…
As an owner of the 112, I’d say go for the 215 if you have space for it. While mine has been going without any significant problems for several years now, I’ve always found the cover slightly fiddly and it is difficult to pull a really strong (not sure how much better the 215 would be but the 112 is not the choice for super strong vacuum. The deciding factor for me was that I had no place other than the countertop with upper cabinets above to place the thing - hence the 112. I looked around at the time for alternate manufacturers and didn’t find anything comparable sub-$1000.
I have a Henkelman Boxer 35 and love it. I did a lot of research prior to purchasing and found that it was pretty well regarded as the top of the line for that level of vacuum sealer. It wasn’t cheap, but we use it almost daily and it’s become an invaluable part of our kitchen/cooking (although it’s kept in the garage, but close to the kitchen). I was concerned about the expense initially, but now view it as money well spent.
…
I have the 112 and love it!
I did get the H2O sensor and love it. Just be advised that normal rules still apply in avoiding spill overs. Try to chill liquids first and you can’t fill bags with liquids. You have to get used to how much you can place in the bags (like, 1/3 full or so), but that applies to all of the sealers. Even if you do mess up, the sensor avoids major spill overs. When in doubt, I still keep my finger on the stop button and watch.
The cart is a great idea. We have ours on a bench shelf right outside our door. It’s not inconvenient at all if you think about how you actually use these machines.
I got the seal/cut option on the seal bar and debated about it a great deal. I would highly recommend that selection because it leaves the bag perfectly clean when you tear off the top. Otherwise, you potentially have food/liquid contaminants in the little section right outside the seal. That probably isn’t too big of a deal for items going in the freezer, but if they are headed for the sous vide at some point you don’t want to make your water messy. Just a much cleaner option.
Unrelated to the particular machine, but I have gone with the 4 MIL bags pretty much exclusively. They are much tougher which is important once a food it frozen. After a full seal and frozen, foods are like bricks and just moving them around in the freezer can lead to micro perforations that may not be realized until you are heating the bags (potential big mess if they leak in your SV which I’ve had with items sealed elsewhere with thinner bags). The increased expense in negligible IMO.
good advice on the 4mil bags!