The Best Vacuum Sealer - Throwdown! | The Best Chamber and Best External Sealers Go Head To Head

there's no shortage of vacuum sealers on the market today but how do we know which one is the right one for us we're taking the guesswork out of it by running eight different models through a series of tests and it starts right now [Music] I'm David Gafford and here at the barbecue lab we help you grow more confident in your backyard barbecue and the vacuum sealer plays an important role in what we do now I'm pretty sure that like us you cook briskets and pork butts to feed a crowd and the vacuum sealer is like magic for leftovers and freezing grilled and Smoked Meats now they come with a price tag as low as fifty dollars and can range well into the thousands of dollars so we're doing the testing for you so you can decide which unit is right for your budget it's important to note that there are two categories of vacuum sealers the external kind like you see in most big box stores across the United States and chamber vax now the external vacuum sealers clamp around a bag and suck the air out chamber vacuum sealers actually have a chamber where you put the bag inside and it pulls all of the air out of the entire chamber now there are benefits to each and we'll cover those along with things like how loud they are when they're in operation or how much air stays in the bag when you're sealing what are the size measurements convenience features and just so much more but here's how the tests will go each unit will go through the exact same test measured out by weight for the items will be sealing now we'll also vacuum seal value size packages of meat into the perfect size for family dinner we'll take chopped brisket and we'll seal it up to see how these things handle wet Foods now we'll put chapter markers below if there's a section that's a particular interest but let's meet the contenders the gerion external sealer is currently selling for 50.99 it weighs three and a half pounds and measures about 14 and a half by almost six inches by just a little over three inches tall now we realize that prices change all the time so for every one of these products we have a link in the description below where you can find the best price as well as multiple places where you can make a purchase now the Nesco Deluxe vs12 is next currently selling for about a hundred and twenty dollars it weighs 10 pounds and measures Seventeen by Fifteen by nine inches now next we have the VAC Master Pro 360 external vacuum sealer that's currently selling for 270 dollars it weighs 16 pounds and it measures a little over 19 inches by about 11 and a half inches by six inches tall the most expensive of the external vacuum sealers is the meat 16 inch external sealer selling for just shy of three hundred dollars it weighs not quite 12 pounds and measures 19 and a half inches by almost 12 inches by just a little over six inches now the external unit that we've been using for years now is this FoodSaver unit but it's not available anymore so to save you the frustration of testing a model that you can't even buy we're leaving this one out of the tests now as we move into the chamber vacuum sealers you'll notice a price and a size jump the Vivir dz260a is by far the least expensive of this Bunch selling for 380 dollars it weighs almost 49 pounds and measures 16 inches by 12 and a half inches by right around 12 inches tall the VAC Master vp95 is next and is currently selling for 525 dollars it weighs almost 43 pounds and measures 11 inches by 16 inches by about 9 inches tall now the meat chamber vacuum sealer comes in next selling for just shy of 800 it weighs 65 pounds and measures not quite 17 inches by 14 inches by 14 inches and finally we have the VAC Master vp230 currently selling for 1 249 it weighs 89 pounds and measures 15 and a half by 19 by not quite 16 inches now since a vacuum sealer isn't traditionally a unit that stays on the kitchen counter all the time size and portability matter now I know that ours is traditionally stored in the pantry and pulled out when we have meat to seal so we've had a model that was lightweight here around the house now the external vacs have a marked Advantage if you're going to move them around a bunch the garion and the Nesco are both very portable and get a 10 out of 10 for ease of use and portability the meat and Vac Master external both get a nine for their portability as they have a much larger footprint but still weigh between 10 and 15 pounds now the chamber vacs are much less portable due to weight and take up more countertop real estate the smallest form factor is the VAC Master vs95 but still weighs 42 pounds it's like moving a 40 pound bag of softener salt when you move it though so it's a 7 out of 10 for portability and space considerations the Vivir comes in next with a 6 out of 10. and the meat chamber vacuum sealer after that with about a four out of 10 and the VAC master vp230 in last place with the two out of 10. now for the meat and the VAC Master these chamber racks they just aren't meant to move around much they're meant for long-term applications like restaurants or being set up in the garage by hunters processing their kill so it's no surprise that they don't score well on portability and form factor so next let's tackle one of my favorite uses for vacuum sealers packaging up leftover barbecue now I want to start with my favorite barbecue secret that's only talked about in hush tones in dark corners of barbecue competitions pit Masters in the know are cooking their barbecue Meats a day or two before an event vacuum sealing the meat and then reheating things in a sous-vide it's heresy right that you have to cook barbecue the day of the event or it won't taste the same well all I have to say is that I have fooled plenty of people by cooking vacuum sealing and reheating Meats for large events here at the lab and nobody was any the wiser so Secret's out now let's see how these units do with some juicy brisket the garyon unit did a respectable job sealing the brisket before the juice got to the seal only leaving a few small air bubbles in the bag we used the moist button and it sealed with all the liquid staying below the seal line a score of eight for Gary on the Nesco performed a tighter seal than the gerion but also had some liquids sneak above the seal line before it sealed the seal stayed intact though so a successful seal for Nesco let's give that a 7 out of 10. the meat external performed a tighter seal than either of the bottles tested prior and with plenty of customization modes to really dial in the level of seal that you're looking for a score of nine for that one now the VAC Master 360 did a great job as well and I couldn't tell much of a difference between the meat and the VAC Master for this test so a 9 for the 360 external as well now onto the chamber backs and they all performed flawlessly a 10 for all of them in this round and here's what the final product looked like for each remember this is chopped beef brisket that we had just finished cooking this day sealed up in vacuum seal bags that was just juicy as I'll get at now unlike importability ceiling moist Foods is where the chamber vacs really dominate where the smaller more portable units tend to show their limitations marinating proteins like chicken breasts and thighs is another thing I love to do in barbecue and I used to use zip top bags for the job until I learned that vacuum sealers were the best way to expedite the marinade process in the process of taking out all of the air from the bag you're helping the food and marinade cozy up together for full coverage now there's also the benefit of opening the pores of the food in the vacuum and allowing the marinade to penetrate deeper into the meat more quickly now while some of these units have marinade buttons those are designed to work with canisters on the external side so when marinating in bags it's recommended by the manufacturers to use the pulse button to stop the liquid from entering the machine now the garion needed some intervention to seal a marinade as the moist function kept pulling liquid into the seal and we just couldn't get a good seal so we'll score that a two for only kind of being able to make it happen now the Nesco had the same trouble keeping the liquid out of the seal but it did give give us a better seal and while not still completely airtight we'll go ahead and give it a score of three for the Nesco for the meat external vac we got a great seal on the chicken even though some liquid snuck past the seal bar but we were left with some air pockets in the bag since liquid reached the seal first now not as important for a marinade session but we want to watch that on the longer term tests designed for the freezer we'll go ahead and give it a score of five for the meat external now on the VAC Master 360 I went longer than any of the others and pulled liquid into the seal bar wondering if the Dual seal would be able to work through that moisture now there were bubbles in the seal because of all the liquid but it was still airtight even pulling liquid past the seal bar we still had some air left in the bag so a score of five for the 360. now the difference between external vax and the Chamber models is profound in this test the viver scored the lowest of the chamber vacs nailing the seal on the bag but still leaving some air sealed inside which was surprising so a score of seven for the Viva unit in this test now the VAC master vp95 was perfect no air left in the bag and a perfect seal a score of 10 for the vp95 the meat chamber vac gave us a perfect seal but we found one tiny air bubble in the package so it's a score of nine for the meat chamber back on this test now the VAC Master 230 unit was Flawless as well in this test perfect seal and no air left in the bag so 10 out of 10. again this is a no contest category for the chamber backs but we're really pushing the limits on the less expensive external vacuum sealers here with this task now for the third test we're taking a 10 pound chub of ground beef from our local membership club and repackaging it in single meal servings now when we seal up ground beef we measure it out using our handy dandy scale and then flatten it into the bag so it will store or well in the freezer Melissa likes to use a rolling pin or use her hands to flatten the meat in the bags before they're sealed and they stack very easily in our freezer organizers so we can keep up with what's in the freezer for meal prep ground beef isn't as wet as leftover brisket or marinated Meats so here's how the test went for each one the garion unit was almost perfect just leaving a small air pocket in one of the bottom corners 9 out of 10 for this test the Nesco sealed well but left us with a couple of air pockets for an 8 out of 10 on the ground beef test the meat external gets a 9 out of 10 as well for a perfect seal and just a tiny air pocket left in one of the corners and the VAC Master 360 gets a 9 out of 10 for guess what yeah you guessed it some air pockets left in the bottom corner of the bag now if you want to completely eliminate this happening to you with an external back just make sure you're pressing the bag contents into the corners before you seal them up and you can take this out of the equation now for the chamber vax the beaver gets a nine for a robust seal and one of the tiniest air pockets we've found during a test the vp95 gets a 10 for no visible air pockets and a perfect seal the advantage that these chamber vacs have is that the chamber being held in a vacuum Puffs out the bag during the process eliminating all of the air even down and into the corners the meat chamber vac gets a 10 out of 10 for zero air bubbles and a perfect seal and the vp230 Chamber vac Aces it as well for a perfect 10 out of 10 on this test around me is really what most of these sealers are created to do and we've seen that they all do a pretty good job with this task with minimal difference in performance cleaning is another category that's important to me with vacuum sealers I want sealed raw fish and didn't clean the drip tray in a vacuum sealer and that was the first and hopefully last time that will slip my mind now there's not a ton of cleaning with the external vacuum sealers but the drip tray is the most important the removable trays are the easiest to clean and here's what they look like in the models in this test the gerion unit separates the top and bottom portions of the sealer to make cleaning easier the electronics are left in the top part and the bottom where any mess is can be hand washed now to clean the Nesco you'll need to use a cloth or sponge since there's no removable tray or other cleaning considerations the meat external vac has a removable tray to make cleaning easy and it is indeed simple with the meat back now the VAC Master doesn't have a removable tray and needs a cloth as well to mop things up now for the chamber vacuum sealers cleaning is a different story in most cases the air that's being pulled out of the chamber is being evacuated through the internals of the unit so you're pushing potential contaminants into the circuit boards and Machinery cleaning means that you'll need to take off a panel to get on the end side which is just a few screws you'll need to take off just like what's needed when the oil is changed every year or so now all of the vacuum sealers operate this way so it's just something to be aware of if you're looking at a chamber unit now one important thing to note about each of these vacuum sealers is that there's a good amount of Sound volume when they're in operation I downloaded a decibel meter on my phone to see how loud each got while in use and I'll let you take a listen to each model during testing foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] generally we notice that the chamber vacuum sealers all operated more quietly than the external ones with quick little bursts of louder sounds toward the end of the cycle one of the things that we found that made it harder to conduct this testing was the helpfulness of the included manuals some were more helpful than others and starting with the garion unit it gets a 10 out of 10 for having all of the instructions we needed and it read like it was written by a native English speaker the Nesco also gets a 10 for its use of plain English and it answered all the questions that we had the VAC Master Pro 360 gets a 9 out of 10. it was clearly written but it left us with a few questions on how the mini buttons and functions worked the meat external gets a 10 out of 10 for many helpful diagrams and descriptive instructions that didn't leave us with any questions on the chamber vacuum side the Viva manual was a challenge to put it mildly it doesn't appear to be written by a native English speaker and the instruction are incredibly basic and left out a lot of questions that we didn't have answers to so a 5 out of 10 for Beaver here the VP 95 is probably the most fully featured unit in this testing group and with such a rich feature set comes questions the manual answered some but not all so an 8 out of 10 for the VAC Master on this round the meat chamber vac gets a 10 out of 10 for a manual that made operation easy and answering all of our questions on how to use things the VAC Master 230 chamber vac it's a 9 out of 10 for being rather instructive but still leaving us with a few operational questions in summary the external vacuum sealers are more straightforward and the manuals mostly covered what we needed to know to operate them correctly now chamber vacs operate quite differently and there's a significant amount of trial and error that can go into getting the settings dialed in just right for each job and those manuals didn't all cover that topic equally now I want to give you my final thoughts on each of these vacuum sealers and will go from lowest to highest price the garion has a 12 inch ceiling bar and the sealing mechanism is a single seal line there's a bag cutter with no storage for bags and there's an accessory port for working with canisters the locking mechanism must be locked in order for you to use it and you must press down on both sides to engage those locks now it disassembles for cleaning but when I go to put the two halves back together again it's finicky trying to get it back together it does a fair job for the price point the Nesco Deluxe vs12 has just short of a 12 inch seal bar and it gives you the option of a single or double seal for most Foods now there's bag storage and a bag cutter so you can keep a roll of bags in the unit between uses unit locks by rotating the handle down and locking it for use which is unlike any others that we tested it works with canisters using a tube attachment and there are three ceiling modes and two pressure modes for customization this unit adds quite a few more bells and whistles than the gerion but it more than double the price the vacmaster pro 360 is more than double the price of the Nesco but can also seal 16 inch wide bags to the nesco's 12-inch bags now I really like the clear see-through lid which is a standout in the external vacuum sealer space I like seeing what's happening with the liquid levels as I'm trying to pull seal wet ingredients and this helped immensely now there's also an accessory Port as well as two modes for suction and two modes for food giving you some customization there's bag storage and a cutter built in and it's also good to note that there's a fan that runs whenever it's powered on and active which adds noise to the room in between seals the meat 16 inch external is thirty dollars more than the VAC Master at the time of this video and it boasts many of the same qualifications it conceals 16 inch wide bags with a single seal and it has three preset vac levels plus it's fully adjustable between these settings now there's bag storage and a bag cutter and an accessory port to work with canisters now like the VAC Master there's always a fan going whenever it's powered on so it's a little louder than the others the meat external vac does come with a lifetime warranty setting it apart from the rest of the group that come with a one to two year warranty now moving on to the chamber vax the Viva dz260a has has a 10 inch single seal bar but the seal is really large at eight millimeters wide there's a swing away bar that can hold the bag in place when you close the unit and that gave me peace of mind when we were sealing bone broth and other liquids now there's a manual adjustment of the VAC time seal time and cooling time and it's notable that there's no auto lift on the top when sealing is done and it's the only unit we tested without that feature now one last thing is that after two months there's still a factory smell like grease or oil that comes from the unit now oftentimes units may come with a greasy smell from the factory but they usually fade but this one hasn't as of yet the VAC Master vp95 is the tech nerd of the bunch because it has such an amazing feature set it has a double seal that's nine and a quarter inches wide and it's the perfect size for portioning foods for later use it isn't the vacuum sealer I choose to process a whole deer but for work around the kitchen and here at the lab it's been the one that Melissa reaches for the most it has an auto lift top and countless customization options for dialing in your ceiling sessions now it comes with a removable incline plate to make it easier to seal liquids and an accessory hose port for external canisters the meat chamber vac is about 250 more than the vp95 at the time of this video and it comes with a limited lifetime warranty which is rare in these units most will come with a one year warranty but a lifetime warranty is a standout feature it will seal a 12 inch bag with a double seal and I'm a big fan now there's more than a few times that a double seal saved me from a mess as I was learning these units it comes with an auto lift top and a built-in bag clip to hold the end of the bag in place until the seal is finished you can really dial in the settings for vacuum time seal time and rest time so if you're sealing many of the same foods during a session you can really dial in what works and just leave it there now the unit does beep rather loudly three times when each seal is finished so you can't miss when a cycle is done now last but not least with the VAC Master vp230 weighing in at a whopping 89 pounds and it's 450 dollars more than the meat chamber back it comes with a one year warranty and will double seal a 12 inch bag it has an auto lift top and comes with a removable filler plate when you're not sealing large items now it's hard for me to explain just how big this monster is but when you take a look at the meat chamber and the vp230 side by side you can see the difference the vp230 would be perfect for a hunting cabin or in the kitchen of a restaurant it comes the closest to an industrial chamber vacuum sealer as any that we have in our testing group and it's big enough for any task that I've thrown at it now after all of the learning and testing and testing again I walked away with one primary thought it is a great time to be a consumer looking for a vacuum sealer now no matter your price range there are good options out there I didn't find a single sealer in this test that I didn't feel like I could use in my home and that's saying something in the age of cheap products easily found online now I know we couldn't test every unit on the market but for these eight they did what we asked of them and I think they'll do the same for you so if you want the best performance go with a chamber vac if you want to spend hundreds of less and the occasional air pocket is okay with you there's some great external options available so before we go I'll give you my final thoughts on which sealers are best for what Gary on is the best compact option for users with a limited amount of space the Nesco is our pick for best overall because it gets most of the jobs done well and at an affordable price now if you're a hunter the meat external would be ideal for you with the 16 inch wide seal even the largest cuts of meat would be no problem to preserve now if you want to take your home vacuum sealing to the next level we ranked the vp360 as the best home professional unit now the beaver came in as the best budget chamber vac and the vp95 is the most versatile of the group now with a lifetime warranty the meat chamber vac is the last vacuum sealer that you'll really ever need to buy and finally the vp230 is the best professional for those of you whose vacuum sealing needs are extending outside of the home and into more of a restaurant or catering scenario now prices change but we're always keeping track of the best vacuum sealers on our website at the barbecue lab forward slash best vacuum sealer and you can find out more information on these and others as well as find the link for each of these on the site now there's also a link in the description below with a couple of online stores where you can check the price on each of these and make a purchase if you're so inclined now your purchase using these links will support our Channel and help us keep making videos just like this one now is there a vacuum sealer that you wish we added to the mix leave us a comment down below and you never know what might pop up in the next round of these tests I'm David gaffer with the barbecue lab I want to say thanks so much for watching and I can't wait to see you next time [Music]

Channel: The Barbecue Lab

Views: 285,406

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Id: r8tnmoUvzus

Length: 25min 23sec (1523 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 04 2023