FoodSaver Smart Seal Vacuum Sealer V3825
by FoodSaver
List Price:
Our Price: $237.19
You Save: $12.80 (5%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $51.50 (click here)
Category: Kitchen
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: FoodSaverBrand: FoodSaver
Color: Stainless Steel and Black
Product features:
- Vertical Space Saving Design and Integrated Bag Opener
- Indicator lights & Manual Control to indicate current setting, vacuum progress and for added control
- Seal Button, Seal Perfection, Release Buttons, Roll Cutter
- Built-in Roll Holder, Accessory Hose & Port
- Auto Bag Sensing, Removable Dishwasher Safe Drip Tray
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of FoodSaver Smart Seal Vacuum Sealer V3825
Customer Review: NOT AN IMPROVEMENT!!
Summary: 1 Stars
We had the older Tilia model Foodsaver II for years and really like the performance of vacuum sealing food, especially for freezing without freezer burn and extending shelf life in a refrigerator. I also used it for waterproofing items for hiking. The Foodsaver II did the job -- simple to operate and reliably drew vacuum & sealed the bags. Yeah, on the downside I had to watch out when sealing juicy foods and occasionally wipe out the vacuum channel. But the unit was cheap to buy originally, easy to access for cleaning and, as said, worked reliably.
My wife saw the new model (V3825) at Costco for $150 and said she'd like it. So it was a Christmas present for her and the old Foodsaver II went to a friend. It proved to be a mistake trying to fix (upgrade) what wasn't broken.
There's good news and bad news on the Foodsaver model V3825.
BAD NEWS:
The new V3825 model is a pain in the butt to use, especially compared to the ease of use of the older flip-down-top model.
On the new V3825 model the "feed from the front" slot into which the edge of the roll/bag must be inserted **A LONG WAYS** for vacuum/sealing is barely wide enough to accommodate the double-thickness material. Once in there, the automatic mechanism to squeeze then seal the material operates very s-l-o-w-l-y, to say the least. Automating the squeeze function from the older model (push down the flip lid & press the lock buttons), is NOT an improvement. Besides being slower, the complexity of the added machinery says that there are more pieces to fail sometime down the road, which will incur repair/replacement cost.
I will admit that once the bag materials is in the slot, sealing the first end of an open tube of material (i.e. making a bag from a cut-off section of a roll of material) works well. Sealing a bag with food in it is more of a problem, as it was with the older model too.
That "LONG WAYS" brings up another shortcoming of the new model -- lack of economy from re-using bags. When the vacuum-seal bags get washed and re-used (one of the selling points of the system in both advertising and real-world use), the open top of the bag will curl down just a bit. With the old flip-down-top model, placing that slightly curled top of a reused bag into the vacuum channel was easy. With the new model, it is difficult (often impossible) to get the top of a previously used bag into the slot far enough (if at all) to trigger the squeeze-vacuum-seal cycle mechanism. Thus, many of the bags that could have been readily reused with the older model now must be trashed because they won't fit into the new machine's slot.
Even if the bag top (new or re-used) does insert far enough to trigger the mechanism, the wasted empty portion of bag material beyond the seal is HUGE (approx 1.5") compared to the Foodsaver II, which would seal the bag material leaving only about 0.25" wasted. If you think the 1.25" difference is a small nit to pick, multiply the additional wasted material (after-market sales for the mfr) times the hundreds or thousands of bags that you can pretty easily consume if you use the system much at all.
The V3825's adjustable vacuum settings for moist or delicate contents on the newer model may offer convenience over the older model's single full-bore vacuuming, but I don't find it all that useful. When I've tried to use the variable vacuum settings, the food still seems to get either crushed or over-vacuumed (juices drawn up into the sealing area of bag material which impairs a reliable & complete seal). Again, it seems the mfr added a feature that increased the cost but not the real-world utility of the unit.
Their on-machine roll storage compartment and two bag-cutters (one in roll storage compartment which does work well and a pop-out one at the base of the machine's outside case where it's too close to countertop to use conveniently, if at all) are just wasted space in my use of the machine.
GOOD NEWS
The added feature of the V3825 that I **DO** like a lot is the Pulse Vacuum feature. While the button is depressed, vacuum is drawn from the bag. When you've got as much vacuum as you want to draw on the contents, you let up on the button and press the SEAL button to lock that amount of vacuum in the bag. This eliminates the older Foodsaver II model's need to draw full vacuum (often way more vacuum than needed or desired) before it would trigger the sealing function.
I have used the Pulse Vacuum to good effect on finely shredded cheese for extended storage in the refrigerator. If you vacuum it too much, shredded cheese will compress into a more-or-less solid mass, thereby losing the advantage of buying pre-shredded cheese in the first place. With the Pulse Vacuum feature of the V3825 I can fine-tune the amount of vacuum in the bag just right -- enough to eliminate most of the air (keeping aerobic bacterial growth down) but not compressing the shreds of cheese into a solid wad of cheese. I have also found the Pulse Vacuum to be handy when packaging juicy foods like meat and delicate foods like baked goods.
While I don't yet use rigid containers (like the meat marinating tray or the round canisters) with the Foodsaver System, I do like the automatic roll-up vacuum hose storage (like an auto-retract electrical cord on a vacuum cleaner) on the V3825. I appreciate that the vacuum hose and canister connector aren't separate pieces to keep track of and likely get misplaced.
Compared to the Foodsaver II, the vacuum channel of the V3825 is more difficult to clean in the machine (much much narrower & tough to reach down inside of it). However, the plastic tray is easily removed for cleaning in the sink.
The vacuum channel of the older Foodsaver II was injection molded into the body of the unit. The Foodsaver II vacuum chamber was wider and I think shallower as well, which made wiping it out with a paper towel or dishcloth pretty easy. On the newer model's removable tray I worry that its electrical contacts & wires (for sensing if/when the tray gets too much liquid in it & setting off alarm circuitry) are susceptible to corrosion and/or damage in cleaning. Given the size/removability trade-offs of the two models, I think it's pretty much 50-50 one way or the other.
BOTTOM LINE:
While I do like vacuum sealers for their ability to protect food in storage, I can't recommend the V3825 due to its added cost, more complex machinery, difficult insertion, and unnecessary "features". My recommendation would be to buy a simpler, less-automated model. Especially if you can find a flip-down lid model that also has a Pulse Vacuum equivalent feature.
Description of FoodSaver Smart Seal Vacuum Sealer V3825
Includes V3825 Appliance, One 11 inch x 18 foot heat seal vacuum roll, twelve pre-made quart heat seal vacuum bags, 2 1/4 quart oval marinator canister, quick start guide and reference manual. Heat Seal Rolls made of dishwasher safe and microwavable material and can be customized in length.Vacuum Sealers
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