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

Received my Avid Vacuum Sealer today and am happy to say I'm impressed it seems to be a well built and functions flawless. Was also happy to see the warranty is for three years not one and that STXInternational are the sellers. The packaging was simple and protective the contents had been inspected before shipping and complete no surprises then sealed with tamper tape to refuse if broken, a nice touch if you have ever gotten a incomplete returned item. The sealer is both simple to use and simple in design very much like the higher priced commercial sealers out there at a modest price that is in line with the other home sealers. There are no locking arms to break or small pins that fit in a hole and cause trouble on the vacuum door just a simple switch at the back of the door that should last forever as for the door it is as heavy as it looks in the picture. The actual dimensions are 15.25 in wide X 11 in deep X 4.5 in high so it does have a large footprint on your counter and it will do up to a 12 inch bag and does have a wide seal (about double my old foodsaver ) and I had to lower mine to the #2 setting so it does it's job. Now as for vacuum it is great packed meat, nuts, vegetables, and light plastic containers to test the pulse setting and everything passed with flying colors nice tight bags with wide seals don't know what else you could ask for. I admit to being picky and spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I needed that 15in commercial sealer and while I found these sealers under a different name in other countries I never found a bad review and after using it can understand why it is simple, well made, substantial (not plastic) and works great at half the cost. 08/18/2017 Spoke with the owner of Avid Armor and was informed somehow I had gotten a unit for STX and that is how I had a 3year Warranty card in my owners manual. Sorry if this has caused any confusion I was only able to go by what I received in the box . I still feel this is a bargain and have no regrets on purchasing this sealer

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.

I bought this sealer to replace my ziplock brand sealer that was having issues with the heating element after 7 years. I originally purchased a cheap sealer to see if I liked how they work and didn’t want to go all out for my first one. After my ziplock started to die, I decided to go with a commercial grade sealer that would have more suction, a better sealing element, and provide a better sealing experience. I purchased my Avid Armor vacuum sealer just in time to have it for deer hunting. I made up about 120 bags before going hunting so I would be ready when it came time to butcher my deer and package up the meat for freezing. The pulse seal setting on this sealer was great for making all these bags. After cutting the two rolls into 10 inch sections, I was easily able to seal one end using the pulse seal feature. Just put the end of the bag on the heating element and close the lid, it starts the sealing process once the lid closes. After a few bags, I noticed that the seal was getting a little hot so I was able to adjust the setting to 2 seconds from 3 seconds and then they were perfect. I was able to make all 120 bags without having to stop to wait for the sealer to cool down. Before hunting, I wanted to try out the sealer to see how much suction it has. I didn’t have anything to package so I put an empty pop can in a bag to see how well it could crush it. A few seconds later and it was flat! I was surprised at how well it did and was confident that it would work well for my venison. I did well hunting and we had 2 deer to butcher. We got them both cut up and I started vacuuming them. The first few bags had an issue with the seal, there was a small gap that kept showing up. I looked at the Teflon tape over the heating element, there was a slight wrinkle that was causing a cool spot and kept it from sealing properly. I pealed up the end of the Teflon tape and removed the wrinkle, the pressed it back down. It solved the problem with the bags not sealing. I put the first few bags back in and added another seal to them, then continued to finish the rest of my deer. I ended up with 90 bags of meat and never had another issue. I was able to do all 90 packages without stopping to let the machine cool down. The only complaint I have is that there is no storage for the rolls of bags or a cutter. I know there are other brands that have storage and cutters, but that is not the most important feature to have on a vacuum sealer. I am very happy with this purchase and highly recommended the Avid Armor vacuum sealer.

Dislikes: 1. The suction tube attachment. BUT, I think it is just me and the particular equipment I have, I cannot get it to work. But again, I think that is with my current accessories I have. Likes: 1. This has Great Suction. It could be a "little" better, but overall, it has GREAT suction. It outperforms 60.00 to 150.00 models. 2. Sealing: I can't think it could get better. You have the option to set the "sealing" time. This is perfect depending on what bags you are using. You can set it longer or shorter. I found initially I set it to high, and the seal melted though. I put it on like 9 seconds. then I tried 1 second, and the seal broke. It did not fully seal. BUT, with the bags I have now, a 2-3 seconds is PERFECT. 3. Juice Tray. Initially, I did not put any marinade in the bags. I tried it with Goya Mojo tonight after several months. It did not suck ALOT of the juices out, and what it did, it deposited in the reservoir. 4. Ease of Use. Until today, I was doing only meat and no marinade. You just out it in the bag, put the bag in, close it, press it, and hit start. It detects if it is sealing or not. And as long as it is, it sucks out the air, Seals it (According to your specifications) and then waits and does a beep when it is ready and sealed. So, overall, I first purchased an ABOX sealer. It was about 50.00. the main reason I wanted a sealer was for Sous Vide. I used this one like 3 times. EVERY TIME, it was a pain to "SNAP" it closed, just to get it to run, and the seal was ok. The problem with this OK seal was, it still did not suction out all the air, so it was not really sealed, even with this "semi" Seal. I read alot more reviews after this, and settled on the AVID, as quality and cost effective. there are better ones out there. MUCH better, but 3 times the 299.00 price. I got my Avid on 09/24/2019, and until today, have used it for mainly a family pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts every two weeks. Today, 01/01/2020, I REALLY put it to the test. I sealed (All with Goya Mojo): 20 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts 10 lbs of Bone in Pork Chops 15 lbs of Flank Steak, The CATS went CRAZY as soon as I opened the chicken. (Never thought cats would go for raw chicken! But all three of them go nuts every time I use this machine!. They are not even afraid of the loud sound, they are nuts over the chicken smell!!! Well, either with or without cats. I opened the meat, washed the mean, and got it ready, then just put each piece in the bag. After it was bagged, and had the mojo poured in, it was so routine, Basically, Place it and seal it. It could not have been easier. Took me abut 45 minutes to open, wash, marinate, and seal 45 lbs of meat. I am not a "restaurant" level user. Maybe I am a bit more than a regular home user, BUT, this product fits the bill. I would buy another tomorrow if this one died today,

So I started with a FoodSaver thinking it would be a great idea to have during this pandemic. Never had a vacuum sealer before and honestly that was a great place to start BUT, I quickly learned I had a vacuum sealing obsession. Its SO fun and satisfying to vacuum seal meats and snacks. The FoodSaver got the job done but it was built with plastic and was obvious that it wasn't high quality and not built to last very long. So I decided to begin research on something way more powerful and reliable. I was ready to step up my vacuum sealing game! Lots of research lead me to this Avid Armor A100. It was always at the top of the list of written articles and youtube videos and now that I have it I have to agree its definitely a high quality product. I really wanted a product from a company that would be around for a while so when it eventually needs servicing the company would be around to provide replacement parts. So here are my observations on the pros and cons: PROS: - Robust Quality: It's built with high quality materials and built to last. If treated right I'm sure you could get 10+ years of use out of this. It's heavy and there are no loose or shaky parts. Everything about the device is solid including how it sounds when its vacuum sealing. - Kitchen Footprint/Size: Its extremely small compared to other vacuum sealers of this quality and power. - Cost/Value: At its full retail price I paid $299 which is inline with other competitors but, what separates Avid Armor is that it comes with a service kit which includes everything you need if the seal bar or gaskets require replacing, so thats awesome. It also comes with a ton of vacuum sealing bags to use which is another added price. So really you're only paying $250ish for this device brand new minus all the extras. Functions: It has an accessory port and removable drip tray that many other vac sealers don't have. What I love most is that operation wise, there is a simple On/Off power switch and everything is labeled VERY clearly. If it's too hard to use my wife won't use it. Other vac sealers I tested were simply not intuitive, requiring flicking side switches for fans then, pressing "start/stop" buttons before you can use any of the functions. This device is straight forward. Lastly, I like the accessory port location (on the side of the unit), if you use the accessory port A LOT like I do you won't want to be constantly plugging in and removing the accessory host (for fear of it breaking). I just leave the FoodSaver accessory hose permanently plugged in (see photos). - Warranty: It comes with a 1 year warranty out of the box. If you write a review and email a screenshot to avid armor they extend it to 2 years! - Customer Service: I tested their customer service and received a reply email within hours. I wanted to remove the "Quick Tips" sticker from the Plexiglas and they said it could be done without harming the device (shown in the photos). Additional Pros: - Online Presence: They have a nice looking, great easy to use website and offer replacement parts for the A100. They also have a nice instagram going which really shows that they take pride in their products and that their customers appreciate their products as well. CONS: - White Color: Just my preference I'm not a fan of the white area where the drip tray is. It gets dirty and is really visible. I'd prefer if it was black I think it would look a lot more slick but thats really just my preference. - No Roll Storage & Builtin Cutter: Upgrading from a FoodSaver one thing I really liked was that it had roll storage and cutter built-in. It would be great if Avid Armor offered an optional stainless-steel roll storage add-on that could be clipped onto the back of the device, weston pro has a nice sleek-one. However, this is not a deal breaker I actually found vacuum rolls in boxes that have the cutters on the boxes so thats what I'm using now. A slight inconvenience but no biggie. In fact, I discovered how much better quality other vac rolls were compared to the FoodSaver Bags. "OutOfAir" rolls seal 10 times better than others I've tried: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG9QYHX/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_0uclFb5PM395F Overall, I give this device 4 stars. I'm very happy with this super high quality vacuum sealer and would recommend it to anyone. I'm glad I stepped up my vacuum sealing game!

I take an annual trip to Alaska to fish for Coho salmon along the Prince William Sound and have used local canneries, Food Saver vacuum sealers and others “kitchen” vacuum sealers to safely vac seal my salmon prior to freezing and have always been unhappy with the cost of sealing with the canneries, the result of sealing by myself with a kitchen sealer and most importantly the time it takes to seal my catch myself (two fish filleted into 6 steaks would take ~15-20 minutes). The other kitchen vacuum sealers are cheap feeling, time out easily after running continuously (and you’d have to wait 2-3 minutes between seals), would not recognize when a bag was inserted to be sealed, or would just stop working at all which led me to find a better solution. The Avid Armor A100 is the solution. While I’ll caveat I have not put it through the TRUE paces yet, I’ve successfully vacuum sealed 5 bags back to back (with 20s breaks between per instructions) without the seal heating element overheating which is more than I can say for the cheaper alternatives. Rest assured during my time in Alaska this upcoming summer I will be using this sealer to its practical limits. I am also very excited about the external hose attachment and vacuum seal canisters that Avid Armor also sells as it allows me to vacuum seal 4oz speciality mason jars which I fully intend to use to bring back cured salmon roe (caviar) this year. I intend to make gifts of the caviar and it was important to me that the mason jars be small serving sizes (who wants to eat a regular size mason jar worth of caviar in 2-3 days after opening? That can’t be healthy). The combination of the A100, a strong and portable vacuum seal, and the Avid Armor vac seal canisters will make bringing back the caviar possible. I am particularly excited that Avid Armor included extra foam seals and an extra heating element for the A100 as it will allow me to service the sealer should anything bad happen when I am in Alaska instead of being stuck there without the replacement parts I am most likely to need should anything go wrong. While it may be a bit early to say this sealer is the ticket, I feel very good about my odds as compared to the alternatives I have tried. Will also note that Avid Armor offers a 2-year extended warranty for leaving an honest review, which is not the sole motivation of my review but a welcomed bonus nonetheless. I also appreciate that the company welcomes an honest review as quite frankly many Amazon businesses only offer perks for positive reviews. I am a proud patron of Avid Armor and hope to return after my trip to Alaska this summer with some end result pictures of the salmon and caviar!

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.

I had a foodsaver that we used heavily. We Sous Vide practically everything. When the foodsaver finally failed, I decided to invest in something more robust. I wish I started with one of these from Avid Armor. It is so much easier to use and clean. The suction is way more powerful and overall much simpler operation. No more wasting bag lengths to make sure it catches in the old machine. Foodsaver intentionally designed their sealer to waste bag lengths by making you cut them larger than needed to trigger the machine. They did this so that you would have to buy their bag rolls more frequently. The extra cost of this Avid Armor sealer will easily pay for itself in a few months. The accessory line works so much better than foodsaver models too. I use a Mason Jar sealer attachment frequently and it really seals them tight. Maybe too tight as they are very hard to get off when sealed unlike the other brands I've used. The customer service is OUTSTANDING at Avid Armor. My machine arrived with one of the rubber feet longer than the others, causing it to sit unevenly on my counter. I contacted customer support and rather than send me the right sized foot, they just sent me a new machine and had me ship mine back in the same box with prepaid postage. BOTTOM LINE: It is worth the extra cost compared to the other consumer grade sealers. The company stands behind their product. Buy it.

Even though the machine arrived with a broken part ( probably due to the handling/shipping), i'm more than impress by this machine. Customer service was fantastic and quick to replace the broken part. Avid Armor really came with a professionnal machine at a lower price. This machine is really well built and easy to use. It work really fast and the seal is large and strong. Even though it's made for home use , I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a professional business with a reasonable production volume. Can't talk about longevity since i just got it but seeing how strongly and well built it is , i don't see it as an issue for the future. Their bags are also really great !

It a good working sealer it a little pricey but it worth it we really like it

Upgraded to this sealer as we are harvesting about a hundred chickens at a time and the lighter units designed for home users just weren't cutting it. We found it very easy to use, easy to clean, and after two months in the freezer we don't appear to have any defective seals. Will try to remember to update after several harvests, but so far I'd highly recommend it.

We vacuum pack alot of fish every year. This is by far the best vacuum packer . Highly recommend

We have had 3 of the Food Saver brand machines and each time we up graded we got a more expensive model. We do a lot of vacuum packing from bulk meat buys, wild game (when in season), vegetables and dry goods as well. Our machines have worked well, all except for the last one and most expensive one. It was a pain in the butt to use as you had to slide the bag opening in a slot to vacuum and seal. Lots of times the machine would reject it and you would have to try sometimes 3-4 times. Cleaned out the drip tray after last use and machine just quit working Only 3 years old. So I did a lot of looking and I was prepared to pay for a very good machine. This machine seems to be very durable and well built. Stainless steel outer shell, nice see through window into the seal chamber. After our first uses with this we were impressed with how fast it vacuumed the air out of the bag. A lot faster than our other one. So far we really like it. I do however have 2 CONs for this machine. There should be a Cancel button. If for whatever reason you need to stop the sealing process there is no cancel button. Now I know you can just hit the On/Off button but a cancel button would be better. Also the height at where the actual bag is sealed. Can become a little difficult to seal some stuff. 2" off table top. I made a removable stand out of HDPE to go from the 2" height gap to 1/2" and this works well. Overall we really like this machine and hope it lasts for many more years to come. UPDATE: Bought this unit May 2024. It is now Feb 2025 and I am having an issue with the unit. When sealing a package vacuum starts and counts down to 2 and then just sits there. I have to manually hit the Seal button for it to seal a package. Wrote to the company and was sent instructions to fix. This included taking the unit apart, popping off a sensor cover and cleaning the contacts within. I was not pleased but started to do this. When it got to the part of popping off the sensor cover gently, the whole sensor started to pop off the control board. So if I beak it then it's my fault and my out of pocket repair bill. That's it I stopped. This should not be a fix that a customer should have to fix especially when the unit is less than a year old and the company knows it has this issue, hence the fix instructions. I contacted the company again and told them that I should not be the one to fix this issue. Now I'm told they will make an exception and allow me to send the unit back to the factory (I'm in Canada and it's in the USA) at my cost and they will fix it free and send it back to me. In my opinion this is unacceptable. I really like the unit itself but if these are issues you are going to find with these units that are less than a year old and the poor customer service from the company then I would now suggest that you stay away from this product.