Vacuum Sealers

[Spider]

If you have a vacuum sealer will you tell me the pro's and con's of your brand? Would you buy it again?

 

We need a new one. Our Food Saver is about 6-7 years old. It has done a decent job, but once it gets hot it won't seal until it cools down. We use it alot so we need it to be dependable. DH has been looking at various "compare it" websites and it seems there are problems with just about all of them. So I thought I would ask here and see what you all have to say about yours. Thanks.

[Suz]

I have a foodsaver and yes I would buy another

 

The foodsaver was a replacement for a Rival Seal A Meal that I had a few weeks and used a half a dozen times. What a hunk o' junk.

 

I know there are industrial models out there, guess it depends on your budget.

 

Good luck and let us know what you end up with

[WormGuy]

I have the Food Saver #2480 with the jar attachment. Got it last year and so far no complaints. Yes I would buy it again.

 

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

[rootdiggr]

I have had my Food Saver for about 2 years now, and it has done a fine job. However, this summer, people on the FoodSaver group were talking about this machine

MagicVac Maxima

 

I had extra money, so I went ahead and ordered it. I love it! My FoodSaver is now the spare. And the clearance price is better than any sale price you will find on the FoodSaver. Including free shipping. And a great assortment of bags.

 

As you might be able to tell, I would recommend the Maxima.

[BiscuitMaker]

rootdigger, you did not say what you like about the Maxima as compared to the Foodsaver. Does it use foodsaver bags??

Inquiring minds?

[rootdiggr]

Originally Posted By: BiscuitMaker

rootdigger, you did not say what you like about the Maxima as compared to the Foodsaver. Does it use foodsaver bags??
Inquiring minds?

The Maxima is more powerful, and I have not had even one bag lose the vacuum since I got it. You can use the FoodSaver bags, but I have been ordering the ones from SweetAttack. They are much sturdier.

You know how the FoodSaver will kind of wimp out if you use it to seal a bunch of stuff at once? You have to stop every so often and let it cool down. The Maxima is like the Energizer bunny. As a matter of fact, you have to be careful not to use the sealer strip at it's full power. That will just melt the bags that are for home use. This is a commercial quality machine, and home use will not begin to challenge the potential.

The only thing I still use the FoodSaver for is when I want to seal stuff in the canisters. I just have not been able to get the Maxima to do work on those cannisters, even though I can use the hose attachments on either machine. But I have not used a cannister in months, so I have not used the FoodSaver either.

The only minus about the Maxima for me is that you have to hold down the top until enough air has been sucked out to put it on auto for the rest of the vacuum. (I know that there is a term for this, but I am tired and cannot think of it.) It is only for a few seconds, but some people do not like that. I have gotten used to it, but it bothered me at first because I was used to pushing the lock lever, and walking away.

Just ask if you have any other questions. There really is nothing wrong with the FoodSaver, I just think that for the money the Maxima is a better machine.

[Screaming Eagle]

Okay, this is too weird. I was going to start a thread this morning about vacuum sealers and here it is. I looked at the link for the Magivac. Nice. How's that compare with the FoodSavers in price? How does it stack up in general. I think I'd rather buy one good one up front than several dinky ones and not get what I really want. I'm looking for durable, long term, frugal to operate and simple enough for a dumb old guy. Cadillac doesn't matter to me. Quality does. I'm actually a simple guy at heart.

[PureCajunSunshine]

Have you seen the archives in this place, yet? The tons and tons of useful info here will boggle your mind. Us prepper women (and guys) know how to blab and blab.

 

Feel free to resurrect old threads. There's bound to be one for every imaginable prepper need...

[Fritz_Monroe]

We have a FoodSaver and really like it. This is our second one, the first lasted about 10 years, but we didn't use it very much the first 3 or so. We just got the new one last month and it works great for us.

 

If we saw that MagiVac first, I might have tried that one instead.

[Snowmom]

 

We have had 2 other Food Savers and that is what our DD got for Old Pine this time. The other two have seen their better days. This is what he has been wanting for the past several months and now he has a new one.

 

Here is a site that shows the Food savers. The one he got looks like the first one on the page. Be sure to check other places, like Amazon before buying one though as there are differences in prices.

 

http://www.jardenstore.com/products.aspx?p...d=18&cid=79

 

Hope you find one you can be happy with.

 

[Aggie]

Newbie here, bumping this thread to the top. The site for the MagicVac Maxima says they have fewer than 25 units left. I checked the site Sunday night and the price was $114 including shipping. By Monday morning, it was up to $121 + $14 shipping. I hope that's a good deal because I went ahead and purchased one, kicking myself for hesitating on Sunday.

 

This is my first vacuum sealer purchase, other than the little cheapie battery-operated ones for around $10. Those do work okay, but they really eat up batteries. I figure I'll save that one in case we lose electricity.

[SugarDaisy]

I went thru 2 foodsavers and when the last one burned out, I bought the Maxima. The Maxima is bigger, but it can handle sealing lots of bags in a row. I think you will be pleased with the Maxima Aggie.

 

On the Foodsavers, it was the sealing strip that failed on both of them (I had each of them a couple of years). Ive only had the Maxima a few months so I cant say how it will last. It seems to be built pretty well. The sealing strip on the Maxima takes a little bit longer than the FoodSaver to pre-heat, but Im hoping that trade off means it will last longer.