I'm in the market for a new vacuum sealer for game. What do you have, and what do you like/dislike about it?

It all depends on your budget, do you want to be able to take it with you easily on trips?

I have your standard FoodSaver and have had it for over 10 years, every year I use it I am waiting for it not to work.

I'm open to anything. I'm just seeing them range from $50-600 and don't have much experience with them.

So tired of replacing these things. I need to find out where HH gets his FoodSavers. They fail or under-perform when doing large batches and that is exactly when I need them to produce.

Wifeypoo just bought a new one. It sucks like a super sonic expanded double engine vacuum at the car wash. I am really loveying it. I'll get info on it this night.

My father has this one: VacMaster the damn thing is heavy as all get out. I like it because it's designed for heavy usage. But he stores it on a cart so he can wheel it around when he needs its. If I was ever planning on taking it with me on trips I wouldn't get something like this.

I have a vacmaster VP215. I love the thing, but I do large quantities at a time and have it permanently set up in my garage on a mini fridge next to my butcher station. When I say large quantities I mean: 1-2 moose, multiple caribou, deer, 30 salmon at a time, multiple packages of duck, etc etc. Because it is permanently set up, it is convenient to do small batches as well and I just bring stuff into the garage once bagged to seal it. But if you need a kitchen sized one or only doing large quantities occassionally, I'd recommend something else. It weighs over 85 lbs I think- so moving it around isn't something you want to do regularly.

Even when doing smaller quantities, the home Foodsavers always underperformed for me. And I would go through one every year/every other year. The bags/seals never lasted as long as the vacmasters do, and I felt like never removed as much air. And I hate making sure the seals are completely lined up, dry, and waiting for the strip to cool down between packages. Those issues went away for me, but you pay for it. I will never have to buy another vaccuum sealer in my life though...so likely money ahead when it comes down to it.

we have a FoodSaver V3230 ( LINK V3230 $96.95 at Walmart) that we've had about 5-6 years. We put back probably around 30 quarts of peaches in the past week and have probably another 15-20 to go over the next week or so. We use it all the time for a variety of different things throughout the year. When I fire up my big pit, I usually do several briskets, racks of ribs, multiple varieties of sausage, etc. We use our quite a bit year around.

there is also a good variety of bags, sizes of bulk rolls from smaller up to very large size accordion walls (like to fit a full brisket) available. My BIL/SIL had been thru several brands before settling on their FoodSaver similar to ours and they said most have issues or break or wear out, etc. That's what directed us when we bought ours.

there are a few tricks to keep in mind when vacuum sealing whatever you are planning to seal up. Anything that is moist or has juices, when you pull the vacuum, a lot of the time the moisture/liquid will also tend to suck out and can cause the bag not to seal properly. We have found that if you stick in the freezer for a bit before trying to pull the vacuum, the moisture doesn't mess up the sealing process as bad. And for liquids like soups, chili, stew, etc. if you put it in a dish the size you plan on reheating and freeze, then vacuum seal, it fits back into the container to reheat in a microwave.

I've used FoodSavers, LEM and Weston for professional sealing work (apart from the high-end chamber units) and I like the Weston the most. We will seal a couple thousand packages in a year with one and they seem the most durable and functioning. Don't press down too hard on the seal bar, this will diminish the lifespan of a vac sealer quickly. For moderate use, I think FoodSaver is fine, but Weston wins for me. Your mileage may vary.

We have been using a Food Saver when I process game myself. When I have my processor do it (hunting bud), he uses Saran Wrap and butcher paper. I'll probably try doing this myself going forward as I've never had an issue keeping meat in great shape for extended periods of time.

For me the longevity of the vacuum sealer is what I like, however my favorite thing about a vacuum sealer is the defrost process. If we are going somewhere where it will be in a cooler, I like that I can just toss it in there to defrost and not worry about any saturation. Having to worry about blood, etc. then the saturation of the freezer paper isn't worth it for me.

I researched this pretty hard last year and ended up with a Food Saver FM5200. https://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-Au...ver+fm5200&qid=1590528928&sr=8-1

I don't know if they're still making that model or not but it had the best reviews of all that I looked at in that general price range. I was pleased with its performance on the two animals I've done with it.

Vacmaster 350 here

I use the food saver gamesaver silver currently, its nice to be able to run it off ac or dc.

I have had...in the past foodsaver & Cabellas commercial grade. the foodsaver was better than the Cabellas. I broke down and bought a Vac Master chamber vac. Will never have to buy another vacuum sealer. It is a workhorse, not very mobile(mine is on a cart). Bags are dirt cheap. Never thought I would spend that much, but the peace of mind that it will work each and every year is worth it.

I don't know what I have - it's probably 20 years old. My grandma gave it to me about 10 years ago. I'm thinking it may be some kind of Sears brand if they ever made one. It looks similar to a foodsaver - so hell it may be, but it is still going strong and gets used weekly.

I think we have a food saver that was my wifes parents, they gave it to us when they sold their house and moved into Sr. Living. Seem to work pretty good. We should use it more often

I picked up a vacmaster chamber sealer this past year. It is heavy (70#ish) so I store it on a cart with all the bags and everything underneath on a level of the cart. The thing is a beast, and it is great being able to seal wet food, liquids, etc....

I can’t wait until this next deer season and I can get seal up venison with marinade and seasoning in the bag and not have to worry about losing the seal.

Highly recommend a chamber vacuum if you can spring the coin. They aren’t cheap but from what I have read they are pretty much a buy once cry once kind of thing if properly maintained.

Humble brag.

Done with the FoodSaver and Cabelas stuff. Thought getting the commercial grade product would be a key, but that was wrong. We have long utilized the sealers to vacuum in meat bought in family packs and then segmented into smaller, dinner size quantities. These always performed this function extremely well. The issues manifested themselves when processing fish & game. When we come in with fish, it can be a lot. Cut the filets down and storing it away can mean dozens and dozens of seals. Two issues here with one being the occasional inadequate suction. The second is the heat strip would overheat and cause delays. I always thought a heat strip would, well, heat up. Sometimes, we would use two machines in tandem. When doing deer, we bone out the meat and vacuum it into five pound batches and then meal size batches for the back straps and tenders. See lack of sufficient suction thing above.

Wifeypoo did some research and the VacMaster Prop 350 was delivered to our door. At $370, it was more expensive than previous purchases. We do not have a long time history with this unit, but our initial usage details a much more powerful vacuum and a rock solid seal. You can easily tell the difference.

If that’s the way you want to take it that’s fine. I was just trying to say I read a lot about people buying something and having it break down after a year or two of use. I wanted something that would be more solid and vacmaster was a brand that constantly came up. Chamber dealers were a topic that constantly came up. I ended up buying this from Cabela’s using points, gc from Christmas and some gc’s purchased from usaa rewards, and ended up getting it significantly cheaper than list. I am much more eager to brag about how much I saved on it by using some gcs and points than How expensive the thing was to begin with. I didn’t think that was the point of the post though. Thanks for bringing that back up from my memory vault.

Currently have a food saver. We usually get 2 years out of one and loose the paperwork for the warranty lol.

They work fine for daily house stuff but like others have said when it comes time to pack and put up 200 links of sausage.... they struggle, and struggle may be an under statement. This will be our second year on the current food saver and I will have to take a peak at the vacmaster and chamber sealers.

I have a VacMaster VP320. It's a beast and is not something that can be moved around, as it's large and heavy. I have a stainless steel table in my garage where I have it set up for processing. I have had it at least 9 years, and I've recently had to mess with the seal bar because the adhesive wore out. Texas Refrigeration & Butcher Equipment Supply in Deep Ellum went out of business after 121 years, so it's kind of DIY on trying to fix something like this if you have issues.

I will say that if you process your own game, cook a lot, or just want stuff in your freezer to last a long time, this machine is the way to go.

From what IO have read the chamber sealers are the way to go but they are expensive.

I have the FoodSaver FM5200 from Amazon for $180 it works well and has two sealers one for making the bag and the other for the finish seal. I bought some generic bags that did not work at all with it then exchanged for some other generic bags that work fine. Also got the extended warranty from Amazon just in case. I would buy this again.