Customer Reviews

Seal-A-Meal VS107 Vacuum Food Sealer, White

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

This vacuum sealer is amazing. Honestly it does take a few times of practicing to get it working just to your liking. I just butchered a 120 lbs of deer meat and I have never seen a vacuum sealer do this good of a job! My father owns a food saver and it crapped out on him after a week of the abuse that we usually put these things through.

I bought this item for the sole purpose of sealing in my garden vegetables, my venison(deer), beef that I get butchered, freshly caught fish and anything else that I would want preserved. I recommend using the rolls of bags as opposed to the precut bags as you have more control over the amount of storage space you get in a single bag. I have never seen this device seal a bag and not suck ALL of the air out of the bag. It takes a small amount of force to hold it closed until the hands free light comes on, any child over the age of 14 could operate this machine(honestly as hot as the sealing strip gets I wouldn't want a kid operating it anyway). I do not have any experience with the accessories as I don't use them, but, I cant recommend it enough, just have to be smarter than the machine is all...

Like one of the other reviewers, I'm suspicious about the three very negative reviews of the rival that I've seen to date. They do all seem like they could have been written by the same person.

I saw the Rival and the Foodsaver models both in Wal-Mart. I honestly couldn't tell much difference between the two brands except the price. The Foodsaver has more buttons, depending on the model. They're all plastic, but none of them seemed particularly fragile. Both the Foodsaver and Rival models advertise that they will work with each other's accessories and bags (as well as other models like one offered from Black and Decker.)

As for my actual experience. The base Rival model works great! I've only used it with bags so far. I don't have any other accessories like the canisters etc. However, I followed the directions, and it works fine. It sucks out all the air and seals the bags just like I'd expect it to. I'm not sure why I'd pay twice as much money for the Foodsaver brand. I guess we'll see how long it lasts.

There are a couple of differences between the smaller, cheaper Rival and the larger one I saw. The larger unit has a compartment that holds rolls of bags and has an integrated cutter that makes dispensing very convenient. I tried that feature out on the display model. It also has a locking bar on the side that holds the lid down without requiring your to apply constant pressure. Other than that, I couldn't see any differences between the Rival that costs $70 and the one that costs $40.

The Foodaver models do have more buttons. I saw buttons for "dry" or "moist" food as well as a "manual" button. On the other hand, the cheapest Foodsaver model cost $99 and change. The most expensive model ran to $138 but it did include some containers and more extra bags than the Rivals.

Overall, the Rival model seems to offer great value for the money, especially compared to the Foodsaver models.

The VS107 gadget, works fine. Just be sure to use the bags that came with it. Walmart carries extra bags and rolls of the plastic. Read the directions very carefully and don't over stuff the bags. Make sure that the open part of the bag is in the drip tray, not too much.

The one thing that is a minor problem is that it takes strong hands to hold the lid down until the hands free light comes on. A child could not do it. Then it will pump out the air and seal the bag quickly...

Meat is getting expensive. You must take advantage of sales. Beef will last over a year in the vac pack. My daughter has one and uses it all the time. She convinced me to get one..

Don't waste your money by trying to use Freezer baggies to store food long term.

I purchased mine from a local big box store and promptly went to work sealing many different items. It did a good job on most items (fruit, vegetables, meat) but it had a lot of trouble sealing custom made 4x8 inch bags of freshly ground coffee. The vacuum seemed to work well but it never went into the hands free or seal mode with the coffee. I am an electronics tech so I took it apart and made sure all of the vacuum connections were good, they were, and also checked that there were no visible obstructions in the hoses. I also removed and cleaned the gaskets and checked the operation of the vacuum pump. All looked well. Finally out of desperation, I wired a switch across the vacuum sensor to create a manual 'seal it now' function. Life is now good. The 4x8" bags of sealed coffee that I made weeks ago still have a nice tight seal. I can tell because the ground coffee gets compressed into something resembling a small brick and stays that way without any air in the bag.

Conclusion:
The build quality of this item looks good, it is definitely worth the asking price. However, vacuum is a bit of a funny thing, so do not expect this to work on each and every item out there (like my ground coffee). I had good results with most solid items like fruit, vegetables, and meats with the unit as purchased. "IF" your main goal is to seal mostly solid items, I would give this a 4+ star rating. Since the instruction manual did not make this too clear I am giving a 3 star rating.

More Info:
I have been mostly using 'FoodSaver' brand, roll bags, available at my local Wally-Mart. I have noticed that a better seal can be obtained by stopping the 'sealing' process after about 3 seconds (as mentioned in a previous review). If you let these bags go through the complete 'sealing' cycle, they will sometimes melt a little too much and not create a good seal. If you are sealing several bags, allow time for the heat bar to cool a little or else, just reduce the sealing time.
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I was debating between the Rival and the Foodsaver - similar models but the Foodsaver was twice as much money. So I went with the Seal-a-Meal. It took a few minutes to figure out how much pressure to apply to get it going to seal, but then it was a piece of cake! I buy the meat and my husband packages it for the freezer, and he's had no trouble with the Rival either. It's quick, it works well both with the bags and using the roll to make your own sized bags.

The only time he ever has a problem is if he cuts his own bag a little too small, then it's hard to get the edge of the bag over the sealing strip and into the drip tray. But that's just a matter of experience and prejudging how big to make the bag, not the fault of the machine.

The Rival always sucks all of the air out before sealing our bags - we've never had a problem. (But then again, I did read the directions first. :) I love all the nice vacuum packed packages of meat in our freezer - I can't wait to try it out with farm-fresh produce this summer! I'd definitely recommend this product.

I've had this product for nearly a year and it has never failed to do as advertised. This past weekend, our local grocery had a meat sale where we purchased over 100 lbs. of various beef, chicken and pork. In less than an hour, I had all of it sealed tight and in the freezer. I find that with most electric kitchen "gadgets" it is usually the user of the product, and not the product itself, on which problems should be blamed. If one reads and follows the instructions, the seal-a-meal will work wonders. It is fast and efficient and saves me loads of money and time.

I bought this today ($10 cheaper btw) at a local WM.

Works fine.

I suppose if you have to ship it back if it does not work that would be a pain, but the store is just round the corner, so if it goes wrong NP.

I dunno how you could possibly take 4 hours to seal three bags. It either seals in 20 seconds or it doesn't.

"Hands free" and "one touch" buttons? What are these other reviewers talking about? One doesn't exist, the other is an LED indicator.

And! What is this:
"Forget trying to make your own bags"
Who makes their own bags? I hope he is talking rolls, and not getting plastic wrap and improvising.

I think all 4 of the 1 star reviews are the same person.

The product is just fine for $40 or return if broke. And it works for me.

Ignored the negatives and chose this one on the goodiness (sic) of the good reviews and the price.

Wow. I get it.

I bought the 22 pack of 1 quart bags and wasn't sure if I'd be able to cut them in half to double my mileage.
I read the instructions (not long) and still wasn't sure that I had it but it worked great.

You just put the edge of the bag on the sealer to seal the cut side -- voila; later, when you go to vacuum the other side, you then want the open edge of the bag in the drip tray so the suction can happen. If you want sealing without suction on this side too, then steer clear of the drip. Wonderful.

Next, we'll see how this puppy works on the long-haul but out-of-the-box I'm loving it.

I have been very happy with my Seal a Meal VS107. It stopped working two weeks after the warranty ran out. Rival replaced the unit for me at no cost anyway. I like this product...customer service is pretty good too.

I picked up the Model V106 at Wallmart a few months ago. It appears quite similar to the VS107 on this product page, and if indeed it is a similar machine there are some caveats. The VS106 has a single activator button (and by the photo the VS107 seems the same). On my unit the vacuum pump runs whenever the machine is activated. Meaning, if you are simply trying to seal a bag (and not suck the air out, which is a routine process if you use the rolled bags), the pump will turn on needlessly. This will likely reduce its life. Next, I placed my unit into fairly heavy service right away, sealing a backlog of items and performing probably several hundred seals in a few weeks. After a while the actuator started to fail. I had to try several times to get the unit to turn on and seal. The more seals I do the harder it is to turn the unit on. I have to tap the lid really hard, or play simulated "conga drums" on it and finally the machine gets in the mood to work...until it ain't in the mood anymore. Also, I always have to cut short the amount of time the sealer operates after the vacuum has sucked all the air out. The sealer will actually melt the bag if I let it run the full time. Two or three seconds seems to work (using the factory seal-a-meal bags).

Having said that, the unit does apply a good vacuum, and indeed I have sealed a whole plethora of items. It's just that next time I will spend a bit more than the $49.95 Wallmart price. MOST IMPORTANTLY, KEEP YOUR RECEIPT no matter what you buy. Wallmart for example has a 90 day return policy, and if I hadn't lost my stupid receipt I could have swapped machines when mine starting acting up. Not sure about Amazon's policy.

Quick tip for newbies:
Always make TWO seals on each end of bag. Then if you get a bad seal you have a backup and the bag stays sealed without letting air in.