While wandering around Kohl's with Domestic 6 and "Juvenile (comma) Female (Comma) Two Each," I saw a FoodSaver model V2460, which Kohl's sells for $189 (and sells for $150 at Amazon). The sale was $99, and it came with more than enough plastic to practice the process and do some productive work. I also decided to buy a $40 set of rolls and pre-sized bags from Sam's Club while I was there today. That ought to keep my rolling for a while!
One benefit to this unit is counter appeal (clean and trim, with a glossy easy-clean finish). Females will appreciate the attention to finish, so it won't be relegated to the garage by demand (though it could be by choice). Another benefit is the effectiveness of the vacuum and seal. The one-button approach allows one to insert a bag and let the machine do the rest. A "seal only" button makes it possible to craft your own bags from their plastic. I found that I can very easily make two seal lines about 1/4" apart just because I like redundancy.
There are three negatives to this make/model, though none critical to me. First, the vacuum pump makes some noise; that may be unacceptable to some. How much noise? The volume is on par with a typical kitchen blender, but the sound is akin to my 1.5GAL hobby air compressor. It's not the TAPTAPTAP of a shop compressor, but more like a throaty growl. Second, contrary to manufacturer's claims, it does not perform adequately with damp materials. The manufacturer advertises acceptable performance with raw meats, for example, but tests with three types of fresh, cold, fairly dry meats today (pork ribs, bacon, and ground beef) all showed otherwise. This is not to say the machine won't vacuum seal meat; far from it. Rather, the machine performs best with frozen meat or bone-dry cuts. If the meat is damp at all, the vacuum pump simply leaves a little too much air in the bag for my taste. The third and final negative is the cord; it's far too short, and definitely suited to a kitchen counter top where an electrical outlet is within six inches or so. I wanted to use it at my kitchen table and had to find a small kitchen extension cord.
I had remarkable, television-quality results with two products. First, for practice, I sealed eight boxes of strike-on-box matches (32 count/ea); I even tossed a desiccant mini-bag on top of the boxes, beneath the plastic, before vacuum sealing. The result was astounding: the package looked bomb-proof! The second practice round was with a national-brand beef jerky in a one-pound bag. I opened the bag and separated the contents into three roughly equal portions. (This fits my 72-hour plan.) The vacuum-sealed jerky is sealed so tightly that the plastic looks 'glued' to it, and I couldn't bend the package without breaking the plastic!
Overall, I'm quite impressed. I can't believe I waited this long for something I'd say is a necessity for our mutual interests. As a side-note, the box claims a five-fold increase in expiration dates. I'm not certain that's completely accurate, but freezing bacon for five years sounds like an awfully good reason to own one of these.
