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Got A New Food Sealer - Initial Thoughts And Impressions

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    Got A New Food Sealer - Initial Thoughts And Impressions

    I’m a little late to all the vacuum sealer discussions going around lately, but that’s what inspired me to get one. Thanks a lot people…😡 I’m beginning to believe if I hang out here much longer I will die penniless. I’ve got an old Food Saver brand I quit using several years ago for whatever reasons. I’ve had 2 different ones over the years and they were ok, nothing great though. I read a lot of y’all’s posts, old and new, and excellent recommendations before finally deciding on this one. It’s from a brand called Potane. I’d never heard of them before, but decided on it for the features it has, which checked all my boxes.

    I read a lot of the Amazon reviews on it, and after weeding out the idiots, it got mostly excellent reviews and recommendations. One of the features it has is a brushless motor, which I’ve always heard is better than one with a brush…😂 Don’t know what it means, but I have heard brushless motors were best. They also have a 2 year - no hassle return policy and it comes with a 5 year warranty, pretty damn good IMO.


    I also like the one hand operation, you just lift or push down the handle in the middle to open or close the lid. My favorite features are the built in storage and cutter bar, it works well! I also like the different modes available. You can Seal Only, Vacuum Only, Vac and Seal along with a Canister option. The Vacuum only mode is good for delicate foods you don’t want to squish [technical food term here] It’s manual, so it will stop suction whenever you want, then just hit the Seal button, pretty cool.


    ​

    It comes with 2 rolls of bags, one 8” roll and one 11” roll…a vacuum hose for canisters and they even give you an extra suction channel gasket, nice touch. There’s also wrap around cord storage in back.

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    Bag storage and bag cutter…I like!

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    I had just bought a package of Costco ribeyes and a pack of NY Strips. This was a perfect time to give it a workout. I had 8 steaks total to seal for the freezer. I found I really like this bad boy! It was fairly quiet for a vac sealer, had strong suction and was easy to use. My old Food Saver brand had a button on each side you pushed in to open and close, I like that the Potane has the handle in the middle for one handed operation. This one also has a fairly compact footprint and feels well built.

    Being a man, I didn’t read the owners manual first. My mistake! It has a Dry and Moist setting. For wet foods like steaks, chicken etc. it should be set to Moist, default setting is Dry. I noticed my first few bags had a little bit of red liquid seepage outside the seal. I decided to read the manual and learned I should be using the Moist setting. I also found out that for dry foods you should allow at least 3” of space from the food to the end of the bag. If you’re doing wet foods you should add 2 more inches to that. As you can see in the video, I didn’t do that for a few of my bags. After I did that, all the rest of the bags sealed fine. I don’t know if this is average or not, but it took about 10 seconds to seal an empty bag. Overall I really like this food sealer, it’s much better and more feature packed than my old Food Saver brands. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the market. Currently $123.00 on Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QGX549G...JA8VCQ6AJPRJGV
    Last edited by Panhead John; July 27, 2022, 08:16 AM.

    #2
    Congrats and best wishes for many vac and seals.. Looks like a nice machine.

    Comment


      #3
      instructions instrumpctions....

      Comment


        #4
        "Being a man…" ROFL!

        My dad used to say " when all else fails, read the instructions". I still need to take that one to heart.

        Comment


        • Panhead John
          Panhead John commented
          Editing a comment
          I figured it’s just a food sealer, what the hell am I gonna learn from instructions? 😂

        #5
        Good job. I have never heard of this brand but sounds like you did your research. This is a must have in my view. We use ours all the time. Good luck!

        Comment


        • Panhead John
          Panhead John commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks David.

        #6
        Excellent review and definitely puts this high up on the list for consideration alongside the MeatYourMaker, Anova, and Avid Armor ones. Did you compare this one against them?

        Maybe you need an "Damn Amazing Ribs purchases" line item for your budget John. 🤣
        Last edited by STEbbq; July 26, 2022, 06:04 PM.

        Comment


        • Panhead John
          Panhead John commented
          Editing a comment
          Yeah, I read about those 3 brands too, they’re definitely good ones.

        #7
        Thanks for sharing, John. We're in the market for a new one ourselves and will give this one some serious consideration.

        Comment


        • Panhead John
          Panhead John commented
          Editing a comment
          If you do, I think you’d like it Mike. Whichever way you go, the roll storage and built in cutter are a must have feature IMO. My old one I used to cut the bags with scissors and always wound up with crooked edges. Then I bought a separate roll cutter which worked good, but just another piece to store somewhere.

        #8
        Thanks for sharing and congrats

        Comment


          #9
          Good info PJ. Here's a helpful hint. If you don't eat the entire package of hot dog or hamburger buns at once, ya can freeze them and then seal them. Trying to seal fresh bread will result in reeealy flat bread.

          Comment


          • McFlyfi
            McFlyfi commented
            Editing a comment
            If you vac seal flour tortillas, they will become one with each other...

          • Panhead John
            Panhead John commented
            Editing a comment
            Wax paper between the tortillas should work.

          #10
          Cool. I bought a foodsaver from Costco around a year ago to replace my original food saver which I really liked. Hated the new one, but miraculously the old standby started working again. I use it more than I use any other appliance

          Comment


            #11
            RonB Excellent suggestion! I just did what you recommended. Just a few days ago I stuck some hamburger buns in the freezer, in their bag inside a ziplock. Despite my best efforts, after a month or so, they still always get ice crystals. The first 2 I tried your way still got crushed to smithereens. But, then I did it with the manual "Seal Only" button. This will suck air only as long as you hold the button. This is the way to do it from here on out. Thanks for the tip.

            Buns on the left were smashed. Ones on the right came out great.
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            Comment


            • Murdy
              Murdy commented
              Editing a comment
              On mine (older Food Saver), even if I start with Vac & Seal, I can interrupt the cycle by hitting the Seal button if necessary.

            • Clark
              Clark commented
              Editing a comment
              The buns on the left are only for Smash Burgers.

            #12
            PJ, another option to mitigate the smash factor when vac-sealing is to freeze first, wrapped in plastic to avoid freezer stinkies (overnight will usually do it), then vac-seal the pre-frozen food. Some things might then need to be un-vac-sealed then thawed in reverse order to avoid getting smashed as they soften. I routinely do this with burgers, meatballs, etc., and it works pretty well.

            Comment


            • Panhead John
              Panhead John commented
              Editing a comment
              Good tip Mike, thanks.

            #13
            Like you, I read comments here. I realized I could never buy the perfect sealer the first time. But I had to start somewhere. Amazon also lead me to a Potane sealer also.. No roll storage or bag cutter like yours, but otherwise similar.
            I liked that they included a replacement vacuum gasket, which sounds like a 'wear-out' point after many uses. The other interesting point was the manual said 'Don't close [latch] the lid in-between uses.' I can imagine the gasket getting compressed during those long times in storage, and losing the ability to pull a vacuum.
            1 1/2 years later, still doing it's job. When it dies, I'll consider the $85 a good start.

            BTW, I prefer a 'brush' motor to 'brushless'. I already do too much meal planning, shopping, and cooking. Any opportunity to get an appliance that 'brushes'-up after itself is a good choice.

            Comment


            • Panhead John
              Panhead John commented
              Editing a comment
              Glad to see another person here who has one and good to hear you’ve had good luck so far. Yeah, I thought that was a nice touch adding an additional gasket. And mine says the same thing, don’t latch the lid between uses, it makes perfect sense.

            #14
            I also took a bit to figure out what the moist setting was for! I thought it meant liquids! (Which would be weird, trying to vacuum-seal that.) The dry setting sure did suck moisture out of the meat.

            I've got an inexpensive one (~$40) and it works well, although it fails every fifth seal or so, no biggie. I just stop the sealing process, realign the bag, and start again.

            It is astonishing how this little thing has saved me from throwing out so much food! Leftovers can be easily frozen and freezer-burn is a thing of the past. I love it.

            Comment


              #15
              That thing sucks.


              But I guess it’s supposed to.

              Comment


              • Murdy
                Murdy commented
                Editing a comment
                "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

                Old, unsuccessful ad campaign for vacuums.

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