Tomatoes: Pressure canning vs. water bath canning

I tried several different methods....

After consulting with the pressure cooker manual, the internet, recipe books, and my grandma, I dove head-first into a canning adventure over the past several weeks of insane tomato harvest.  I was met with some frustration, as I kept losing liquid in my jars.



Pressure canning:

• (Batch of black beans ended up perfect, though soft)
• First batch, hot crushed tomatoes (quarts) and soup (pints) while ignoring it:  all lost at least an inch of liquid.
• 2nd batch, cold-packed crushed and whole tomatoes (all quarts), watching very carefully and making sure the pressure did not wobble:  all lost at least an inch of liquid.
• 3rd batch, hot whole tomatoes (quarts), watching pressure carefully and heating more slowly:  all lost at least an inch of liquid, 1 didn't seal.
• 4th batch, hot tomato soup (pints), watching pressure carefully and waiting a long time to take them out so that the pressure never released too quickly:  none of them even sealed.

 Water bath canning:

• 1st batch, cold-packed and hot whole and crushed tomatoes (pints) while watching it:  lost a half inch of water, 1 didn't seal.
• 2nd batch, cold-packed whole tomatoes (pints) while drinking a margarita and ignoring it:  lost a half inch of water.

16 pints from the water baths

The verdict is in...
I much prefer water bath canning for tomatoes!

I have no idea why I can't seem to pressure can the darn things, and I have researched it up the wazoo... packing jars too full, leaving bubbles behind, unstable pressure, heating too fast, removing weight or lid before the pressure is fully released, using cold jars, using cold tomatoes, lids too tight, lids too loose, using old lids, bumping the jars or moving the canner... none of these things are my problem.

Even my grandma, a canning maven, can't figure out my issue.  They're still safe to eat, but we should eat the ones with the most air inside first.

Oh well!  Maybe we have finicky tomatoes.  I need to just shrug and use the easier method... which is obviously to drink a delicious from-scratch margarita while ignoring the water bath.

Have you ever found a solution to losing liquid from your jars?