[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Durability can be quirky. My mom is on her third or fourth. But she does it a lot, and she's always looking for more bells and whistles, so I'm not sure how many of hers broke and how many were simply upgraded. I've had a basic Foodsaver unit for nearly a decade, and although I've taken it completely apart several times to clean all the channels and adjust the vacuum tubing, it still performs well in it's essential functions of vacuuming and sealing. MoF, I just cleaned it throughout this fall and I sealed about 10 pounds of freezer goods [about 30 or so bags] as well or better than ever.

The key failure point, outside bells and whistles, is the neoprene seal that forms around the bag entrance to keep the sealer from sucking ambient air and vacuuming from the bag only. Neoprene is soft and pliable, thus prone to cracks and stiffening, which deteriorates how well it can vacuum the bag itself. [in this sense, think of the neoprene seal as the tires or oil of your unit. it will wear out regardless of how expensive your unit]. If you can, try to research if you can get replacement neoprene before investing heavily in a unit expecting long-term durability.

My first one (a fairly basic model many moons ago) lasted longer than any other I've had. I wonder if their quality has gone downhill.