Well home canning, a venerable technology also evacuates air from a jar. So the question is, how much more air is removed by Evac, than by grandma's tried and true home canning methods?

I think that a vacuum pump and mason jars would work better.
@ David Rochlin This does not cook the contents.

you can get these at Target. They were by the coffee makers

If it were sucking the air out and leaving a partial vacuum then wouldn't the lid be sucked lower into the jar? I assume it isn't creating much of a vacuum at all, but rather just removing as much air as the lid displaces when inserted, so there's still air around the food, as there would be in any jar.

This does not suck the air out of the jar, nor does it create any form of vacuum. Come on people, surely you have some basic scientific knowledge?
By pushing in the lid you are simply displacing the air in the jar, the air between the dry food particles/pieces is still there, it is not sucked out.
The main advantage of this system is that it removes most of the air rather than leaving a pocket of air above the food, but for dry food, which is what the system is aimed at, the gain is minimal at best. And given that the flow of air through the lid is working against the valve, which will take some level of force to operate, the air left inside the jar is likely to be slightly above atmospheric pressure, not below it.
So, there is no vacuum in this system, no air is sucked out of the jar, it's all hype.

@Mr T:
I think people got it wrong because the article SAID it sucks the air away, and they accepted that uncritically.
While a little bit of thought shows the "sucking" idea to be wrong, don't blame them. Blame the quality of the article.

@Anne - I think Mr T was referring to the article writer rather than the jar makers. Whilst displacing air with a air-tight 'piston' is clearly better as others point out, there is still plenty of air left lying between the beans or whatever. So, close but no cigar.
I don't really see what cosmic engineering feat would be required to just add a small lever under the handle that *would* suck a good proportion of the remaining air out after inserting - as well as a means to relaese the vacuum to aid lid removal. So, back to the drawing board, guys! MW

A miniature version of this for spices could be nice. I like the lack of a pressure differential. Perhaps a hand dispenser that works with the Coravin argon capsules to displace some of the remaining oxygen among longer term stored material would complete the job.

i also do not see how the unit is sucking out any air?! Are we missing something here?
Marilyn

Toss in a bit of Dry Ice after you have filled the device. Push lid down. No "air" inside at only CO2. ZERO oxidation as there will be NO 02 in the jar. Simple no?