Avid Armor Ultra Series USV32: Premium Chamber Vacuum Sealer Machine High-Performance Vacuum Chamber Sealer for Professional and Home Use, Ideal Commercial Vacuum Sealer Machine for Food Preservation

For all those who can afford the price of entry, you should get this vacuum sealer. At 5 to 10 cents per bag for bags for any chamber vacuum sealer, compared to 50 to 75 cents per bag for your ribbed-bag sealer such as a Food Saver, you will more than make up for the price in very short order. One maker of a sealer that uses ribbed bags suggests you can save $2700 per year using their sealer. My own experience was that I saved far, far, less because, more often than not, the value of the thing I might seal was approaching or even more than the value of the bag.For example, I buy 1/4 pound hotdogs from a local big-box club store for $3 per pound but they come in 3 pound packages, or 12 hotdogs at 75 cents per hotdog. We eat two for a meal so when we open them, it's eat hotdogs every day for a week or package some to go in the freezer. So if I take two hotdogs at 75 cents and put them in a bag that costs 50 cents, that adds a dollar per pound to the cost of those hotdogs. If I seal them in bags that cost 7 cents, that's 14 cents additional cost.Or what if I have leftover broccoli from dinner that's worth about a dollar. If I have to spend 50 cents to vacuum seal them, I'm more likely to just toss them. But if I can save them for lunch next week at a cost of 5 cents for a 6x8 bag, it's a great deal for a quick vegetable to go with lunch. With the price of chamber pouches, I never consider whether the item I might freeze is worth the price of the bag; the only question is whether I would eat it after I freeze it.So, if a ribbed-bag vacuum sealer saves you 2700 per year (it sure didn't save me that much), consider how much more a chamber vacuum will save you.When I bought my Avid Armor sealer, I started a spreadsheet to track my real savings - savings on food I was able to buy in bulk and divide, or food I would have otherwise tossed but kept - and inside of the first month (it's not been quite a month yet) I have saved $127.03. Will you save that much every month? Probably not, but it's certainly possible. But when it costs 5 cents instead of 50 cents to take advantage of vacuum sealing, you're much more likely to do it and the cost of a chamber vacuum will return beyond what any ribbed-bag sealer could ever dream of saving you.So hopefully I've made a good case for the chamber vacuum sealer. The next question is why Avid Armor?Well, it's all about quality and cost. There are other companies, companies that used to have good sealers in the price range of the Avid Armor, but all of those other companies, in my opinion and experience, are companies that have been around for very short periods or who put their brand on sealers made cheaply overseas and don't really have anything to do with the design, yet they charge far higher prices than does Avid Armor.The Avid Armor sealer provides a quality vacuum and seal at a price that let's far more cooks afford a chamber vacuum sealer. The USV32 has some great features like very easy and clear settings for vacuum time and seal time.It's not perfect, though; some things for Avid Armor to consider in their next design would be a larger chamber for up to 12 inch wide bags. It would also be better if it had a wider seal but I haven't had any issues with the sealer as it is. One good thing is that with standard 18 inch height between base and upper cabinets in most kitchens, the USV32 fits perfectly when you open the lid; using all available space without being so big you have to pull it out. My coffee maker is 20 inches high with the water compartment lid open so I know the frustration that would be. Avid Armor did it right.The bag retention set up, that bit of the mechanism that holds the bag in place for the heat seal bar, leaves something to be desired. It doesn't hold as easily as my last chamber sealer from another company. It holds ok but it's trickier to get it right.Over all, though, I'm very happy with the Avid Armor UVS32 sealer and I'm glad that, when I needed to replace an older model from another supplier, a model no longer made and nothing in the sub $1000 space from that supplier, I'm glad I chose the Avid Armor.

I'm sure many of you have used some sort of vacuum sealer over the years, and they're great tools. This, however, is a Chamber Vacuum Sealer. It uses pouches. I also have a FoodSaver sealer that uses pouches, or roll stock. It was my third sealer. The difference is that the pouches lie mostly flat in the chamber (horizontally) while being vacuumed and sealed in the USV32. The main reasons I bought this unit, was the ability to seal "liquids" like soups, sauces and such. When I do Jambalaya for example, I make about 10 quarts, so I can freeze the leftovers for future use. I was using 32 Oz plastic containers for that, with snap on lids that I'm certain don't provide the same seal, nor were they "Vacuum sealed." Soups, stews and chili that I will cook and seal with the Avid, will be better shaped for optimum freezer organization. I can also "repack" things like bulk chicken pieces, to a smaller quantity more suited to "cooking for one." Individual "meals," like a quart of chili, can become boil-in-bag conveniences. If you Sous Vide cook, this can be a big help. You can package your protein, aromatics and marinade together, Vacuum, seal and freeze for future cooking. Things like lasagña leftovers, etc., can be well sealed for future use. I'm excited to put this machine to work. When I got it setup, I sealed three one-pound portions of ground beef. I left the default setting of 50 for Vacuum and 5 for seal intensity. I pressed the Auto Vac/Seal button and watched the countdown timer. Noise level seemed less than my FoodSaver. When it got to zero, I could hear a little hissing, but it appeared nothing was happening. All of a sudden, it went FFFOOOOOMP, all the air was vacated from the pouch, which then tightly surrounded the little brick of ground beef. When I examined the seal, it was professional looking and tight. It's built like a tank, and has a glass lid that allows viewing of the sealing process. It's adjustable in the length of both Vacuum time (0-99 seconds) and sealing intensity, depending on pouch material thickness. It can be used to seal one end of roll stock to create a pouch. It can be used to quick marinate proteins. It comes with an extension hose used to seal plastic canisters of dry ingredients, or connect to marination "tubs." I got the bundle, which included packs of two sizes of mylar pouches. The machine itself comes with a sample pack of a small quantity of 3 different sizes of pouches. It's finished in stainless steel and black, has a heavy glass lid, and a heavy duty 6' 3 prong power cord. It's also furnished with a replacement chamber gasket and sealing bar. It's not small, at 14" W X 15" D X 9" H (with lid closed), and weighs 25 pounds. It could be left on a counter, under upper cabinets, but would have to used in the clear, to get the lid all the way open. The specification "height" shown in the listing of 3-½" is the height of inside the chamber. It has convenient grab handles on both sides. Also comes with a filler plate of foam rubber to use with smaller amounts of foods being sealed. A professional piece of gear!

I have not done many items yet but so far I am very impressed with the unit. It can handle decent sized items and gives a nice firm seal. We had a vacuum sealer before this and had trouble getting good airtight seals sometimes and it was very disappointing when I look at my fish filets and see frost and air gaps formed later. Chicken never froze well in them either. Looking forward to using this during our upcoming fishing season.

This is a great chamber sealer. I can seal items with liquids with no fear of liquid being vacuumed out into machine. It feels like quality and comes with an extra gasket and heat bar. It also comes with a filler which is very nice.The machine weights about 26 lbs and is actually easy to move since it has handles. The chamber is larger than most home chamber sealers which makes it nice for larger pieces of meat or poultry.I have yet to see if the bag is sealed with less air than my Nesco sealer, but it certainly isn’t more air - meaning at least as good. I was told altitude can affect this, so I may be getting as good as it gets in the Midwest :)Good suction power and good machine. No complaints.