Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am in love with this thing. I just got a new top freezer fridge and am looking at small Energy Star Rated freezers for my cellar. This prompted a reexamination of my eating habits, as I am single and have an 80 mile round trip commute. If I freeze something frequently I return to it and it is an unappetizing wonderland of ice crystals. Opened forgotten jars of spaghetti sauce find there way to the garbage pail out of fear of a foodborne illness. I now open spaghetti sauce and spoon it into 2 standard ice cube trays. Four cubes= 1/2cup serving of sauce. I make soups, freeze them by the pint in plastic entree containers as "molds", pop out the frozen squares and bag them in 8" bags. I can make beef stew, make it into 6" x6" x1" pint sized frozen serving. I can make wide noodles al dente, freeze them flat on parchment and put them into 11" bags and put the 8" stew bag inside. Ditto for Kung Pao Chicken (Kikkoman Seasoning) in with frozen brown rice. ( Freeze rice and pasta on parchment on a cookie sheet.) I have worked hard to come up with a selection of dinner meals so I am only making one 5 serving entre every week. I reuse the 8" bags by cutting close to the seal, washing the bags out with Dawn dish detergent and re using the bags for smaller Items like spaghetti sauce cubes. Yes the bags add to the price but going on Foodsaver.com you can cut up to 30% of the price with a quantity buy and get free shipping. This unit did have one flaw: the spring for the retractable vacuum hose was defective and doesn't retract. However it works fine and can be worked gently back into the cabinet. It didn't stop me from using the wide and regular mouth Ball jar vacuum attachments ( use a second lid over the first for easy release) and the marinator worked fine. I am giving it 5 stars because I consider this a minor nuisance and because the price seems lower, probably because of that. Use the extra money to buy the combo box of 3 11" and 2 8" bag rolls. I able to get bag price down to 32 cents a bag and sometimes reuse bags. Don't forget: throwing food out has a price and two or three items could equal the cost of a roll of bags. I have a feeling this thing is now a part of my life.