Avid Armor Vacuum Sealer Machine - A100 Stainless Construction, Clear Lid, Commercial Double Piston Pump Heavy Duty 12 Wide Seal Bar Built in Cooling Fan Includes 30 Pre-cut Bags and Accessory Hose

Many years ago I bought a FoodSaver brand vacuum packager and that first machine lasted about 7 years. When it finally quit, I believed that I had gotten my money's worth and that the brand was pretty good. After that first machine, I went through a new machine about every year. After 4-5 machines, I decided to buy the expensive FoodSaver model (est $175). I thought the machine was pretty good, but at just about 1 year, the plastic interlock responsible for locking the door and supplying power to the controls broke. I was officially over FoodSaver as a product and began shopping around.The A100 is easy to use with what appears to be solid parts and construction. The motor evacuates the air in the bag in about half the time as the FoodSavers and the seal is significantly wider creating a strong seal. The A100 seal width is about twice the width of the FoodSaver. While all of these functional details may sound tedious, the end result is that if you have game, fish or vegetables you have harvested and want to pack away, these features make the job go much faster with great quality results. I have packed away plenty of harvested meat, fish and vegetables and I can predict those future jobs getting much easier.Durability is one of the main reasons I invested in this type of vacuum sealer. I cannot predict long-term performance and attest to this machine's functional lifespan. However, I am willing to bet that it will be running this time next year. I hope it will be running for the full three-year warranty, otherwise Avid Armor can put some parts and labor into it at their cost.Speaking of parts, Avid has done each purchaser the courtesy of providing replacement seals, heat element and heat tape. That's a realistic view of their product in that they recognize the most maintenance sensitive parts need to be made available to their consumers at the time they need to use the machine. This inclusion of spare parts is clever customer service that appreciated by consumers that need their machines to work when they need it most.Cost and value is interesting analysis. If you add up all the money I spent on FoodSaver machines, it might amount to $700. I got this machine at about half that cost. On an annualized basis, the costs are similar; you are just throwing away FoodSaver machines instead of using the same machine for a longer period of time. That said, not everybody uses vacuum packagers to the extent necessary to merit the cost of this machine. However, if you use your vacuum packager on a weekly or greater basis, or you need to pack away a deer, a big catch or good vegetable harvest, I think this is a good machine to consider.

We purchased this Avid Armor A100 after a fair amount of research both online and talking to others who had a vacuum sealer. This sealer rose to the top after sorting through expert and consumer reviews. The main reason for buying it was to vacuum seal and freeze the 100 meat chickens we're raising that will soon be ready for processing. I'll try to remember to update this review after we do the chickens.In the meantime, we've been getting about a pound a day of green beans from our garden and thought we'd try it on the beans. The bean ends were snapped off and then snapped in half after washing them. We dropped about a pound of the prepared beans in boiling water for 3 minutes and then scooped them out and put them in a pot with ice cubes and water to chill them. The chilled beans were then removed from the water (ice pretty much melted) with a hand held strainer and put in a bowl. Using a very thin and flexible plastic cutting board/sheet, I made funnel out of it, and taped together with painters tape. I stuck the funnel end into a 1 quart Avid Armor bag and filled it ~60-70%. I made the funnel so the sealing area would not be wet when I went to seal the bags. The funnel worked real well but some of the moisture on the beans wicked up when the evacuation started. The bag still sealed with a clear looking seal, but I didn't want to risk having a long term failure. So it put the unsealed bags in the freezer for about 45 minutes or so and then finished the sealing process. Very little wicking occurred after that and the seals looked real good. (Seal time was left on the default setting of 3). So far we've done over 15 pounds of beans.We haven't tried any of the beans we sealed and froze yet but we're hoping it works out. It'll be nice to have beans from our garden through the winter.I was very impressed with the quality of the sealer, and the fact that it came with spare seal bar, tape, and gasket. The instruction are clear and very complete. The machine is really easy to use.The Avid Armor bags came very highly recommended from a friend who uses his sealer extensively. They are the only brand he now uses and that's what we bought for our chickens.