Best Laminators

Do you have precious memories with your family of friends captioned with a camera, that you want to keep for as long as you can? Or maybe you have a diploma to show your clients in an office, but want to keep it all safe and shiny? Then, in our opinion, this model is ideal for home use or small office tasks just like these, because Fellowes Saturn3i 125 works with three pouch thickness types: 3, 4 or 5 mil.

Glazed paper's colors like the ones used for photos may be destroyed or bleached out at hot temperatures. But worry not! This Fellowes laminator has a cold lamination feature. All you need is to get special pouches and you will easily encase them with this device. As for diplomas or documents, the thicker the layer, the better. The device comes with a little starter pack of ten 3 mil pouches for you to start working with it right away. It also automatically shuts down after 30 minutes of standby.

The creased adhesives on rollers and jammed pouches are the main sources of headache during a lamination process. The Saturn3i features anti-jam lever on the back. Use it to loosen rollers so that you could take a stuck envelope out.

In conclusion, we want to add that the n-style design looks good. At 20" wide body, the Saturn3i model does require some space, but it's comparatively light - at 5 lbs., you can easily store it on a shelf and put it on your table when you need it. On the whole, Fellowes Saturn3i 125 is a nice tool to use several times a day in the office or home.

If a laminated object and the film didn't stick together the first time you may repeat the process once again. This applies to all laminators. Just don't overdo it.

Here is a pack of 200 pouches for heated lamination. This time by Crystal Clear company. They come at 9"x11.5" size, that will be great for diplomas or awards of sizes at up to 8.5" x 11". The rounded edges will also prevent ripping the holders of a frame.

Hands down, the most annoying thing when working with a laminator is jamming. The thin paper sheets become stuck, the adhesive might smear onto the rollers. All in all, it becomes a mess. The easiest way to prevent this is to hold the pouch with a paper as straight as possible when you are feeding them into the laminator. However, do not force the pouch in or out of the device.

As we've mentioned, this model has two pairs of rollers instead of one, so it should laminate smoothly. But even if a paper gets jammed, there is a reverse feature to fix this. Just hold your finger on the special sensor button and the rollers will run the pouch backward. Neat!

 3100L is pretty versatile: it has an option of cold lamination, where the pouch layers are squeezed together by rollers without heating. Although this requires a special type of pouch, it's not so hard to find them on the market. Sensor buttons on the top panel are used to choose the laminating type and pouch thickness of 3, 5 and 7 mil. This Swingline laminator has a sensor, that makes a beeping sound when rollers have finished warming up or a pouch got stuck inside the device.

It's not rare that people get anxious about whether they turned off an iron at home or not. This device features auto-shutdown after not being used for 30 minutes straight. Therefore, you won't have to return to the office to re-check, whether you have unplugged it or not. Considering all of the above, it's safe to say that the 3100L laminator is an awesome office tool that excels at its task. We encourage you to check it out and see for yourself that it's true.

If you have to laminate a bunch of letter-sized or smaller papers, make sure that you have enough pouches for this. Many customers tend to choose whole packs of pouches produced by Swingline as they have the best price/amount ratio compared to other packs as of today.

Let's look into details. First of all, the laminator's width is only a slightly bigger than 17". It's great for storing, but using it requires somewhat large flat surface in a dry, ventilated room anyway. AL13 is stated to work with 3 mil and 5 mil thick pouches, however, there is no option to adjust the temperature or distance between rollers for each of them. This means that you can use it for 4 mil pouches too!

There are on/off switch on the front panel and anti-jam button on the back to release the pouch in case it's become stuck. After turning the device on, it immediately begins warming the rollers up. The green LED lights up to inform you when it's ready. Despite its simplicity, the Apache does cope well with its task by laminating the paper evenly and without bubbles.

The heating element has a very high temperature and its body might not withstand a long continuous use. Thus, give it a pause to cool down after every two or three runs. Finally, the package includes a starter pack of 20 letter-sized pouches, which is pretty cool, considering the price.

Still and all, we can readily recommend this very affordable heating laminator to people who might occasionally need to laminate a sheet or two at home or at the office.

We wanted to show you this tiny paper circle-punch by EK Tools. It's a nice office tool for when you need to bind a couple of document sheets or cartons really fast. There are different models available for various hole sizes.

You don't need a diploma to use this model, as the controls are very uncomplicated. Power on/off and cold/hot switches are to your right if you are looking at the feeder. The LED indicator lights up when it's ready to roll. Also, you don't have to bother choosing a pouch thickness because the device works just fine with either 3 or 5 mil pouches without additional adjustments. Finally, use the release lever to loosen the rollers grip when you need to take out a jammed pouch.

As we've mentioned, the Inspire Plus can work as a cold laminator. Therefore, you can laminate some photos or even security passes yourself.

However, some government agencies may refuse to accept laminated official documents, as they can't tell the difference between original and a copy. That's why we suggest getting a second copy of official documents like birth certificates, whenever it's possible.

If you often hold press conferences or business meetings, take a look at our selection of digital pens. 

Suitable both for hot and cold lamination, the Purple Cows 3016c is able to laminate one A4 page in just one minute, which is impressive for a portable device. Along with that, the device is not meant for sustained loads, meaning if you use it continuously, it is likely to overheat. Generally, it takes around 3-5 minutes for the laminator to warm up, and around 10 minutes before it needs a break. During this time, the laminator can handle up to 20 sheets of paper. Though these numbers aren't as big as in some other laminators, they should be enough if you laminate documents occasionally and do not expect a device to handle piles of paper. 

One other interesting thing about the Purple Cows 3016c is that it offers an option to install a special tray for collecting the laminated paper. This way rather than turning your desk into scrambles, all your docs will be collected in a neat way. 

Yet, the biggest ace of the company is that they use their own branded technology which allows the laminator to consume 50% less energy than most traditional laminators do. 

All of this speaks in favor of this small boy and makes it one of the better offers for those who are looking for a budget-friendly laminator that will be suitable both for home and for small office use. If you do not plan to laminate huge posters, it will suit you fine.