I've had a low to middle of the road vac seal for a while and I'm ready to up my game (<---see what I did there?) to get a really reliable, good quality sealer. My buddy recently picked up a Weston that has had great results, but some of the heating element areas are starting to show signs of issues. I've read a few reviews that mention Westons have this happen. I've always heard good things about Westons in the past. Also seen some suggestions for VacMaster.

Anyone have any suggestions of ones to look for, or stay aware from?

I've got a LEM 250 and so far it's been a real trooper. Heating element is replaceable and it came with a spare. I'm sure there are better commercial grade ones out there, but for the price point I really like mine.

Vacmaster 230, cheaper bags and you can seal liquid. Buy once - Cry Once

I've had a Weston Pro 2300 Commercial for years, it works great. Definitely a step up from any of the Food Savers I have. Dual piston pumps, fan, no issues with the heating element or overheating.

If I was going to be one and done, I would definitely go with a VacMaster Chamber Sealer. That will be my next purchase.

I've had a VacMaster VP320 for more than 10 years now. Great sealer for sure, but I've had to learn to take it apart and replace broken parts a couple times. And now I'm getting an F1 error quite often. There used to be a guy at Texas Refrigeration in Deep Ellum that would fix them, but they are out of business now, so I've had to rely on YouTube and Google to teach me.

Good to find this thread. I was about to ask the same thing on TFF.

Wow!!

I guess vacuum sealers are like optics, you get what you pay for...

Venison doesn’t last long at my house, foodsaver has worked fine for the few cuts I actually save for late summer treats.

I don’t think I can spend over $1,000 on one......

Lefty be right. Can't tell you home many times I have been uploading fish filets or sausage and got ever so tired of the cheap ones. Two issues with them and only of concern when doing larger quantities. We'll go on a couple of days fishing trip and come back with hundreds of filets. The buddies comes over to my house where we have a "prep room" and everybody gets after it. That's twice a year. The other time is after making fresh sausage, hamburger, breakfast sausage & dried sausage. My batches are typically over 200 pounds (I am on fumes right now).

At these times, my perceptions with the cheaper sealer options are rather simple. One was the sometimes intermittent completion of duty by the vacuum sealer. Bags not quite "tight" which had to be redone. Worse yet, was the sealer over heating and forcing way too numerous stoppages.

Wifeypoo did some research and ended up with one of the Vacmasters akin to the 360 referenced above. Quite the difference is what I have found. Faster processing and a true relief over the previous FoodSaver and Cabela's "Commercial Grade" models. We have had four in all now,. It would have been much cheaper if I had started out right.

I really like my Cabela's Commercial Series sealer. Replacement foam seals and heating element shields are also available, but mine is almost 10 years old, sees regular use, and isn't showing much wear.

Same here and ours has the longer sealing bar so it does big bags pretty well.