are the commercial grade vacum sealers sold at cabelas or LEM worth the xtra $ ?

Are they that much better than the cheap foodsaver machine that I am currently using

I have wondered the same thing also. I have been through about four of the foodsavers and I do not do a ton of sealing.
Monthly butcher shop visit is probably 15 bags sealed and then one or two deer.
Mine will either just keep pumping or will not vacuum down good.

I usually buy them with a 40-50% off deal from Foodsaver. I would be nervous putting three times the money into one unless it had a long warranty.

I think it's better to have two of them if your going to use them a lot. They get hot then you have to let them cool down. We have tryed the cheap ones and the high dollar ones and they all do it.

Good tip 4 point.....I just got one I'll have to keep that in mind

i have had a foodsaver for about 4 years.I have had really good luck with it ,fortunate this year to bring 4 deer home ,used it on all the meat and it worked good.

We bought the middle of the road food vacuum sealer. It was the best investment we've made in a long time.

I have used the cheap food savers before and didnt like them, they always got air in them over time, I seem to get less freezer burn from just wrapping in paper.
but I did go to alaska fishing and came back with 75 pounds of salmon and halibut and the lodge I was at vacume sealed my fish with one of the proffesional sealers from cabelas (I asked them) and it worked GOOD some of this fish has been in my freezer since summer of 2011 and its still good and free of freezer burn and all the packages are sealed tight.

I have a decent one from Foodsaver, but have gone back to wrapping in freezer paper. The cost of the bags is significant and I have used freezer paper forever, so it just seems easier for me to wrap it. I nover have any freezer burn problem and have had meat for 2-3 years in the freezer with freezer paper.

anyone familiar with the Weston Pro 2300 model?

If it is a Cabela's brand, it will have a good warranty.  If you use it a lot, it will likely be worth it.  If you process one or two deer a year and don't use it for much else, I would probably buy cheaper.

I bought a foodsaver at the local fair in 1989. It's still running.

For what it's worth.  I wrap meat in plastic wrap then a layer of freezer paper. I never have meat get freezer burned.

QuoteOriginally posted by KevO:
For what it's worth.  I wrap meat in plastic wrap then a layer of freezer paper. I never have meat get freezer burned.

x2    

I owned and operated a Game Processing facility for 20 yrs and I kept my vacuum sealer after I sold off all of my equipment. I paid around $2500.00 for it. Since I live on a farm there is always something to can or "put up". Sealers are THE BEST for preserving foods of all kinds.
David

Tip: if you want to vac pac whole turkeys - we have been using comercial grade garbage bags and shop vac for years. Just suck all air our and use electrical tie - works like a charm. We have a high grade cabelas vac pac but finding bags to fit whole bird is hard.

I have the food saver game saver deluxe.  It works great and have sealed everything for two years with it now.  I use it all summer for fish and with all the hunting I do it gets alot of use.  
 I have noticed you do have to take your time sealing of you have alot of stuff so it can cool down like mentioned above.  A  friend has the pro model and mine does the same thing and just as well.  I think the bigger models just put more through a little quicker but they still get hot and you have to wait.

When using our food saver we:

Pre- freeze the meat for two hours on a cookie tray.  When you vacuum seal the meat it stays solid and does flatten out.

Put the burger in 1# butter tubs then dump on a cookie sheet and open freeze for 2 hours.  Keeps the burger in the form of the butter tube and not flatten out.

We also vacuum seal other food stuffs such as coffee, noodles, sugar etc.

My family goes through game meat so quick no sense in vac packing. I have thought about getting one for other reasons, dried foods, animal vitamins, TP for the back pack, etc etc.