Well I finally bought one, a Food saver 4400, which seemed like an OK choice, the next model up cost $100 more, and had, as far as I could tell the same pump in it, just more buttons.
I got it home, and it has only the one option for vacuuming bags "vacuum and seal", which quite frankly I could get similar results with a zip-lock bag and sink full of water.
The other buttons on the machine are "canister" for connecting a hose from a nozzle on the machine to a proprietary canister sunbeam produce or a wine bottle. And "seal", which obviously seals bags.
I had a look into the next model up and they had a button called "pulse" which lets you control how hard or soft the vacuum on the bag is. That's what you pay $100 more for.
But I didn't want to give up on my purchase. I figured, the model I bought and the model above it were essentially the same machine just different programming (although, I think they probably use the same controller board and the model above has additional buttons, a lot like some brands of washing machines do).
Not wanting to open it up (as i could still probably return it and pay the extra $100 for the next model up), I thought about how the canister function would work, it sucks out air and doesn't stop until you release the button. Surely they're not going to cut of suction from the internal nozzles of the machine to use the external nozzle, more moving parts cost more.
So I chucked in a bag, hit the canister button, and what do you know it started pulling air out of the bag. So for a $100 less I get the same functions as the next model up, just from a slightly different approach. And I get as hard or soft of a vacuum as I want on the bag.
