Product Review: FoodSaver Model 5200 vacuum sealer

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE! This is the worst designed piece of crap merchandise I have EVER seen in my life. For crying out loud, how could ANY engineer finish something like this and call it a completed project! What a joke! The sealer is elevated above the countertop so that you have to lift the item being sealed to get it level with the port or otherwise it won't vacuum out the air. But here's the kick in the arse! You also, at the same time, have to push the seal bar in that's underneath the bag. Okay, does that sound like impossible? Yeah, well get this ... you have to push the f(*&g bar in on both sides WITH BOTH HANDS. And not just push ... but PUSH HARD which requires chasing the machine across the countertop in the process. This is a two-man operation. My daughter bought this one last fall while I was in Montana because the other previous only slightly less screwed up model FoodSaver crapped out (after just three seasons of packing my goose sausage and pheasants). I bought an el-cheapo ZipLock vacuum sealer two years ago in Montana for 1/3 the price and it works wonderfully but it stays there. Never fails. The FoodSaver people can kiss my arse! This is a piece of sh*t!

Edit: I failed to mention the uniquely bizarre designed bag cutter/sealer at the bottom the machine (which necessitates holding the to be sealed items up off the counter). It's almost impossible to explain how it works, even with the image shown below. Very awkward almost backwards setup. About half the problem with this thing is the FoodSaver bags/rolls. Worst you can buy! ZipLock brand never fail to seal and are half the price. Unfortunately they're not that easy to find. FoodSaver has kind of a lock on this market. But they don't deserve it!

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Actually, my model is different than the one in the picture (though it's supposed to be same model #). The bar on mine has "push here" buttons on both sides of the sealing bar and the bag cutter is also different. Putting the start button on this pictured model in center of the bar directly underneath the bag to be sealed is the best evidence of engineering blunder I've yet encountered. The designer must have been a Ford Company reject.

[rock rat]

I go with cling wrap and then butcher paper. Low tech, cheap, nought to break. I've never had much luck with those sealer things, they break or won't suck with blood in the bag or something.
We never keep stuff longer than 2 years, never a problem with freezer burn or things getting old.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

I go with cling wrap and then butcher paper. Low tech, cheap, nought to break. I've never had much luck with those sealer things, they break or won't suck with blood in the bag or something.
We never keep stuff longer than 2 years, never a problem with freezer burn or things getting old.

Formerly I would wrap bloody meat in cling wrap then drop in a ziplock bag (zipper style) and suck the air out with a straw before closing it up. Works every bit as well as vacuum sealer I think. However, for pepperettes or smokies sausages that method doesn't work for obvious reasons. Can't get enough air out.

I stuff boned goose meat into 1+ liter milk bags (our milk here comes in bags instead of space wasting jugs). Those bags are tough and hold up well in freezer. Easy to stuff them full like a giant sausage and squeeze air out before tying off. When I get enough accumulated, it goes off to deli to be made into sausages.

[Guest]

Probably requires the user to be smarter than the machine he is attempting to utilize.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Probably requires the user to be smarter than the machine he is attempting to utilize.

To quote Shakespeare: "Get thyself to a trollery!"

[Guest]

Probably requires the user to be smarter than the machine he is attempting to utilize.

I think what you are misquoting is:"Get thee to a nunnery" Hamlet to Ophelia, Hamlet; Act 3, scene 1, O great phony of the Canajan wastes.

[rock rat]

Actually, my model is different than the one in the picture (though it's supposed to be same model #). The bar on mine has "push here" buttons on both sides of the sealing bar and the bag cutter is also different. Putting the start button on this pictured model in center of the bar directly underneath the bag to be sealed is the best evidence of engineering blunder I've yet encountered. The designer must have been a Ford Company reject.

Wonder who gave you a thumbs down. Probably an insecure Ford enthusiast.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Actually, my model is different than the one in the picture (though it's supposed to be same model #). The bar on mine has "push here" buttons on both sides of the sealing bar and the bag cutter is also different. Putting the start button on this pictured model in center of the bar directly underneath the bag to be sealed is the best evidence of engineering blunder I've yet encountered. The designer must have been a Ford Company reject.

Naw, just insecure. It's that troll crm30-06. He hunts my every post ... because it's the only thing that loser knows how to hunt. Obviously has no experience packaging wild meat. He's never shot any.

[jcarlin]

That is all weird. Mine is an older model that I can lay the bag flat on, the compression bar hinges on both sides and runs the full length on top, and once that's engaged I have a free hand to push buttons. My only gripe with it is it overheats if I'm working alone (which generally means I do all of my cutting trimming and grinding and bag at the end). If I'm doing small game or a few fish it's not an issue. I've turned deer into a family project where I cut, my son grinds, and my wife runs the sealer. At the speed with which bags get full it doesn't get too hot. That average of 30 seconds to a minute between bags arriving it can handle. Me having a stack of cuts and 15 lbs of ground to get put into 1 or 2lbs packages as fast as I can trim and fill bags is too fast for it.

[jcarlin]

I admit, the more I look at the picture I think that even with my small to medium sized hands having the bars and buttons beneath the package means I could steady the lip of the bag in the slot with my thumbs available underneath to easily reach the required buttons. Not working out in reality though?

[jhjimbo]

I go with cling wrap and then butcher paper. Low tech, cheap, nought to break. I've never had much luck with those sealer things, they break or won't suck with blood in the bag or something.
We never keep stuff longer than 2 years, never a problem with freezer burn or things getting old.

I drop in a piece of paper towel to absorb blood so the seal stays dry.

[jhjimbo]

Actually, my model is different than the one in the picture (though it's supposed to be same model #). The bar on mine has "push here" buttons on both sides of the sealing bar and the bag cutter is also different. Putting the start button on this pictured model in center of the bar directly underneath the bag to be sealed is the best evidence of engineering blunder I've yet encountered. The designer must have been a Ford Company reject.

Honk, I think your model review said it was designed and built in Canada.

[jhjimbo]

My Food Saver is model V3485 and it has been working perfectly for a few years.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

I admit, the more I look at the picture I think that even with my small to medium sized hands having the bars and buttons beneath the package means I could steady the lip of the bag in the slot with my thumbs available underneath to easily reach the required buttons. Not working out in reality though?

Nope. With the old style there was a locking mechanism on the side to hold the bags clamped shut while air was being sucked out readying for final seal. In this new one the sealer is supposed to come down and clamp shut automatically when the "start" bar is pushed. Big problem is you have to hold the bag in place to keep wrinkles from forming and wrecking the seal while at same time trying to push the bar in. Holding the bag in place requires thumbs and forefingers on both hands. That leaves zero appendages available to push the button! And as I said above, it's not just pushing the bar on both ends, it's PUSHING the bar with extreme emphasis. This amounts to pushing the gawdam lightweight contraption away from the bag that I'm trying to hold in position! Chasing the FoodSaver around on the counter ... and cursing like a muleskinner kicked in the private parts. My poor dogs ran and hid in the living room. Phoned my daughter and started screaming at her: "How the f(*&^k did you get this +&*^%ing thing to work." Required her and boyfriend working on it at same time. I finally stuck the heavy breadmaker behind it to stop it from running away and a bowl underneath the package to prop it up while sealing. No piece of freaking plastic is going to defeat me, by gawd. Finally got the job done. Sweet Jezus I was mad! Chinese junk! And I ain't talking about a boat either. Just wanted to make sure none of you had a stroke too. Except crm30-06. He definitely needs one of these. Heck, I'll send him mine. :-D