First attempt….kinda disappointed

The one part of your post that I forgot a reply was the model of Food Saver. Yes, the “smarter” it is then the more likely your sealing effort will be a hassle. That is part of the reason I have kept my oldest one handy. It is an ancient model 1050 which has a manual sealing override as well as a choice of 3 or 5 second sealing time.
Ron