Fed Up With FoodSaver Vacuum Sealers

[fzxdoc]

bunky2021 , take a look at the Avid Armor 7900 clamshell style vacuum sealer with a locking mechanism for $59 on the site and $54 from Amazon.

https://avidarmor.com/avid-armor-vacuum-sealer-model-avs7900/

It come with a port for marinating.

It's pretty small, comparatively speaking:


The company is based in the USA and has a customer service department that actually picks up the phone!

HTH,
Kathryn

[HotSun]

Helps me, thanks Kathryn! My Foodsaver just died this evening and I am in the market for a new sealer. This is a great thread.

[WayneT]

I bought my Food Saver from Costco on September 1 and when I plugged it in yesterday, nada! Four months? Is that all you should expect from this brand? Sheesh. Never again. Fortunately, Costco said they would refund my money even though it’s beyond the 90 day return period. I’m thankful for all the research embodied in this topic.

[Andrrr]

Bummer about the foodsaver and that this seems to be more common than uncommon. Good for Costco for, dare I say, having the heart to refund you outside of the warranty period. It’s like they might be used to hearing this complaint!
It is a TON of info here to go through but so incredibly helpful in finding good options depending on your price point, use, expectations. It’s almost paralysis by analysis, however it helped me pick one and I’m very happy with it

[hoovarmin]

I have a love/hate relationship with my Foodsaver. I love that it was a gift from my local butcher. He just handed me the unopened box one day and a giant roll of bag material. I love that it hasn't broken down, yet, and I've had it since about 2019. I hate how hard it is to get the edge of the bag into the sucky trough thingy and how much bag material gets wasted because of how it is set up.

[WayneT]

My first vac sealer was a Nutri-Chef that lasted about 18 months. I liked the internal roll storage feature of the FS though. It’s so bizarre that you plug it in one day and it works fine; the next day, kaput. I’m not sure what FS marketing strategy is but I am not buying another after this experience and reading all these posts.

[fzxdoc]

That was exactly my experience with FoodSaver (see the original post here). After my old reliable FoodSaver with over 10 years use died, I bought another FoodSaver. That new FoodSaver died within a couple of months and every single one that FoodSaver sent as a replacements after that died unexpectedly, just like yours, after only a few months' use. That's what prompted me to write that first post.

From my perspective if you've got an old FoodSaver, hang on to it for dear life. It's a reliable beast, most likely. But the newer FoodSavers are terrible, in my experience.

FWIW, I'm loving my Avid Armor chamber vacuum sealer. I hope it lasts forever.

Kathryn

[RichieB]

+2 on avid armor. I do not have a chamber but it is reliable. FS lasted a couple of months then in the trash.

[Donw]

This was a soup and stew stock up weekend. My Avid Armor chamber vac, that I bought after reading your reviews, is a workhorse. 5 lbs of gumbo and 6 lbs of beef stew all packaged and put in the freezers. I love how the flat bags of soups and stew stack like a deck of cards which saves so much space.

[WayneT]

I’m actually looking at the Avid Armor brands now. fzxdoc didn’t you get both a chamber and regular sealer? I’m looking at the USV20 and 7900. The latter is so inexpensive it makes sense to have it for larger items that won’t fit in the chamber sealer. I’m also looking at the A420 model which is a new addition to the line-up according to the website. Maybe it alone would meet all my needs. Still researching.

[fzxdoc]

I’m actually looking at the Avid Armor brands now. fzxdoc didn’t you get both a chamber and regular sealer? I’m looking at the USV20 and 7900. The latter is so inexpensive it makes sense to have it for larger items that won’t fit in the chamber sealer. I’m also looking at the A420 model which is a new addition to the line-up according to the website. Maybe it alone would meet all my needs. Still researching.

Yes, WayneT , I bought both the Avid Armor USV32 Ultra (Not the USV20) Chamber Sealer and the 7900 vacuum sealer.

I bought the 7900 to use until the chamber sealer arrived, because it was on sale and because I thought I'd pass it on to one of our girls when the chamber sealer showed up. Well, I like that little 7900 so much that I've held on to it, greedy Mom that I am. It comes in pretty handy for large bags and is helping me use up the rolls of bag material that I bought when I had other (now defunct) vacuum sealers. I can use up that roll material in my chamber sealer, but using the very inexpensive Avid Armor chamber sealer bags is so much easier than taking the extra time to create seals.

The USV32 Ultra is one sweet machine. As Donw had noted, sealing soups and sauces in it is pretty amazing. I never fail to be amazed that I can seal liquids.

Let us know what you end up purchasing, Wayne, and enjoy the research phase. There are a lot of good chamber sealers out there. I liked the LEM that some other folks here purchased, but I didn't like its weight. Plus I like the fact that Avid Armor is so responsive and apparently does some service on the units here in the US if needed.

Kathryn

[rmeugene]

You can in fact seal things that do not fit inside the chamber of the chamber sealer. You need to use the appropriate bags but I do it all the time. At the 7:00 mark of this video they demonstrate how. I have done whole slabs of ribs and whole loins.

https://youtu.be/SKCgDwNsL0U

[fzxdoc]

Yes, rmeugene , I watched that video right after I got my chamber sealer. I've used that "outside the sealer" method. I like the double seal feature especially when using the bag material from a roll.

But with my setup, it's sometimes difficult to hold the bag flat-ish, for example, and use that sealer from the outside. It's much easier with the 7900 vacuum sealer, since I already have it on hand.

Thanks for reminding me about that video. I think I'll go back and watch it again.

Kathryn

[WayneT]

I just ordered the Avid Armor 7900. I paid $69 at Amazon and got the 3 year protection plan for $7.99. At that price with the insurance I may be able to suffer through multiple replacements, although that is against my nature. I prefer paying a slight premium for quality goods that won’t need replacing.

I really need to be further convinced of the utility of a chamber sealer before I pull the trigger on that. If it’s mainly for sealing liquid foods or food intermediates, I may need to reconsider my batch sizes to make it feasible. I am still open to the idea but have never felt like I’m missing a key piece of MAS. Anyone bought one and changed their cooking habits accordingly?

[realdocBBQ]

I ordered the Avid Armor AVS7900 on Nov 23rd, but it's still sitting in the box after delivery, hasn't even been opened. I'll be interested to see how it works when I finally get home and get to cooking something.

[WayneT]

Mine will be here Saturday and I have a sealing backlog to give it a workout.

[fzxdoc]

Enjoy using your Avid Armor 7900 models, WayneT and realdocBBQ . I think you'll really like them. I don't use mine often, but when I do, it's a handy little bugger. It handles whatever I throw at it with ease.

Wayne, it took me a long time to sidle up to the idea of purchasing a chamber sealer. Like you, I had to see what I would get for the money. One disadvantage was that the chamber size limits the maximum bag size. Of course you can use a chamber sealer to seal larger bags from the outside, but can be a bit of a juggling act, depending on what you're trying to seal, especially if you like to store stuff as flat as possible in the freezer. The other disadvantage is the weight, which is not an issue with Avid Armor chamber sealers, at least with the one I bought.

One disadvantage of the 7900 is that I had to give up the convenience of having the roll material on a dispenser with a cutter within the sealer's housing. So I bought a roll dispenser with cutter from LEM products.

I think chamber sealers make sense if you seal a lot of things at one time or use a sealer a lot. I'm a power vacuum sealer type of person (I always cook with leftovers in mind), so I slowly moved my way up to a chamber sealer over the years. And I've never looked back.

Kathryn

[HotSun]

I have a couple impulse sealers (large and small) that I use to make custom bags. I found I just didn't use the roll feature on my (now dead) Foodsaver too much. I might have to go with the 7900, as the chamber sealer really needs a solid use-case and justification for purchase.

[BKYDBBQ]

Just broke down and ordered the Avid Armor USV32.

[Andrrr]

Oh come on now, “broke down” makes it sound like you lost or failed or something. I’d say this is a win and cause for celebration! I hope you come back and add your experience to this thread.

[BKYDBBQ]

Andrrr I'll celebrate when it arrives and I get to see how wonderfully it works...

[rmeugene]

You will love it

[fzxdoc]

Great choice, BKYDBBQ . You'll find yourself using it more than any other sealer you've used in the past. It's been a reliable beast for me. I hope they ship it soon so you can start playing with it.

I have mine on a rolling kitchen cart that has shelves to store my Avid Armor 7900 as well, plus my inventory of bags. I keep it stored in my pantry and roll it out as needed.



Kathryn

[OneEyedJack]

Thank you all for your opinions and experiences. My FS bit the dust last night, or more correctly the concrete garage floor, and a plastic interlock probe was busted off. All is kaput now! I had the FS for several years and it was probably one of the 'good' ones and I am sorry to see it go. Judging from a friend's recent negative experience with FS and the comments here, I am going to go with the AvidArmor 7900. It looks like it will accept my stash of FS bags and roll products, too. Cheers!

[RichieB]

OneEyedJack a good choice and yes the FS bags work just fine.

[fzxdoc]

Oh, OneEyedJack , I'm sorry to hear about your FS biting the dust, er, the garage floor. If you've had it a long time, you indeed have one of the good ones.

I think you'll like the Avid Armor sealer that you ordered. No bells or whistles, but it has been a reliable sealer for me. Of course I don't use it as much as I use my Avid Armor USV32 Pro, but whenever I need it, it's good to go! I'm still using up my FS bags with it, so you'll have no problem.

Kathryn

[ofelles]

You people are not helping my savings account!
On all the recommendations here I just purchased an Avid Armor USV32 open box so $100 off. Replacing a VacMaster Pro 380 which is discontinued and I can't get parts for.

[Uncle Bob]

You're welcome........................................... ................LOL

[nikolausp]

I just got a new Weston PRO-3500 delivered last week (Amazon)..... it's a tank! Love that it does a double-seal, and a pretty wide one at that. Nice to have built in bag roller bar & cutter as well.

[BBQandLove]

Here’s what I sent a couple of my friends a few days ago… My Avid Armor is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday. I also ordered 3,000 bags in 3 sizes from webstaurant.com.

I was in a foul mood at our Food Saver vacuum sealer last night. What a POS! I had bought their top of the line model, and it kinda worked OK, but I was underwhelmed. Then a figidty little part broke, and it was unrepairable. So I bought a new one. It did not work. Replaced it, and it kinda sorta worked. I kept meaning to dig into it, but didn’t, and meanwhile the warranty expired. It went from bad to worse, until by last night it was working about 5% of the time.

This was really bad timing, because I decided to defrost our freezer, and I found some items that needed to be resealed. (somewhat normal with this POS)

Tina helped me and we got the freezer defrosted and the inventory updated in Notes. But a bunch of the entries have a #todo tag, because we gotta come back and reseal packages. All because this Food Saver Model POS112 Vacuum Sealer refused to work. (I gave it that model number.)

I tore the Food Saver apart a few times, and there is no observable (to me) reason it should not work. But it doesn’t for about 95% of the time. What a POS!

I had been researching vacuum sealers off and on for a long time, and kinda decided I was gonna buy a chamber type. But the $$$ made me gasp for air.

Yes, I can buy maintenance free ones (no oil in vacuum pump) for less, but coming from the HVAC world where we used vacuum pumps, I am pretty skeptical of those. So that left the oil types, which are $$$!

The good part is, the bags are cheap. No special embossed bags needed like the suction type vacuum sealers.

But still… $$$!

I’m sorta happy… I was looking at the Avid Armor chamber vacuum sealers. They import a lot of stuff from China on the lower end, but their oil type chamber vacuum sealers seemed pretty decent. The Avid Armor ES41 in particular caught my attention. It’s their Euro model, made in the Netherlands.

Deep dive research found a tidbit of info that I chased down. As far as I can tell, the Avid Armor ES41 is actually a Henkelman Mini Jumbo. Henkelman is made in the Netherlands. The brand of the vacuum pump, the pictures, some unique design elements, and all the specs match.

Only difference I can find is the label and the price. The ES41 is less than 1/2 the price of the Mini Jumbo.

Why only sorta happy? Because $$$! That makes me all kinds of grumpy. But with our lifestyle, a good sealer is kind of a big deal. So hopefully, I cry once, and then I can be happy.

Finding one for less $$$ on their “Deals” section that has a slightly damaged box, but perfect unit and full warranty, did make me a little happier. Still… too many $$$!

Oh well, I don’t have to deal with that Food Saver POS. It ain’t even good for a boat anchor. What a POS!

[Donw]

Thanks for posting about this new line. I’ve been happy with my Avid Armor USV32 but just the other day I did wish for a little larger seal bar when bagging some roasts. I see the one size up from the one you chose has a 12” seal bar. Please keep us informed about your impressions after running your new vacuum sealer through its paces.

[BBQandLove]

Donw I thought long and hard about the 11” vs. the 12” bar. As I analyzed my past use, and my expected future use, I realized that I rarely would use the extra 1”, and when I need more, I almost always need a lot more. So looking for a cheap 16” conventional sealer for those rare occasions.

[fzxdoc]

BBQandLove Your story about FoodSaver vacuum sealers has a familiar ring to my ears. I went through the same thing. Top of the line machines would still only function for 6 to 12 months. Parenthetically, the first FoodSaver I bought back in the early 2000s worked great for many, many years. It's the new models that I had to sequentially replace it with that weren't worth the cost of shipping, much less their MSRP.

Like Donw , I have the Avid Armor USV32 and use it several times a month--at least once a week and more. It's a real champ for my needs, which are home food management. Like Donw, I sometimes wish it would take a bit larger bags and have a bit longer seal bar, but 99% of the time, it's just right.

Let us know how you like that ES41 as you put it through its paces.

Kathryn

[HotSun]

Thanks everyone for the great discussion, especially Kathryn, fzxdoc . I convinced the wife that we needed a chamber sealer, as our Foodsaver just died and I didn't like what I was reading about the newer models. I just bought the USVX , which was all that was in stock in my price range. I also picked up a 10% discount, so it came to about $386, out the door (no sales tax here).

I like the size of the USVX, especially for some of the larger things I vacuum seal. The biggest selling point is being able to seal liquids and powders. Soup season is here, and I want to have some things in the freezer ready to heat-and-eat. Cold-smoking season is here, so I'm going to need it for cheese very soon.

[fzxdoc]

Congrats on your Avid Armor USVX purchase, HotSun ! You're going to love the chamber sealer as compared to the vacuum sealer. Sounds like you're going to give it a good workout once it arrives. Enjoy!

Kathryn