I bought this sealer in November 2016 after a very positive review on "a popular PBS American cooking show." ;-) Their comment was that this is a very serious and very powerful sealer. Indeed, it is both of those things. This sealer is well-made, and it is very powerful. Used correctly, it can really be helpful for sealing foods for storage in the freezer, in the refrigerator, or in the pantry. It seems to use Weston and FoodSaver bags equally well. That said, after about 18-24 months of use, I began noticing that it no longer drew air out from the bags very well. I see lots of other folks have had the same problem. The problem was intermittent: Early on when this started happening, when I first used the machine, it worked poorly and didn't "draw" at all; then after some attempts it would get better. But eventually the machine couldn't draw very well even after 10-15 minutes of attempts. At first I thought there were problems with the quality of the Weston bags (such as leaky edge seals), but that wasn't it. Upshot: This is a very powerful machine, and it does require a very, very good seal around the vacuum chamber. The foam gaskets (upper and lower) that seal the vacuum chamber DO smooth over and become less effective with time and use, and so they need to be replaced. Weston sells a kit for this, and it's also available other places as well (just beware and confirm whether the kit you're buying contains one set of seals or two for the price). After really being unhappy with the poor performance of my Weston sealer, I used this kit to replace the seals and the heater strip tape, and now my Weston sealer works like new once again. A clue that your machine needs new seals is that, after a sealing operation, you no longer hear the "PSSSSSSS" sound (or it's weak) of pressure being released before the loud beep. My machine had stopped making that sound, but it does once again now. While I wish that this periodic maintenance wasn't necessary (along with the cost, it takes maybe 20-30 minutes plus a steady hand to do the replacements) this machine is serious business and the seals probably work pretty hard. Here are some other things that I've found are helpful with this machine: 1. Please read the manual thoroughly ... it has lots of important tips. 2. Make sure that, when you're sealing the bottom of roll bags, the seam is clear with no ripples (hold it up to light to check). If you see any little ripples, do another seal just above/below the first one. Any ripples in the seam can eventually admit air (remember, this machine really makes a strong vacuum, so the heat seals need to be perfect to hold it). 3. For meat that has juices, put it on a plate and put it in the freezer for 30-45 minutes before sealing. You don't want to freeze the meat, you more want to freeze those juices so that the sealing process works better (and is less likely to make a mess). 4. Remember that some items (such as foods that are in opened plastic "shells") can have sharp edges that, when vacuum-sealed, can eventually cut a hole in the bag, losing the vacuum. Either be careful and use the Pulse method of sealing, so that the bag doesn't cling too firmly to things like sharp corners, or just remove those foods from the plastic shell. My Weston sealer still sounds quite good and works strongly, so I'm hoping for many more years of use, albeit with occasional replacement sets of seals.
