Magic Vac - VD50PK2 - Vacuum Sealing Machine - 130W - Grey

Lowered the lid, pushed the levers down and it did not grip the bag. Discover the levers need to be pulled upwards slightly, then pushed down. Have the canisters but they don't hold the vacuum for long

No previous experience with vac pacs, but I did a lot of research and ended up with this. I read that Foodsaver used to be a part of a group who primarily imported Italian goods, but after near closure, they decided to switch to Chinese manufacture. So this Magic Vac is the "original" Italian quality Foodsaver if you like. It's on the pricey side, but is as near to professional quality of anything I've bought in recent times. OK, it only vac packs, but you can just feel the quality and solid build.I wanted a unit offering full control and I wasn't disappointed. As well as full manual, there are 3 "humid" options, and the more humid, the shorter the vac draw (to prevent liquid coming through), and the longer the seal (to evaporate any liquid in the seal). The other option is pump speed, and I must say that I've mostly used slow, and have found it very fast. Fast is really fast and is probably best suited to dry non-powder goods like beans or grain.Sold on the rubber seal idea (for longevity), I was a bit disappointed to find that only 1 of the 2 vacuum chamber seals are rubber, the one in the lid is foam. Compressed foam is often quoted as the reason for failure in cheaper models. Still, it has a "store" option, which doesn't compress the foam, so I'm expecting it will well outlast cheaper models. Opening the lid, which is heavy, can be a bit difficult; the whole unit lifts up, so you need to hold down the unit with one hand and lift the lid with the other, and then it can easily drop back down. When working quickly, I found it a bit annoying. Also the lid latch can be a bit tricky. The sealing strip adjusts sealing time depending on the temperature of the strip. I found that really good, finding initial use sealing time much longer than subsequent uses. The seal itself is quite wide with little risk of failure.The viewing window is good; it's good to be able to easily see if the bag is seated well in the vacuum chamber, but then I would expect that as a minimum, as it helps save bag costs by allowing you to just overlap the chamber with the bag. It comes with 5 20x30 bags, and a 20cmx6m roll. Don't forget to cut extra long bags from the roll. This way you can cut and reuse the same bag over and over again (at a push, you lose about 2cm per reseal). Even sous vide bags can be washed and reused.Bought in France and came with continental plug.