Avid Armor Vacuum Sealer Machine - A100 Stainless Construction, Clear Lid, Commercial Double Piston Pump Heavy Duty 12 Wide Seal Bar Built in Cooling Fan Includes 30 Pre-cut Bags and Accessory Hose

I take an annual trip to Alaska to fish for Coho salmon along the Prince William Sound and have used local canneries, Food Saver vacuum sealers and others “kitchen” vacuum sealers to safely vac seal my salmon prior to freezing and have always been unhappy with the cost of sealing with the canneries, the result of sealing by myself with a kitchen sealer and most importantly the time it takes to seal my catch myself (two fish filleted into 6 steaks would take ~15-20 minutes). The other kitchen vacuum sealers are cheap feeling, time out easily after running continuously (and you’d have to wait 2-3 minutes between seals), would not recognize when a bag was inserted to be sealed, or would just stop working at all which led me to find a better solution. The Avid Armor A100 is the solution. While I’ll caveat I have not put it through the TRUE paces yet, I’ve successfully vacuum sealed 5 bags back to back (with 20s breaks between per instructions) without the seal heating element overheating which is more than I can say for the cheaper alternatives. Rest assured during my time in Alaska this upcoming summer I will be using this sealer to its practical limits. I am also very excited about the external hose attachment and vacuum seal canisters that Avid Armor also sells as it allows me to vacuum seal 4oz speciality mason jars which I fully intend to use to bring back cured salmon roe (caviar) this year. I intend to make gifts of the caviar and it was important to me that the mason jars be small serving sizes (who wants to eat a regular size mason jar worth of caviar in 2-3 days after opening? That can’t be healthy). The combination of the A100, a strong and portable vacuum seal, and the Avid Armor vac seal canisters will make bringing back the caviar possible. I am particularly excited that Avid Armor included extra foam seals and an extra heating element for the A100 as it will allow me to service the sealer should anything bad happen when I am in Alaska instead of being stuck there without the replacement parts I am most likely to need should anything go wrong. While it may be a bit early to say this sealer is the ticket, I feel very good about my odds as compared to the alternatives I have tried. Will also note that Avid Armor offers a 2-year extended warranty for leaving an honest review, which is not the sole motivation of my review but a welcomed bonus nonetheless. I also appreciate that the company welcomes an honest review as quite frankly many Amazon businesses only offer perks for positive reviews. I am a proud patron of Avid Armor and hope to return after my trip to Alaska this summer with some end result pictures of the salmon and caviar!

Dislikes: 1. The suction tube attachment. BUT, I think it is just me and the particular equipment I have, I cannot get it to work. But again, I think that is with my current accessories I have. Likes: 1. This has Great Suction. It could be a "little" better, but overall, it has GREAT suction. It outperforms 60.00 to 150.00 models. 2. Sealing: I can't think it could get better. You have the option to set the "sealing" time. This is perfect depending on what bags you are using. You can set it longer or shorter. I found initially I set it to high, and the seal melted though. I put it on like 9 seconds. then I tried 1 second, and the seal broke. It did not fully seal. BUT, with the bags I have now, a 2-3 seconds is PERFECT. 3. Juice Tray. Initially, I did not put any marinade in the bags. I tried it with Goya Mojo tonight after several months. It did not suck ALOT of the juices out, and what it did, it deposited in the reservoir. 4. Ease of Use. Until today, I was doing only meat and no marinade. You just out it in the bag, put the bag in, close it, press it, and hit start. It detects if it is sealing or not. And as long as it is, it sucks out the air, Seals it (According to your specifications) and then waits and does a beep when it is ready and sealed. So, overall, I first purchased an ABOX sealer. It was about 50.00. the main reason I wanted a sealer was for Sous Vide. I used this one like 3 times. EVERY TIME, it was a pain to "SNAP" it closed, just to get it to run, and the seal was ok. The problem with this OK seal was, it still did not suction out all the air, so it was not really sealed, even with this "semi" Seal. I read alot more reviews after this, and settled on the AVID, as quality and cost effective. there are better ones out there. MUCH better, but 3 times the 299.00 price. I got my Avid on 09/24/2019, and until today, have used it for mainly a family pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts every two weeks. Today, 01/01/2020, I REALLY put it to the test. I sealed (All with Goya Mojo): 20 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts 10 lbs of Bone in Pork Chops 15 lbs of Flank Steak, The CATS went CRAZY as soon as I opened the chicken. (Never thought cats would go for raw chicken! But all three of them go nuts every time I use this machine!. They are not even afraid of the loud sound, they are nuts over the chicken smell!!! Well, either with or without cats. I opened the meat, washed the mean, and got it ready, then just put each piece in the bag. After it was bagged, and had the mojo poured in, it was so routine, Basically, Place it and seal it. It could not have been easier. Took me abut 45 minutes to open, wash, marinate, and seal 45 lbs of meat. I am not a "restaurant" level user. Maybe I am a bit more than a regular home user, BUT, this product fits the bill. I would buy another tomorrow if this one died today,

Received my Avid Vacuum Sealer today and am happy to say I'm impressed it seems to be a well built and functions flawless. Was also happy to see the warranty is for three years not one and that STXInternational are the sellers. The packaging was simple and protective the contents had been inspected before shipping and complete no surprises then sealed with tamper tape to refuse if broken, a nice touch if you have ever gotten a incomplete returned item. The sealer is both simple to use and simple in design very much like the higher priced commercial sealers out there at a modest price that is in line with the other home sealers. There are no locking arms to break or small pins that fit in a hole and cause trouble on the vacuum door just a simple switch at the back of the door that should last forever as for the door it is as heavy as it looks in the picture. The actual dimensions are 15.25 in wide X 11 in deep X 4.5 in high so it does have a large footprint on your counter and it will do up to a 12 inch bag and does have a wide seal (about double my old foodsaver ) and I had to lower mine to the #2 setting so it does it's job. Now as for vacuum it is great packed meat, nuts, vegetables, and light plastic containers to test the pulse setting and everything passed with flying colors nice tight bags with wide seals don't know what else you could ask for. I admit to being picky and spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I needed that 15in commercial sealer and while I found these sealers under a different name in other countries I never found a bad review and after using it can understand why it is simple, well made, substantial (not plastic) and works great at half the cost. 08/18/2017 Spoke with the owner of Avid Armor and was informed somehow I had gotten a unit for STX and that is how I had a 3year Warranty card in my owners manual. Sorry if this has caused any confusion I was only able to go by what I received in the box . I still feel this is a bargain and have no regrets on purchasing this sealer

We purchased this Avid Armor A100 after a fair amount of research both online and talking to others who had a vacuum sealer. This sealer rose to the top after sorting through expert and consumer reviews. The main reason for buying it was to vacuum seal and freeze the 100 meat chickens we're raising that will soon be ready for processing. I'll try to remember to update this review after we do the chickens. In the meantime, we've been getting about a pound a day of green beans from our garden and thought we'd try it on the beans. The bean ends were snapped off and then snapped in half after washing them. We dropped about a pound of the prepared beans in boiling water for 3 minutes and then scooped them out and put them in a pot with ice cubes and water to chill them. The chilled beans were then removed from the water (ice pretty much melted) with a hand held strainer and put in a bowl. Using a very thin and flexible plastic cutting board/sheet, I made funnel out of it, and taped together with painters tape. I stuck the funnel end into a 1 quart Avid Armor bag and filled it ~60-70%. I made the funnel so the sealing area would not be wet when I went to seal the bags. The funnel worked real well but some of the moisture on the beans wicked up when the evacuation started. The bag still sealed with a clear looking seal, but I didn't want to risk having a long term failure. So it put the unsealed bags in the freezer for about 45 minutes or so and then finished the sealing process. Very little wicking occurred after that and the seals looked real good. (Seal time was left on the default setting of 3). So far we've done over 15 pounds of beans. We haven't tried any of the beans we sealed and froze yet but we're hoping it works out. It'll be nice to have beans from our garden through the winter. I was very impressed with the quality of the sealer, and the fact that it came with spare seal bar, tape, and gasket. The instruction are clear and very complete. The machine is really easy to use. The Avid Armor bags came very highly recommended from a friend who uses his sealer extensively. They are the only brand he now uses and that's what we bought for our chickens.

Bought from Amazon June 22,2022. It has surpassed expectations for operation and performance. Today 06/01/2023 went to seal some bulk foods and it would not pull a vacuum. It runs and doesn't give any error codes, it just doesn't pull vacuum. So went to Avid and requested support of which I got "We will respond within 2-3 business days." Seeing it's still under warranty, and it's now in their arena, I will wait for response and solutions. Stars will increase or decrease depending on how they do. UPDATE: Their response was immediate. They focused on the chamber gaskets. Although a quick inspection didn't reveal anything, they had me troubleshoot it with a step by step procedure which revealed a minor gasket imperfection that was created by the electrical cord getting caught in the edge during storage. My fault. They had me replace the gasket as I had one still from the original shipment, they actually include when you buy the machine. VOILA! Back to original performance! I should add that during the troubleshooting they had me remove a cover to inspect an area which was fine. During this time I observed the engineering of the unit. IMPRESSIVE to say the least. Quality components, commercial grade, twin piston pump, (not those vibrating buzz pumps used in all the other brands) silicone hoses, the works! I am a customer for life!

Many years ago I bought a FoodSaver brand vacuum packager and that first machine lasted about 7 years. When it finally quit, I believed that I had gotten my money's worth and that the brand was pretty good. After that first machine, I went through a new machine about every year. After 4-5 machines, I decided to buy the expensive FoodSaver model (est $175). I thought the machine was pretty good, but at just about 1 year, the plastic interlock responsible for locking the door and supplying power to the controls broke. I was officially over FoodSaver as a product and began shopping around. The A100 is easy to use with what appears to be solid parts and construction. The motor evacuates the air in the bag in about half the time as the FoodSavers and the seal is significantly wider creating a strong seal. The A100 seal width is about twice the width of the FoodSaver. While all of these functional details may sound tedious, the end result is that if you have game, fish or vegetables you have harvested and want to pack away, these features make the job go much faster with great quality results. I have packed away plenty of harvested meat, fish and vegetables and I can predict those future jobs getting much easier. Durability is one of the main reasons I invested in this type of vacuum sealer. I cannot predict long-term performance and attest to this machine's functional lifespan. However, I am willing to bet that it will be running this time next year. I hope it will be running for the full three-year warranty, otherwise Avid Armor can put some parts and labor into it at their cost. Speaking of parts, Avid has done each purchaser the courtesy of providing replacement seals, heat element and heat tape. That's a realistic view of their product in that they recognize the most maintenance sensitive parts need to be made available to their consumers at the time they need to use the machine. This inclusion of spare parts is clever customer service that appreciated by consumers that need their machines to work when they need it most. Cost and value is interesting analysis. If you add up all the money I spent on FoodSaver machines, it might amount to $700. I got this machine at about half that cost. On an annualized basis, the costs are similar; you are just throwing away FoodSaver machines instead of using the same machine for a longer period of time. That said, not everybody uses vacuum packagers to the extent necessary to merit the cost of this machine. However, if you use your vacuum packager on a weekly or greater basis, or you need to pack away a deer, a big catch or good vegetable harvest, I think this is a good machine to consider.

I finally got into Sous Vide cooking after eyeing them for quite a while (a Woot special pushed me over the tentative edge) and got myself a Toyuugo vacuum sealer (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B088D79QN9) to go along with it. That broke after ~5 uses with the moving section sticking down despite not having any fluids overflow most than a droplet or two into the vacuum chamber during any of the sealing operations. After talking it over with the other half, we decided that we love the Sous Vide but should probably get a commercial/industrial grade vacuum sealer just so that it would last a bit longer. Enter this beast of a machine. I still had a bag sealed from the old Toyuugo (right of the attached images) and it's tiny in comparison to the strip that the Avid creates (left of the attached images) plus the suction is not even close to a match. The Avid creates vacuums around frozen chicken breasts that barely have any air pockets after full cooking in the Sous Vide and kept the bags fully in the water save for a tiny ~1/2" corner poking out. With the Toyuugo there were massive air bubbles that made the chicken breasts take far longer as the bags would just float at least halfway out of the water. While you do have to hold down the acrylic on the Avid to get the sealing started, I'll gladly take the durability and repairability of this mechanism over the Toyuugo that broke after just a few cycles. The motor on this Avid is also much quieter than the Toyuugo but the machine is larger and heavier which I actually prefer but you should account for storage space as it's not huge but also not tiny. It comes in at 10lbs 2.0oz (162oz or 4594g for those in other countries) according to my kitchen scale which isn't the most to heft around but given the size some people might find it a bit difficult to get into a higher up kitchen cabinet. Overall I'm very pleased with this product and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a vacuum sealer for around the house. It also would look right in place in a commercial kitchen given the design aesthetics and seemingly rugged construction.

I did A LOT of studying before purchasing the Avid Armor. Was honestly looking for made in USA as I have had much better luck. THIS machine must be produced near Apple facilities...the fit and finish of it is impeccable. I mean no visual blemish or haphazardly placed decals. I started using immediately upon unboxing. EASY. Honesty time: this is the very first purchase of a vacuum sealer. I always research purchases of any appliances in the entire home. I have been burned too many times having to replace items within a year...I do not forsee that with the A100 and promise to update after this season. I had a wide range in my studies....from $79 f***s**** to $500 commercial machines. The Avid Armor is directly positioned in the middle ground price-wise. Head and shoulders above any machine less expensive in build quality and as good if not better than those costing hundreds more for the same type. It is refreshing to be impressed with a quality such as this...the last time I felt this way was the Vitamix purchase. It is on that level. Easy to use and very good at sealing (and re-sealing) the storage bags. Having the included accessory port and hose opens up marinating, wine bottle sealing and container food storage options as well. The second pic is a bag of chopped pecans given to us by neighbors. Opened, used and re-sealed 3x over now. It is a brick. Would break a window if thrown at it! I recommend highly and would make same decision over again.

Even though the machine arrived with a broken part ( probably due to the handling/shipping), i'm more than impress by this machine. Customer service was fantastic and quick to replace the broken part. Avid Armor really came with a professionnal machine at a lower price. This machine is really well built and easy to use. It work really fast and the seal is large and strong. Even though it's made for home use , I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a professional business with a reasonable production volume. Can't talk about longevity since i just got it but seeing how strongly and well built it is , i don't see it as an issue for the future. Their bags are also really great !

It a good working sealer it a little pricey but it worth it we really like it

Upgraded to this sealer as we are harvesting about a hundred chickens at a time and the lighter units designed for home users just weren't cutting it. We found it very easy to use, easy to clean, and after two months in the freezer we don't appear to have any defective seals. Will try to remember to update after several harvests, but so far I'd highly recommend it.

We vacuum pack alot of fish every year. This is by far the best vacuum packer . Highly recommend

We have had 3 of the Food Saver brand machines and each time we up graded we got a more expensive model. We do a lot of vacuum packing from bulk meat buys, wild game (when in season), vegetables and dry goods as well. Our machines have worked well, all except for the last one and most expensive one. It was a pain in the butt to use as you had to slide the bag opening in a slot to vacuum and seal. Lots of times the machine would reject it and you would have to try sometimes 3-4 times. Cleaned out the drip tray after last use and machine just quit working Only 3 years old. So I did a lot of looking and I was prepared to pay for a very good machine. This machine seems to be very durable and well built. Stainless steel outer shell, nice see through window into the seal chamber. After our first uses with this we were impressed with how fast it vacuumed the air out of the bag. A lot faster than our other one. So far we really like it. I do however have 2 CONs for this machine. There should be a Cancel button. If for whatever reason you need to stop the sealing process there is no cancel button. Now I know you can just hit the On/Off button but a cancel button would be better. Also the height at where the actual bag is sealed. Can become a little difficult to seal some stuff. 2" off table top. I made a removable stand out of HDPE to go from the 2" height gap to 1/2" and this works well. Overall we really like this machine and hope it lasts for many more years to come. UPDATE: Bought this unit May 2024. It is now Feb 2025 and I am having an issue with the unit. When sealing a package vacuum starts and counts down to 2 and then just sits there. I have to manually hit the Seal button for it to seal a package. Wrote to the company and was sent instructions to fix. This included taking the unit apart, popping off a sensor cover and cleaning the contacts within. I was not pleased but started to do this. When it got to the part of popping off the sensor cover gently, the whole sensor started to pop off the control board. So if I beak it then it's my fault and my out of pocket repair bill. That's it I stopped. This should not be a fix that a customer should have to fix especially when the unit is less than a year old and the company knows it has this issue, hence the fix instructions. I contacted the company again and told them that I should not be the one to fix this issue. Now I'm told they will make an exception and allow me to send the unit back to the factory (I'm in Canada and it's in the USA) at my cost and they will fix it free and send it back to me. In my opinion this is unacceptable. I really like the unit itself but if these are issues you are going to find with these units that are less than a year old and the poor customer service from the company then I would now suggest that you stay away from this product.