FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Machine with Starter Vacuum Seal Bags & Rolls

Game changer for making meals in advanced and storing them! Also saves me money being able to buy food in large quantities repackage it in to smaller quarries and save for later! Great at vacuuming out air and sealing packages!

The quick part of my review then I'll add more about my experience after:1: It is very easy to use. It took me a few attempts at first but that was because I didn't read the instructions first. The most important thing I found is rough side of the bag down.2: It takes up very little space. As per my picture it fits nicely out of the way in the side of the drawer where I keep my plastic wrap, foil, and such.3: Easy to maintain, take the drip tray out and toss it in the dishwasher.4: It works fairly quick. About 10 seconds to seal one end of a bag if you are using the rolls. Then about 15-25 seconds to vacuum and then seal it closed depending on the size of the item being sealed. I've not actually timed it so what I stated is approximate.5: Normally I try to find at least one negative when I review a product to be fair and honest. But with this I have nothing significant to mention. I guess one is it takes a bit of pressure on each side of the sealer to close fully before using but it but nothing really difficult.6: One other tip I have to avoid liquids getting into the sealer and drip tray is to put fish and other meat in the freezer for about an hour and a half before sealing. Then seal it and freeze. Works great for me.This has been a great purchase as someone that lives alone because I can take better advantage of sales on food. When there is a really good sale on fresh fish and other meats I can stock up, vacuum seal them and freeze for later. Sure I could just toss the food in a basic freezer bag but that usually just ends up with ice crystals forming on it and the quality tends to degrade quickly. I've had this sealer since March and food I sealed and put in the freezer when I first got it still maintained significantly more quality than unsealed food.So overall this little vacuum sealer works great. I've had no problems with it and it is already saving me money by taking advantage for sales on fresh fish and meat. It is fairly quick and easy to use as well as small enough to store away without taking up too much space. I'd seen ads for vacuum sealers for a very long time but never really thought I needed one. This sealer changed my mind and I'm glad I bought it. For the price I feel like this item is a very good value.

Amazing and fast and better priced.

The best feature of this FS is it compact size. I hesitated buying this for the price, but everything else is way too big for my kitchen. In the description, this FS claims to have 140 watts but is clearly stamped 120 watts on the back of the unit. My previous FS was 110 watts and there is a significant difference in the power and time to vac, even with only 10 watts increase. It does a terrific job vacuuming out the air, however my unit DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY CONVERT TO THE SEAL FUNCTION!!! I even tried to seal a thin block of ice so there would be no hidden air and even that wouldn't seal. My former FS stopped converting to seal a couple years ago so I'm used to that, but for a new unit, that's not good quality control. I find it a little difficult to secure a bag in the unit before vacuuming for a couple reasons. First, the bottom of the unit is totally hard plastic so it slides freely on my countertop while I'm trying to operate the FS. It probably wouldn't be such a problem if it were easier to secure the lid for vacuuming, but there isn't a lever mechanism like my previous FS. Instead you have to apply significant pressure at the two front corners to engage plastic hooks on the lid to the bottom of the case. When the unit slips on the hard plastic bottom before it's secure, it dislodges the bag and you start repositioning again. Once locked down, it makes a good seal (manually) if the bag stays smooth on the heating element, but I have had a couple bags crinkle without knowing it so they were tossed. I would probably give this 3 1/2 stars if I could but rounded up :)

Excellent

This is my 3rd Foodsaver in 28 years...the other two finally failed after years of daily use...mostly it's the actual seal strip that stopped working and despite my attempts to fix them by replacing the gaskets and seal strip, they had come to the end of their life. I bought one from Costco and hated how big it was, so I returned it. What I really wanted was a simple machine with no bag roll storage or cutter, an accessory port, and a small footprint on my kitchen counter.This machine fits my requirements. I use 6",8" and 11" bag rolls and this fits all of those. I also have accessories which require the accessory port and hose. This is supposed to have an accessory hose that will fit all existing accessories - NOTE: this hose has a green end that fits into the machine, and a grey end that fits into the accessory. However the grey end of the accessory hose does not fit into the vacuum port on existing accessories!! It is supposed to but does not. I called the company to get help with that and they say it is supposed to fit. I talked to a super nice lady who said currently the accessory hoses are on back order otherwise she would send me a new one to try, but she sent me a hand held accessory to seal the reuseable ziplock style Foodsaver bags. This gadget has a removable hose with two green ends, one fits in the accessory port on the machine, and the other fits perfectly into my accessory canisters/bottle sealer etc. problem solved. Foodsaver needs to include this hose in all their vacuum sealers....a hose with two green ends instead of the hose with one green end and one grey end.I hope to get another 14 years of daily use from this machine.