UPDATE at 5 months and 30 months -- (Still) far superior to all the other vacuum sealers I've owned
UPDATE at 5 months: After about 5 months the teflon covering on the heating element developed a small wrinkle, causing about 50% of the seals on larger bags to fail. I sent an email to the email address in the product documentation and received a reply several days later. The manufacturer-seller assured me that the unit has a 5 year warranty and I would be shipped a replacement. I received the replacement today. My 5 star rating still stands (maybe now 5 star plus?). Far superior product (in spite of the minor glitch) with a real warranty and great customer service.UPDATE at 30 months. Liked the first so well that I bought a second unit. Teflon heating element covering on both eventually started to bubble and come loose after thousands of repeated cycles. Found replacement Teflon tape on Amazon. 3/4" x 30' for less than $10 and restored both these units to full functioning. Very easy fix and both units still going strong.I have been using vacuum sealers daily for over 30 years. I always buy in bulk and repackage into the sized packages I'm most likely to use, including fresh meat. I've always fixed a weeks worth of meals for the family and vacuum sealed individual portions as well as leftovers. I do a big garden and freeze and vacuum seal much of the fruits and vegetables. I also homebrew and buy grains, hops, and yeast in bulk and vacuum seal them into package sizes that are most likely to be used in a batch. I've worn out at least 12 machines in the last 30 years, with most lasting two or three years at best. The most popular (and expensive) big box store brand seemed to wear out the soonest and I've tried most of the other popular retail brands. They all have their quirks. Most will only do a small number of consecutive seals before they overwork the motor or overheat (not good doing 50 pounds of grain, 80 ounces of hops, or several bushels of beans or peppers from the garden). Even if they have moist or gentle settings, very few will consistently and reliably seal bags that have moist or liquid contents (especially fresh meat) and having to freeze stuff ahead of time to seal it is a huge time consuming hassle. All the previous machines I've had required a lot of muscle and three hands to keep the bags aligned while the lid is pressed down evenly on each side. I've always felt I had to put a second seal on every bag just in case the first seal didn't really take (doubling the use/wear cycle of the machine). The VAKUMAR sealer is clearly superior in design and operation compared to all the other vacuum sealers I've owned. The one hand operation is effortless. I ran it for over 120 consecutive seals on brewers grains and hops and it didn't complain or get overly hot. The moist, liquid, and gentle settings really work well for fresh meats as well as pastas, sauces, and stews -- today I grilled, pulled, and sealed 5 pounds of juicy fresh chicken breast into 5 oz bags and every bag sealed and held the first time using the moist setting. The removable drip tray caught all the liquid sucked through during the vacuum cycle and cleaned up quick and easy. One of my favorite features is that the machine automatically double seals everything. It takes up a little more real estate on the counter than the other machines but not that much more. I'm not sure how long it will last but the design seems a lot more durable and sensible than other machines and if it actually lasts the full 5 year warranty it will have paid for itself several times over. I am not easily impressed but this machine gets 5 stars hands down.