FoodSaver Jar Sealer for Food Storage

I purchased a foodsaver (model FM2000) this past winter (2019), and purchased this to extend the shelf life of dried goods in the pantry. The hose had the exact SAME grey ends, both of which fit into the sealers, but NOT the food saver machine itself. So, useless hose. Thankfully, the food saver came with a hose itself with the two different ends that fit properly. The wide mouth isn't perfect, but it is easier to use. There are less lid failures during the process with the wide mouth verses the regular mouth, so there is that. The regular mouth can not be used as is. I got the first jar to seal properly, then as I was trying to get the others to seal, it popped open. I went to the foodsaver website to troubleshoot, found nothing, and started reading reviews. There were suggestions on what to do to make it work. After I started doing these steps, the regular mouth worked. 1. Do not overfill jars. Keep the 1 inch head space and do NOT press down or shake together powders like flour, or rice, etc., the air flows better if there's a bit of room in the jar. 2. Wipe the rim of jar and rim of lid with a damp, not wet, towel. 3. Use two lids instead of one. 4. With the hose UNattached, put the sealer on by putting it straight down from the top onto the jar. 5. Attach the hose, hold the sealer down with one hand, run the foodsaver. It won't take a lot of pressure, but you will have to hold manually it. 6. When the foodsaver stops, pull the hose from the sealer first, then release the foodsaver. 7. Carefully remove the sealer. Sometimes the gasket stays on the jar, sometimes it doesn't. Remove second lid. (It's just there t help with pressure.) After doing that, the regular mouth worked better. I currently have all the jars I sealed today on the counter. I'm going to wait 24 hours to double check the seals before putting them up in the pantry. Also, I have a few older jars that have a much larger beaded neck. The regular mouthed jars with that large of a neck could not be used, but the newer ones with a smaller one could. (See blurry pic.) Unlike regular canning for jams and such, this would be the one time you would want to store jars with the ring tightly on the jar. With waterbath or pressure canning wet foods, the lids can actually cause a false seal which can make the food unsafe to eat. With dry goods, the band can help to keep the seal and there is no danger of botulism. Plus, easier to stack, if need be. There was one last suggestion made that I did not have to try yet. It was to place the lids into an over set at 200 degrees for a minute or two to activate the red seal. It remains to be seen if I will have to do that to the lids in the future. As long as the seals remain, this purchase should be okay. By the end of my first batch of jars today, I'm not enamored. I will update if there is any new info.