Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Best Vacuum bagger under $300?

Well I,m all ears tired of the Costco Foodsaver brand don,t want to upgrade to the 1K chamber model probably should.
Local Wallmart has the Vacmaster Comercial Pro 160 for $349.
Foodsaver pro series $264

Who makes the good Cabbela model?

Any ideas for AK volume of fish & moose. Can go slower and allow the vac. pump to cool just tired of short life.

Funny you bring this up because I've been doing some research on this matter. I just got done filleting and vac sealing 3 limits of Silvers and a decent King and I've come to the conclusion there is no "great" sealer under $300. I think I'ma' gonna' bite the bullet and get a gas flush/chamber style sealer. I've gone thru more foodsavers of all flavors with the same hit and miss results.

Bags for the chamber types are $100 per 1000 bags....foodsaver
bags or rolls are tedious to cut and seal and stupidly priced.

I figure I'll save money in the long run not buying multiple sealers, expensive bags and most importantly a better finished product.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help but that's my .02c.

I went through 3 of them and this year we went to Frelsburg, Heinsohns Store online, here in TX..( I live about 40 minutes from them, they are in the middle of nowhere...) but they had a gas flush sealer for 1000 bucks basically....

I wouldn't trade it for anything.... as noted bags are 100 bucks for 1000 bags... bags are nice and heavy. I haven't had a seal go bad and the main thing, the other units would overheat after say 30-50 seals sometimes.... That sucked when you had 500 sausage to bag.... I've had this one running non stop for 200 seals and never blinked.....

So for wasting maybe 600 bucks on 3 cheaper ones... the 1000 buck one is way better, and should last forever.

rost---- What make and model did you get?

I got sick of the foodsaver brand a couple of years ago and bot the cabelas CG-15. I am very pleased with it. I suggest you read the customer reviews of several units to get an idea what they are really like.

My opinion is that the point of production is maybe more significant than the design, within reasons. About six or eight years ago, Foodsaver sold itself, and the products began to be ordered from China. Previously, like the one I bought in 1992 and still use on several hundred pounds annually, they were produced in Italy. Trust me, the Italian versions are far better made than the ones made in China. Fortunately, they are still available, under a different name.

If I ever need another one, it will come from Italy too... .

Dennis

I've been using the same Foodsaver for about 8-9 years now and have had no issues with it. I believe it is the Foodsaver Pro Deluxe. I'd like to throw down on one of those heavy dutty commercial models one day.

Dennis, who makes that vacuum sealer from Italy?

Let me do a bit of research and I"ll get back.

We've had tilia and food saver... an only one cheap version the others were in the 300 or so dollar range. Not a one of them was worth a flip a few years down the road, but when we seal, we seal a LOT at a time... often times we are working with 500-600 sausage..

For sealing fish filets and only 10 packs or so at a time, any wally world is fine...

I have the Cabelas CG-15 and absolutely love it.

Wife brought home a $30 yea $30 Magic Vac Futura (made in Italy) did 13 bags last night worked great, AK Butcher Supply in Mtn View. Anchorage. They had some on sale and said they were a good model,any problems bring it back. Going to buy spare and alternate use, to prevent over heating. I pre freeze the filets in the vac bags then seal.

I've had my Magic-Vac since 96 and it's still doing fine, just finishes packing 50 sockeye fillets with it yesterday. AK Butcher Supply carries them and also does in house repairs if needed.

http://www.texastastes.com/p1682.htm


Item 646600 is what I purchased earlier this year... I don't THINK I'll be unhappy. At this point we've done a couple of hours of sealing in a row a few times, and it hasn't had the slightest hint of overheating...

Preformed cheap bags are a big plus too... especially when you consider that on the cheaper sealers I was expending over 250 bucks on bags each year.....and plus some since the in laws and friends bought their own bags to use with the cheaper sealer...

BTW we could figure any of the cheaper versions if you didn't do more than about 50 seals in an evening or at least with less than an hour or so cool down time, you'd be fine...

Some needs are different than others needs.

Guess I was a little slow on my post. $30 for a Magic-Vac is an absolute steal. As you probably know ABS will repair or refurbish your MV onsite.

The chamber sealers are worth it, and I thought I was going to take the plunge this year. The advantage of the chamber sealers isn't just the speed and lack of sucking juice into the pump. The bags are much thicker. My biggest gripe with the foodsavers is their bag material is easily compromised by the pin bones of a filleted fish.

Several years back a neighbor was moving and put stuff out on the curb to toss, including a foodsaver that I believe they never used. I've had it for several years and I thought it had puked after last year as it wouldn't pump down. I tore it apart and was going to plumb in a vacuum pump I have on hand, but then I decided to just turn the internal pump over to see if it was seized. Turned over fine, so I plugged it in and suddenly it was back to life. So I was able to vacuum pack our 26 reds w/o upgrading, maybe next year.

As far as what foodsaver is best, I'd say just get one at Costco so you can return it when it pukes afer a couple of years.

rost---Thanks. I'll look into that one also. I'm waiting to hear back from Pleasant Hill Grains regarding their Vacmaster 260.

would have much rather had made in USA.... but when it could cost me 1000 or more extra.. at least thats what I figured.... china here we come...

I"m going to buy some backup parts for it though soon just in case. Comes with a spare seal already, couple more wouldn't hurt...

Went back and bought another one Magic Vac Futura $30, MV is the old Food Saver brand made in Italy. They are regular priced over $120 they have parts and will stand behind them. Said they had quite a few of them.

Home Depot had a Chamber Vac for $789 did not see brand name
but they sell Foodmaster.

I know what you mean rost. I just pulled the plug on the DPC 260 with gas flush.

I need to catch and kill enough now to make the investment pay off.

Great thread, but would someone give a quick explanation of gas flush/ chamber thingey.


Thanks, 284.