Vacuum Sealers

I've got the GameSaver one here. I think I paid around $120 for it. The biggest pro for me was that it had a 10-year warranty, and most of the other ones had five year warranties at best. Now, if the thing craps out who knows if they'll actually stand behind it, but it gave me some peace of mind. I've only had it stall out on me a couple of times when I was sealing probably 15 things back to back to back, and if you gave it a couple of minutes it was ready to go. The V3880 looks great though, so I wouldn't have any issues buying one of those if the price was right.

Only advice I would give is to buy the generic rolls on Amazon or somewhere else; you'll save a ton of money. We use ours all the time and I'd recommend one in a heartbeat if you are a bulk shopper/hunter.

Can it store soups/gumbo?

These are the two that I'm looking at. The Gamesaver Outdoorsman 2050 is actually cheaper than the V3880. Which one would you guys suggest? I will mainly be using it for backstrap, bulk meat when I run across good sales, and sous vide cooking. I'm not really wanting to go all out and get to fancy, but I do want to get the best bang for my buck.

Foodsaver V3880
Gamesaver

I purchased this unit a couple of years back. I know for sure I didn't pay $160 at the time. I think I bought it on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond, so you can make use of those 20% off coupons also. One feature that I love that I didn't know it had when I bought it is that there is a button on the side and it pops upright when not in use, so it only takes up about four inches of depth on the counter, meaning it can stay there most of the time.

I've never had problems with the unit, especially with consecutive sealing. I think the most I'll do at one time is only about a dozen though. I couldn't live without it. If it broke today, I'd have a new one in my home tomorrow. Not only is it great for saving things in the freezer, it goes hand in hand with sous vide cooking. I also like pretzel rods but never eat a whole bag. I'll snip off a corner, have a few, then seal up the bag so they're not lost in a day to the Louisiana humidity. Even though my wood chip bags have small breathing holes in the bags, I'll cut off a corner, use what I want and then seal the corner back up so the wood doesn't fall out. I've actually sealed my iphone in a food saver pouch with some air in it for when I'm on water. The phone will not get wet if it gets splashed, won't get wet when dropped into the water and also won't sink, AND you can still use the touch pad. Pretty cool, eh? If you want to get really devious, carefully open a bag of Zapps chips, place anything you don't want to get caught with on a road trip >ahem<, then seal back up along with the chips. Voila, if you get pulled over, you have a mere bag of chips until you get to your destination.

Once you get a unit I would recommend shopping for your rolls on Amazon, who have the best prices. I prefer rolls over bags since I can make them any size I want. Rolls are always in my Amazon cart, and it's amazing how the prices go up and down. Usually around the holidays the prices are ridiculously cheap. A three roll bag hovers around $30, but right now it's bouncing around between $20 and $24 for instance. They're starting to go back up again daily.

Cool my inlaws have a mini pack-terra and it's a beast. I'd like one for my house

Foodsaver

pros:
they work just fine
several bag options that can be easily purchased
easy to clean
you can abuse them by sealing chip bags and other things because it doesn't cost too much to replace the sealer every 2 to 4 years

cons:
can't really think of any

quote:

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My sister ordered the v4440 for my mom without consulting me. Is it a good one? can it handle soup?

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I love mine. I upgraded from an old one I'd had for years. If you want to freeze liquids, freeze the liquid first and then vac seal as someone suggested above.