MAGIC SEALMS175 Vacuum Sealer Machine for Food Preservation, Nozzle Type, Compatible with Mylar Bags, Adjustable Vacuum and Sealing Time, Automatic and Manual Mode

I use it to vacuum seal things in bags. I have used different thickness mylar bags, some plastic bags, some ziplock bags, and some bags made for a regular vacuum sealer.The product has a vacuum probe that you first extend and then position the bag so it is on either side of the probe. Close the latch and press the auto button. The air is sucked out of the bag and when the vacuum timer is done, the probe retracts and a heat seal is done. This works a lot better than I thought it might. The vacuum produced is pretty impressive. A little air leaks back in as the probe retracts but not a lot. The heat seal works well once I figured out the right time.I found that trying to use ziplock style freezer bags did not work very well. Not the fault of the machine but the bags have small pinholes above the zipper on the sides so when I tried to seal it above the zipper they leaked every time. But if I cut off the zipper and sealed it, the bags seem to work OK. I don't know how well these bags will work longer term. It is just an experiment to see how it goes.The regular vacuum seal bags with the air channels do not vacuum seal real well. It removes most of the air but once it gets most of the air out air leaks back in thru the channels, as one might expect. The heat seal works fine though with these type of bags.I tried it on a potato chip bag. Seemed to heat seal just fine.It takes a little bit of trial and error to figure out the heat seal timer setting. I use 8 seconds for mylar bags and 2 for the zip lock style bags. Basically, the thicker the bag the longer it takes to melt the plastic together. The vacuum timer is basically set for how much air it has to suck out. 20 seconds seems to work in most cases for 1 gallon and half gallon bags, but if it does not seem like it is sucking enough air out you can always just stop the process and try it again with a longer setting.One thing that is important to note. The front and back of the bag are separated by the vacuum probe nozzle. You have to keep them separated or they suck down on each other and no more air comes out of the bag. Best way to do this is to push the product in the bag up closer to the nozzle so the back and front of the bag cannot collapse on top of each other as the air is removed from the bag.

Most sealers have a bulky chamber design that forces you to insert the bag several inches deep into the machine before sealing. That means a lot of bag material gets wasted.This nozzle-type vacuum sealer is a total game changer. First I don't need to use special vacuum seal bags. Second, unlike chamber models, with the nozzle design I can place the seal much closer to the opening of the bag, which saves space and reduces waste. This feature is especially crucial when using Mylar bags with a zipper—many of mine don’t have much room above the zip, therefore other sealers simply wouldn’t work. With this machine, vacuum sealing is still possible, even with minimal space.Highly recommended for anyone working with Mylar or other zipper bags where sealing close to the edge is essential.

I bought this for my "preps". Immediately opened the box and went to work. Sealed 4mil mylar bags with ease. Did 25 pounds of white rice no problem, then I did 25 lbs of black beans no issues. I never used one of these and the learning curve is minimal not much to do but ballpark the vacuum seconds counter which I did 17 seconds of vacuum then I did 9 seconds of sealing on the mylar bags. Only took one star because the heating element that seals the bag was not very uniform but absolutely worked well. If you are prepper trying to us mylar bags dont buy anything cheaper than this model.

This one actually Works with mylar bags! Returned a different one that didn’t…Does a great job!

Great produce.. seals really well and great Customer Service!! I lost the reservoir that holds the liquid and they sent two for free! I thought that was really nice. Also pro tip.. I like the slick bags better than the textured. They hold the seal better, the smooth just creates a really nice seal.

Got this with the hope of saving on frozen food getting ruined by freezer burn, used it for so much more. The versatility of this vacuum sealer is truly encouraging. I have been able to seal off a much more diverse variety of foods than I though I would be able to (don't use it on flour unless you're ready to do some major cleaning - but it did work). I've even used it to seal wet foods with no issues. Powerful vacuum pump really draws the air out of the bag, and the seal is wide and durable. Works great on Mylar (trademark) bags because of the wide range of heat settings. Very sturdy construction and easy to use. Well worth the price.

What I like about this vacuum sealer is that it does have pretty good vaccuum strength when used with regular (FLAT, SMOOTH) vacuum bags. However, I was hoping to use it with the mylar retort pouches, and while it does work with them and it has a seal bar that can seal them well, it doesn't really have the vacuum power to really suck all the air out of these relatively stiff, heavy bags.Another thing that bothers me about this vacuum sealer is that, if there is any liquid that gets sucked out of the bag during sealing, it goes through the inside of the machine, through a filter, and out through a port in the back of the machine. When this happens, you have to remove internal parts from the machine to clean the filter. I've also seen no information about where/how you can buy replacement filters. I don't want to mess with all that to keep the machine clean, so I'm planning to only use this machine for bag contents that are completely dry.

This vacuum sealer works great on smooth bags. It has a wide sealer.