Vacmaster VP230 Chamber Vacuum Sealer

Quick answer: Buy it now. I bought at least 5 foodsavers over the years and so I could have bought one of these and saved money and frustration. Foodsaver is a fine product for what it is, cheap solution to do better than a ziploc. First consider that this can do all the foods a foodsaver can, several things it can't and also can do it much much better. I've yet to taste something frozen in this to have that freezer taste where it happened all the time in the foodsaver. 1/3 to 1/5 of foodsaver seals are immediately flawed and have to be redone. After freezing you will find another 1/5 to 1/10 of the bags to lose seal with a foodsaver. With this, that becomes 0. I literally have only had 1 bag mess up and I was trying to make it fail by being so sloppy until it failed...100% my fault. Other than that one, 100% success. Everyone looks at the price point and cringe. I did too. Hindsight is 20/20, I was wrong. You want to calculate the frustration rate of sealing problems, the slowness of it, the loss of product that didn't freeze properly, etc. Once you do that there is no contest, this machine does what you need and is a pure pleasure to use. It is overkill for most home use because you won't hit it with enough to challenge it. Even in Alaska I figure it can keep up with 4 people doing meat processing and 1 bag person. It is big and heavy so you probably won't be moving this around a lot. I bought a stainless table with wheels just in case I want to move it but it stays in one place. Just plan around it. Some processing makes this absolutely necessary though. If you want to do liquids, you need it. If you plan to process any bulk foods, wild game & fish then you need it. I have not compared it to other chamber vacuum sealers to compare but I can say it has never failed, everyone that ever sees it says it is amazing. Just realize the upfront cost seems much worse than it really is. A good foodsaver is like $200, this unit was $1350 I think. Is it worth 6x as much? Absolutely. Math will tell you that you need to process 1000 bags to recoup the upfront cost but I say it is much lower, like 200 bags. Why? Because your time is money. Satisfaction is money. Foodsaver is a lot of frustration that isn't as obvious as just price alone for the bags (which is a big difference). The biggest thing is quality of the seal, longevity of the storage because of the seal and user satisfaction.

So far so good! Functions as well as I hoped for the pump is still okay after 40-50 seals. It just doesn't like the lem texture bags in the sealing process unless you crank up the timer. It does work better than my lem 1000 doesn't leave any bubbles in the bags especially when you dip your cuts into cold water that allows the meat to slip into the bag so much easier. Nice to not have to worry about moisture getting in the pump like a edge sealer machine. Highly recommend it for the cost versus the cost of getting stuff processed and expecting to get your meat and not someone else's. Also it allows you to get several in the freezer and not worry about freezer burn so much.. I just bought the extra warranty to get the best years of use out of it that I can. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it so they say. It is very easy to set it up after you do the preliminary oil filling on the back of the machine it has a peephole that you can keep an eye on the oil quality and the level.

Bought the Vacmaster VP230 in June 2025. I have used it consistantly for almost 9 months with no problems. It is awesome! I seal at least 6 large bags of homemade dog food every month as well as our leftovers. I have never had fluid run out like I did in my previous chamber sealer. This may cost a bit more, but so worth it. It is heavy, but I put it on a cart so I don't have to move it to use it. I absolutely love this one!!

LIKE: The craftsmanship of this sealer is excellent. It wasn’t just slapped together. Quality parts were installed in the interior, with every wire & tubing being well placed and secured. The exterior materials are of quality workmanship. DISLIKE: It was advertised (both by Vacmaster & Amazon websites) that a maintenance kit is included with this product. One of the deciding factors of purchasing this product was with this included kit. I was disappointed to find out that wouldn’t be receiving the double sided tape & sealer tape, as confirmed with me by the manufacturer. For those of you who’ve had to order parts know that in these days it’s a good practice to have spare parts on hand You will have to purchase these separately and at this time if you check the Vacmaster owners manual/website, there isn’t a part number available yet. The screw driver included is a flathead and all of the screws on the unit are Phillips head. The Allen wrench included is too big for the sealer wire retention screws. Also- You will only receive 1- filler plate. Not-filler plates as indicated in their advertisements and owner manual. Overall this unit is working flawlessly and seals my product with ease. I am very pleased with the Vacmaster 230.

Works Great !