Elite Vacuum Sealer

I've been researching the web for months now for a vacuum sealer that will seal BBQ, wet fresh fish, and marinaded foods, too. My old FoodSaver 750 just won't seal anything unless it is completely clean and dry. I looked at all the brands including newer FoodSavers, Cabelas, Vacupack Elite, and the Vacmaster VP 112 chamber machine, and all price ranges. After reading tons of reviews, I narrowed it down to two units that might do the job. Both were expensive, but, close in price. I liked the fact that the Vacmaster VP 112 could seal anything, wet or dry, including marinades, etc. However, it was too small to put a slab of ribs in it and limited to a specific size package it could seal. Plus, it weighs in at around 50 lbs. and I don't have anywhere to store it. Instead, I opted for the Vackupack Elite from PMG, slightly higher, but, I needed to package ribs and fish filets. The standard delivery was pretty slow, about 10 days, so I recommend upgrading the delivery if you need it sooner. I watched the DVD in about 10 minutes or so and thought it seemed pretty simple. I started with ribs on the automatic setting, using FoodSaver bags (from a roll) and it sealed the ribs perfectly in 28 seconds. Then, I did 6 more bags without any problems. Before messing up a brand new sealer with fish, I put about a cup of water in a bag and sealed it perfectly. However, water did get into the vacuum channel, as expected, and was simple to wipe out. Then, I was ready for the redfish filets with skin on one side. It sucked water out of the bag and into the channel just like before, but, IT SEALED! I finished the fish without a single failure. I decided I wanted to marinate a couple of beef tenderloin filets wrapped in bacon for tomorrow night's dinner. I put the steaks in the bag, poured a little marinade in (about 3 tbsp) and it sealed them, too. I admit I held my breath during each test thinking it would not seal, but, it did every time. I still had to wipe out the moisture from the vacuum channel each time, but, that was not a problem since you would have to do that with any other machine, too, but, this one has an overflow chamber that prevents water from ruining the motor. The quality of the Vacupack Elite is similar to restaurant quality with its' sleek stainless steel outside, easy to operate, and weighs only about 18 lbs. so it's portable enough to take on fishing trips. It's footprint on the countertop is similar to some of the other brands. The best part is that I don't have to freeze zippered bags of fish filled with water anymore to keep them fresh tasting in the freezer. We can seal them without water and save a lot of weight and size, from the ice chest to the freezer. It's heavier than the cheap models, (not plastic), but, I wanted a sealer that worked and got it. Vacupack Elite, YOU PASS. (Note: I am not a paid reviewer and not affilited with any other companies. I am a BBQ'r and paid full price and glad I did). You can verify that on my website.

I purchased a Foodsaver when they first came out and it lasted about 5 yrs. The second and third one didn't work straight out of the box and the fourth one lasted only a year when it konked out and it was suppose to be the "high end" model. Seems the longer they make them, the cheaper they get. I was through with Foodsavers. Researched online and decided on the Vacupack Elite. My husband and I raise almost ALL our own food from a very large garden to about 100 chickens yearly and several turkeys. We work hard for our food and vacuum almost everything that goes into the freezer. While I have had the Vacupack for only a month,we have already used it alot and it is working great. One of the main selling points was the warranties, both manufactures and service. A 5 yr service contract is almost unheard of. I have had two contacts with the company, PMG, and the rep was great. Super service!! Now, on to the product. It looks great on my counter, love the stainless steal, just the feel of it and you know it is well built. Easy to operate, easy to put the bags in the lid instead of trying to stuff them into a little slot, quiet, seals great, pulls air out better and creates a great air tight seal. The bags hold the seal in the freezer as well. Some reviews say it is big, slow and you need to push down on it...true to all of them, but what good is a fast, small machine if it doesn't do the job, that would be a waste of money. We work far to hard to have our food be freezer burnt due to a faulty machine. Foodsaver seals were always unsealed after a short time. Give me the rest of the summer of gardening and raising chickens and I will update. But for now, a great product...WELL WORTH THE MONEY!! Update....Dec 2013.....have had this for almost two years now and I love it. I have sealed literally HUNDREDS of bags of veggies and chicken/turkey and it works perfectly. I have found that once you get it going, you don't need to stand and hold it down unless the bag is not in there just right. I also gave up on Foodsaver bags as they always came unsealed and went with purchasing pre-cut bags directly from PMG and they stay sealed, rarely do I have one come unsealed. Awesome product!

I purchased a regular VacUpack vacuum sealer in October 2009 that costed a little under $300 dollars. It was a duplicate model of a sealer I purchased more than 30 years ago made by Tilia and I wore that machine out. Purchase several Foodsaver sealers from Tilia that were a waste of my money and thought the VacUpack would be different. Well, I have since changed my mind about that. When the VacUpack sealer works, it works great but with limited use, I returned my sealer back to PMG for repairs after a little over a year's use. Now, here I am again needing to send it back because it will not seal the bags. The warranty sounds good because it's a limited 5 year warranty but when you have to pay $65 per return for each repair, that can get expensive. I recently did a search in hopes of finding something else to replace my sealer and ran across Lem Product's website. I have decided to make one last purchase in hopes of finding a vacuum sealer that will last more than a few uses. At least there were ratings on Amazon for their MaxVac machine and I hope it is a 5 star machine for me as well. I would not pay the extremely high cost of purchasing the VacUpack Elite sealer or any other machine of the same brand. I am totally disappointed with my VacUpack sealer because it has not performed the way I thought it would for the amount of time I've used it.