For this I found that you have to leave much more space at the top of the bag than seems reasonable for the food saver auto detect to activate. I also dislike this “feature”. I’ll revisit this thread if/when my foodsaver gives up the ghost.
Ah Stuart, I don’t doubt you’re right, but the footprint of the 1100 is a bridge too far for my wife. If this one doesn’t last, for sure the 1100 next time.
OK…good luck. I understand…the bridge issue.
It is silly how this industry is populated with machines that just don’t last…and we all keep buying those same machines.
Had I not asked here, I would have, too…yet another time. And, had the guy at Weston not been pretty firm with me, I would likely have bought their version of the same ilk.
Check Cabella. They have the sealers for hunters. They are really nice!
Dang you again Mark. Ordered the 2300. It is a beast! Meant for the long haul.
Mark? 2300???
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Well… it’s official, Stuart’s right. This 65-0501-W is a total piece of junk. Really slow, failed to seal 2/3 bags I tried tonight. I’d be upset if one of the $70 sealers acted like this. Shocking they want $150. It’s going back to the factory, and I’m ordering the 1100.
Larry, sorry to hear that, but…that was the inference I drew from the guy on the other end of the phone at Weston last year. Basically, in the same league as FSaver.
Good luck with the bridge too far.
FWIW, this is a work by a German painter Home, called “the bridge”…i like it on many levels and your “bridge too far” “footprint” reminded me of it…
LOL that painting’s pretty good Stuart.
Lori’s disappointed and still trying to argue to try a different Foodsaver brand model, but she’s reluctantly coming around to my argument that we’re better served by a professional model. Sealing a large batch of smoked salmon is a very different job than sealing a bag of leftovers after dinner, which I guess is what these machines are aimed at. I’m still shocked at how weak this thing really was at $150. It’s about equivalent to the Foodsavers in the $70-$90 range.
depending on what you want to spend, the chamber sealing machines are FAR superior to the foodsaver style bags that work on suction.
Chamber sealing machines work by placing the entire bag with its contents inside a chamber and then all of the air is pumped out of the chamber creating a pressure inside the chamber of zero atmospheres. The bag appears to be inflated while this is happening, but it’s actually empty. It’s sealed, and then when the vacuum is released and it goes back to 1 atmosphere, the bag shrinks down on the meat (or whatever else is in there). Liquid is never a problem and you always get a good seal. In fact, you can vacuum seal a bag of soup with these things as long as the soup isn’t hot. The boiling point at zero atm is way lower than at 1.
the problem with them is price. I have a vacmaster 112 model and I think it’s around $550 new and you have to shop around to find that price. The good part, is the bags are super cheap. I bought 1000 bags for 40 bucks I think. If you vacuum pack a decent amount of stuff like I do, you’ll end up better off than you do with a foodsaver because you’ll save on bags, and you wont’ have stuff go bad when the foodsaver seals inevitably break.
Eight years and have NEVER had a bag break.
Me either.
Well the 1100 arrived, and my first 3 bags would evacuate, then the thing would show “E1” and wouldn’t seal. I didn’t find anything about error messages online or in the manual. With the intent of calling customer service this morning, I gave it another try and it successfully sealed and vacuumed 5 bags. Now I don’t know what to think.
Make sure seal band gasket was firmly pressed down.
You’ve never had a seal fail? You must not bag much stuff.
Bagged about 5 lbs of smoked salmon today, the 1100 performed flawlessly.
Almost two years later, my Weston is just what I needed: reliable; easy to use…and…failsafe.
Haven’t even talked to their consumer line people.
Same here. What we thought were defects turned out to be bad bags.
And Mark Hudson’s recommendation was solid gold. My Weston Pro 2300 is still killing it. Considering it can even be rebuilt, it is a lifetime purchase. An absolute staple in my kitchen.
Any updates here?
Looking at upgrading my sealer but don’t want to mess with a chamber model.