Do I need to buy a commercial machine or is a domestic one going to be OK? This is a question that we are asked every day of the week. The answer depends on three things.

Do you need to pack items which are bigger than will fit in a 30cm wide bag? Only the V500 vacuum packing machine will accept bags which are larger than 30cms wide. The maximum bag size for all of the other machines is 30x50cms although it is possible to use continuous vacuum packing rolls to achieve more length; the practical limit is about 30x80cms. The V500 will accept bags up to 60cms wide, the biggest being 60x80cm.

How many packing operation do you expect to do? If you are expecting to do more than 250 packing operation per week then you really need a commercial vacuum packing machine like the V400. This has an all steel construction and is designed for heavy prolonged use day-in and day-out.

Who is going to be using the vacuum packing machine and where? If the machine is going to be used in a busy commercial kitchen or factory type environment then you really need an all-steel machine like a V400 or V500. It is not reasonable to expect a machine designed for a domestic kitchen to survive for long in a hostile environment like a commercial kitchen where staff are often under intense time pressure and care of the equipment may not be the top-priority.

To summarise; if you are doing less than 250 packing operations a week, the machine is going to be looked after and everything you pack will fit into a 30cm wide bag then you don’t need a commercial machine. You can choose between the V100, V200 and V300 which are priced from £235.

Whether you are using a domestic machine or a commercial one, there is not a great deal of difference between machines in the time that it takes to pack something. Assuming that the item to be packed is reasonably well matched to the vacuum bag size, the operation usually takes about 30 seconds. That is 10-20 seconds to remove the air from the bag and about 10 seconds to make the heat seal.

The commercial machines do work slightly faster but the real difference is in the build quality of the machine chassis – commercial machines (V400 & V500) have an all steel case whilst the domestic machines have a high-impact plastic case. Also, the commercial machines have an 800 watt motor as opposed to the 400 watt motor found in the domestic machines. This speeds up the packing process a little, but the real difference is in the ability of the commercial machine to work continuously all day every day.

The V333 vacuum packing machine is the one machine which falls slightly outside of these guidelines. It has the 800 watt motor of the commercial machine but a very stylish silver acrylic case rather than a purely functional steel case. This combination of power and good looks makes it ideal for the keen hobbyist chef as the machine will stand up to a lot of hard use and will look good in the most elegant kitchen. We also sell a lot of these machines to delicatessens and smaller commercial kitchens where the proprietor is using the machine and can ensure that it is being looked after.