VacMaster PRO380 Suction Vacuum Sealer with Extended 16" Seal Bar

Awesome machine. I really enjoy the ability to manually set the vacuum pressure and sealing time. I've borrowed a family foodsaver a few times and it worked great but this machine definitely removes more air. I recommend the VacMaster brand rolls and bags to achieve the full vacuum of 27.5hg (I tried a generic brand and was only able to get up to a vacuum of 18hg - I could have tried others but I needed to be sealing asap). The 16" seal bar is a huge plus as I need to use the 15" bags for vacuum sealing large quantities and it works great (the photo shows 5lb9oz of chocolate callets/chips) - like others have mentioned it may take up to 20 seconds to seal the 15" bags but hey, it works! The storage container for rolls is another huge plus and can hold the 15" rolls. For some reason I didn't find the bags so easily when searching on amazon so here's the item names to search - for the 8" bags - VacMaster Full Mesh Suction Vacuum Sealer 8 Inch by 12 Inch Quart Bags- 50 Per Box ; for the 15" bags - VacMaster Full Mesh Suction Vacuum Sealer 15 Inch by 18 Inch Jumbo Bags- 30 Per Box . The bags are nice because you don't have to seal an one side before vacuuming and it's only a little more in price but for me for the convenience it's worth it. This machine is going to get a ton of use and I'm looking forward to it. Highly recommend!

I have nothing bad to say about the seller as they have not yet had a chance to help me. This review is only for the unit. The first one I ordered from another seller was damaged. I returned it for a refund and ordered from this seller. I have packaged under 20 bags with varying degrees of success. At first I figured it was learning curve and had a high rate of success although bags did not always seal and I had to cut another bag and retry, several times. I tried several different rolls in case it was the bags. They are brand name bags. Now I am trying to use this unit for packaging hiking food for a trip in 4 weeks, the food is cooked, dehydrated and ready to seal and now the unit will not go higher than 18psi so can not be sealed. It does not matter how many times I repackage, which rolls of plastic bag I use, I have looked at the gasket, it looks fine, it has been stored properly, it is clean. I am a scientist who works with vacuum, this is not rocket science. This machine does not work. I am in for about 1k for the equipment I bought for dehydrating and vacuum sealing and now one half of the investment is not working and I am not happy.

After wearing out 5-6 Foodsavers, I started to look for other alternatives. I settled on the VacMaster PRO380 since it is of commercial quality. Everything on this machine is made to where it can be replaced by the consumer and is not a disposal unit like the Foodsavers. Don't get me wrong, the Foodsavers are good little machines... They just aren't built to last more than 1 season or to be repaired. I use a vacuum/sealer a lot, so 1 season is about all I can get out of a Foodsaver.I have read some negative reviews, on the PRO380, where they got the "E02" error and it would not seal. This is caused by a broken plastic prong, attached to the vacuum lid, that activates the sealing mode when the lid is closed in the vac/seal position. It's just a safety feature to keep people from burning their fingers. This prong tends to get broken off during shipping.I received mine, in this condition, which produced the "E02" error on my machine. This can be easily be remedied by stuffing a piece of cardboard in that slot where the switch is, until ARY can mail you a replacement part. Their customer service was superb and mailed out the replacement part that day.It appears that the plastic prong gets broken during transit, which in my opinion could be addressed by better packing, such as taping the lid closed or blocking it open. Why it's plastic is a mystery... It should be metal.As a last note, it has a sealing strip that is 5mm wide... That's 2 times wider than the strip on my Foodsaver and the seal time is adjustable from, .5sec all the way up to 6sec. Mine came set at 2.0sec, but I moved it up to 3.0sec, to get a little better seal in case any liquid is present in the seal.

i purchased this with great anticipation as i go through these machines every one or two years. So it arrived and i set it up and tried to seal a bag, got a E02 error message. this means it will not go into sealing mode. The sealing strip will not even get warm. There is no customer service on weekends, so if you get one make sure you set up in the weekday. I would not expect a 400$ machine to not work out of the box. So i will try to get a hold of them later and we will see what happens. But to have an error code in troubleshooting and then say the lid must be closed as a solution is so lame. Has anyone tried to seal or vacuum with the lid Open. Is that the only cause for this code? This company is supposed to have good ratings, but so far am not impressed with their product. i was able to contact the manufacturer and diagnosed the problem, just like the other reviewer the plastic prong was broken. So after that was replaced, it worked. They should make this out of metal not plastic, when the lid closes it tells the machine the lid is closed. when it breaks the machine is dead. The seal is twice as wide as a Foodsaver, and you can adjust the seal time if you are dealing with thick bags. You have to hold the lid down while vacuuming and sealing otherwise it will not vacuum and seal. So there are some drawbacks to this machine compared to the Foodsavers, but it appears to be much stronger and better built In my experience no machine vacuums wet foods well. i have sealed hundreds of salmon steaks and wound up using a bath towel to get them dry. it you spend the time doing this you will wind up with leas seal failure and freezer burn. I would recommend testing whatever bags you are using to get the perfect seal. i will update after a few months use, but for now it works well and has a lot of nice features.

Buttons a little touchy, have to open lid everything to pull more bag out. Overall function is good.

Had a vacuum sealer before. This unit makes the other one look like a joke.

I juste bought onre and i try it only 5 minutes before i have to shipped back......Look like build for a commercial use but the common problem that i found on the internet is the small plastic pin on the lid ( swith to vacuum) was broke during the shipping....Everything on the machine is heavy duty but.....Beware of the plastic pin on the lid!