FoodSaver

My faithful foodsaver appears to be starting to die. It is starting to struggle to pull a vacuum, and not a good one at that. I can't complain it is more than a decade old now.

I'm wanting to hear from some of the foodsaver owners here on which models they feel might be a good replacement. There are so many models now, some with good reviews, some bad and some mixed. I just need one I can depend on to do the job, fancy or plain jane, it doesn't matter.

All opinions and advice welcome!

I have had the 3840 for about 6 months. I love it, it works great. I would prefer something smaller, but otherwise it is great. I registered on the site and immediately started getting discount offers. The 3840 came with two rolls and a marinating container.

Jeff, I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions here. There is also a FoodSaver Yahoo Group where you might ask the same question. It comes up fairly often over there:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoodSaver/

Chuck (Michael) Holmes is the one who is very knowledgeable about the different units -- he has or has had them all, sort of a collector, and occasionally he'll sell some of them off when he runs out of storage space. He is very trustworthy.

I have a V3825 and have been pleased with it. I mostly use it for Mason jars and 'Q, but it does seal bags well, although it uses more bag material than some of the older models, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches outside of the seal. It's the third unit for me (lost the second in a fire). It's an upright and has a footprint of about 17" x 6". I wish it were smaller; personally, I wouldn't buy any model that is larger. If you do a lot of bag sealing, I think there are a few professional models out there.

Rita

Jeff, you didn't mention which model you have, but it could very well just be that your upper and lower gaskets simply need to be replaced. I have a 2460(?) and I've replaced the gaskets twice over the period of a few years. We've decided that we need to replace them both about once a year, depending on how much we use the Foodsaver. They are available from Foodsaver for $3 each plus shipping.

http://www.foodsaver.com/parts.aspx?cid=1178

Tom, I have one of the more generic models they made back in the day, a VAC 750. It's been a very good unit. I thought about the gaskets, they feel dry but are in otherwise good shape. This model is old enough that they don't have parts for it. I have considered making my own gaskets to see if it helps.

Thanks everyone for the information, it's been very helpful.

I have one that was bundled with a couple of rolls and labeled for Bass Pro. Right about $100 and does the job nicely without taking up much space or costing too much.

Mike

I caught part of an episode of Cook's Country (Christopher Kimble) last night. They rated vacuum sealers. They had one that weighed over 25 lbs and cost an arm and a leg and they had a Food Saver. I'm not sure, but I think they called it a 2260 (might have been a 2240) and they rated it the better buy.

You might try changing the gasket. I found mine acting that way had a new gasket shipped and it was back to normal. I have had mine about 10 years.
I have the Pro II and it's excellent. I make my own sausage and will sometimes do 50lb at a time. We freeze it and use the Food Saver for a variety of things. Never a problem with it.

Gary