A lesson in how not to service your customers...

http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=61

I gotta think Foodsaver can't be the only ones on the low end personal use market that we can turn to. Would that I were in the states, I'd definitely be looking for an alternative about now.

Drat, bottom lined once again!

We went through this a couple of years ago; our second FoodSaver brand sealer in as many years gave up the ghost. We decided that spending money on yet a third consumer-grade non-repairable sealer was probably not a wise thing to do.

Instead, we bought a commercial-duty MiniPack "Best-Vac" sealer. It can actually be repaired, the company we bought it from stocks all the parts, and the thing works like a champ! It was a bit more expensive, but I think it was worth it.

BTW, embossed vacuum pack bags aren't "proprietary". You can buy the generic equivalents from Costco and Wal-Mart, amongst other places. They work perfectly well; in fact, the Wal-Mart brand seem to be a little tougher than the "name" brand bags.

-=[ Grant ]=-

You are correct about the material. However, I had less than great results in previous tries of alternative bags. <shrug>

The Ultra had worked well for me for many years.

Unfortunately, cash flow rules, so we end up dealing with less than the optimum solution. :-( We'll get there...

Does walmart offer a cheap alternative?

I saw a "seal a meal" brand vacuum packager at Walmart for $40 the other day.

I bought a Mini-Foodsaver there about 1-1/2 years ago. It worked well at first but now it seems like the seals leak after 1-2 months. IIRC it was $40.

Seal-A-Meal is now owned by the same parent company that bought Foodsaver

This is yet another reason we went with a commercial sealer. The consumer units have a narrow heating element which makes a thin little seal in the plastic. The commercial units have a sealing element that's twice as wide with adjustable heat settings - you will get a proper seal with whatever bag you're using, which is not always assured (as you've discovered) with a home unit.

(This may be the reason Doug had problems with different bag brands - I've noticed that some of them are thinner than others, so the narrow, cooler heating elements can still seal them. It also kind of "locks in" the user to that brand of bag.)

We used to frequently encounter compromised seals and ruined food with the old sealers; since switching to the commercial unit, we've had zero problems with any seals failing. The peace of mind alone is worth the price!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to speak with their product development folks about getting a 'doug ritter signature edition' foodsaver with all the features that suit your (and our) needs.

*wink wink nudge nudge say no more, eh?*