451.html#msg2173451

[birddogdad]

most of the vac sealers will function. I have issues with my FS unit once the sealer gets hot. It seems to start sealing before air is evacuated, so I have to wait for unit sealer to cool down before proceeding. We have started alternating with 2 units once we get in the groove of processing several animals. Slows the process down a lot. Am considering a commercial grade unit for this reason.

Ultimately, if you get all the air out and keep things frozen VERY IMPORTANT -  0F or less, you can keep vac sealed meat for years. Freezer burn is the death of stuff though...

 I cleaned my freezer prior to season this year and found some 2009 venison that ate very well at camp this year. Mostly the goal should be to eat up by the 3 year point or I would recommend canning the overage if you cant use it up in that timeframe......

[Kittman]

I recently purchased the Foodsaver/Gamesaver Titanium G800 for about $360.00.  Looks like it is heavy duty, it is definitely heavy at least 20 LBS and bulky.  It worked well once I figured it out.  Couple of things I noticed is there is a bit of wasted bag material when using this unit, and sometimes the sensor or whatever wouldn't click and a redo would be required.  Never overheated while racing against the yellow jackets or bees/wasps in the back yard while butchering my deer.  I'm sure there is better but I didn't research very much on this purchase as I had a deer hanging & needing to be processed.  Overall I'm very pleased with the job it did.   

[Bigshooter]

I just pickup a foodsaver at goodwill the other day for $5 and it works great.  I have 3 of them now that I will use when packaging a lot of volume to avoid over heating.

[Bean Counter]

I've had the same foodsaver for about 4 years now. It will overheat as described above if I pummel it with a few dozen bags in one blitz. Spaced out it seems to do just fine. I have eaten meat 2-3 seasons old with no problems.

[BULLBLASTER]

I have a $30 seal a meal sealer from amazon that has been a champ so far this year! Has packed and sealed 4 deer and a moose since mid october.! Never thought it would run this long.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I've had the same foodsaver for about 4 years now. It will overheat as described above if I pummel it with a few dozen bags in one blitz. Spaced out it seems to do just fine. I have eaten meat 2-3 seasons old with no problems.

My run of the mill four year old Food Saver exibits the same behavior. Slow and steady works well for me.

-Steve

[Firedogg]

I've had a Foodsaver V2490 for 8 years now. It just keeps on sucking and sealing. Keep it clean and it works well. When it seems like it's not sealing or vaccuming correctly that just means it is time for a new set of the foam seals and it will work like new. I put it through it's paces every year on our 8 day Ketchikan salmon trip where some days I seal up 40 + pounds of fish each evening.

[kenzmad]

Glad you guys are having good luck with the Food savers. I was not. 2 units a year for me so I finally ventured away from them. I will say, that i probably used mine more than most. Every meals leftover went in a bag. Fish,game, crab etc. no tupperware or ziploks in the house for us.

[billythekidrock]

I've had a Foodsaver V2490 for 8 years now. It just keeps on sucking and sealing. Keep it clean and it works well. When it seems like it's not sealing or vaccuming correctly that just means it is time for a new set of the foam seals and it will work like new. I put it through it's paces every year on our 8 day Ketchikan salmon trip where some days I seal up 40 + pounds of fish each evening.

Same here,. Love my food saver.
I have used other brands with other people and they all fail.  I will buy another Food Saver when mine dies.

[RadSav]

Glad you guys are having good luck with the Food savers. I was not. 2 units a year for me so I finally ventured away from them. I will say, that i probably used mine more than most. Every meals leftover went in a bag. Fish,game, crab etc. no tupperware or ziploks in the house for us.

I was going through them about that fast.  Then I talked with a company tech rep and he told me to unplug after every use.  Haven't needed another one since!  Hard to believe that is all it took, but this is year ten for mine!  Bought a new one last year that is stainless as I was growing tired of the ugly yellow color of the weathered old one.  New one is still in the box.  I'll get it out one of these days

[billythekidrock]

Glad you guys are having good luck with the Food savers. I was not. 2 units a year for me so I finally ventured away from them. I will say, that i probably used mine more than most. Every meals leftover went in a bag. Fish,game, crab etc. no tupperware or ziploks in the house for us.

I was going through them about that fast.  Then I talked with a company tech rep and he told me to unplug after every use.  Haven't needed another one since!  Hard to believe that is all it took, but this is year ten for mine!  Bought a new one last year that is stainless as I was growing tired of the ugly yellow color of the weathered old one.  New one is still in the box.  I'll get it out one of these days

Interesting.
We have never left ours plugged in and they have lasted forever. Mine is over 15 years old and I my fathers is about the same. We use them regularly throughout the year and then heavily during the fall.

Now to be fair, we burned out a few when we first started using them by too often without letting them cool between sealing. We used to do all our burger in them because they stacked well in the freezer (laid flat) and they thawed extremely fast because they were thinner than a package of burger. But we would package them all then try to seal them all back to back..