Re: Snorkel vs foo saver

[Scott Mark]

Fast — “user discretion”.

This is one of the features I do NOT like: you set your vacuum according to time, not according to level of vacuum. I don’t know how this compares to other Vacmaster sealers or to other brands.

But, to me, time is not what matters – I would rather seal according to the level of vacuum.

My sealer allows you to select the vacuum time (default is 30 seconds) with a max of 60 seconds and a minimum — it doesn’t matter, because you can press the “Stop” button at any time and it will try to seal. Be forewarned – below a certain level of vacuum the pressure won’t push the seal bar tight enough and the seal won’t work. This is an EASY thing to manage. More if you want details. You can also adjust the seal time, to match your bag. I find that drybagsteak works with the maximum “9” setting for seal time. A lower setting might work.

I’d say that 30-40 seconds, plus seal time, plus repressurization – we’re talking 40 – 50 seconds in most cases. But it takes only 2-3 seconds to put the food bag in the chamber, position the neck of the bag, close the chamber and press the start button. Compared to the FoodSaver, sizing, cutting, and sealing one end of the bag… Placing the bag on the snorkel, adjusting everything for good airflow and good vacuum.

It’s certainly an investment — $500 – $600 in the USA. I’m very pleased with the return-on-investment. No more trying to vacuum-seal a piece of meat in a FoodSaver bag, only to watch the juices run up and into the FoodSaver before the air is all out. No more botched seals. I’ve had tons of problems with FoodSaver bags losing their seal in the freezer and allowing freezer burn.

There’s this one technique for FoodSaver that is something like “Leave yourself an extra foot of bag material, and hang the contents over the edge of the counter, and all the air will bubble up before the liquids start to rise.” — that technique might be effective, but I was paying about $1 USD per foot.

And, as I’ve mentioned, there are the fun tricks you can do with a chamber sealer.

As for noise – I think it’s comparable to a FoodSaver. I can surely carry on a conversation while it is running. I don’t know of an objective way to measure – if you have an objective way, I’ll see if I can do it.