I had one of the 1st one made years ago, I think back in the 70's or early 80's. The one thing I hated about them is once you cut the bag open, you lost some of the size of the bag if you wanted to reuse it. Someone I think from this site mentioned using regular freezer bags and a straw. You close the bag up almost all the way, leaving just enough opening to insert a straw and suck out the excess air and quickly close the bag. I've been using this method for about a year now and it seems to work. I don't lose the size of the bag and can continue to reuse it till it gets a hole in it or just gets nasty looking. I freeze a lot of my garden produce so this is a great saver for me.