Best Laminators for Office and Home
Before choosing the laminators, let it be for home or office use, you have to understand which technology in lamination really suits your need. This will make your investment cost-effective.
Majorly there are two technologies through which the laminations process is carried out. The first one is thermal laminators. These type of laminators heats the laminating film and then seals the document. The other method is cold laminating. In this method, the laminating film and the document is pressed together and made to blend.
So now having a rough idea of the working of laminators let us look into some of the best laminators in the market, which can give more efficient returns for your investment.
Office & Home Laminators – The Best List
Scotch TL1306 Thermal
This is one of our favorite laminators. The reason for this lies in its size, which is decent and it can work on varying thickness of films. One major thing worth mentioning is its lightning fast warm-up speed which results in brilliant laminating speed also.
This laminator comes with and a light indicator which helps you understand when the device is warmed and ready to go. This machine has the capability of laminating up to 18 inches per minute. The device has a unique feature of getting turned off when not used for more than one hour. This feature helps in energy management. This device is equipped with mechanisms which prevent your documents from damaging. The LED touch controls also add to the class that this machine carries.
Verdict
Surely this laminator is our favorite with it’s impressive warm up and laminating speed which no other laminator can offer. But a second thought will come into our mind by hearing that this machine does not come with a warranty. Also, the price tag of this device is a little bit heavy. So if a speedy process is your priority then you can surely go with this device.
Price Range: $120 – $150
Swingline GBC Fusion 3000L
This is another laminator which has a good warm-up time. It has well-sorted notification systems, which gives you the needed information about this device’s status. The laminating speed of this device is also pretty good for helping you to get some speedy outputs.
The laminating speed of this machine is 19 inches per minute, which is quite good for an efficient laminating machine. It also comes with an audible alert system for helping you to identify when the machine is ready to laminate. The largest document that can be laminated on this device is limited to 9 inches. There another alert system equipped in this device to let you know if there is any jam in the device during its working. It also comes up with an option of cold lamination.
Verdict
This device comes with a host of features which is very much essential for an ideal laminating device. Hence, a person who invests in this model will never disappoint himself. The price at which this device comes is also compelling. The only drawback that this device posse is regarding the size of the laminating document. Otherwise, this device will be a worthy investment.
Price Range: $120 – $150
Amazon Basics Thermal Laminator
This device weighs only about 2.5 pounds which makes it lightweight and portable. It takes 4 minutes to warm up. But once the device gets warmed up, and then there will not much of hiccups in the process. This device allows you to laminate documents ranging from letters to photos.
In this device, you will have the option of two temperature settings. This enables you to select the optimum heating temperature for the documents that you laminate. That is if the document that you are laminating is of normal size then you can go for 3 mil setting. Which will give a higher temperature when you compare it with the temperature for thin documents. And if the document is thinner then you can go for 5 mil setting.
Verdict
Amazon basics thermal laminator is compact and comes in handy to travel places with it. If the use of this device is in office or school, then this is a wise investment. But if you want to laminate some large documents or you want some speedy lamination then investing in this device may disappoint you. The price at which this comes is also very much pocket friendly. Hence analyze your needs and then if the needs demand the above said specifications then you can go for it.
Price Range: $10 – $30
Scotch Pro Thermal Laminator
The people at scotch exactly know what specifications will give a tidy looking laminator. The Scotch pro thermal laminator is an example of that. It comes up with indicator lights, two temperature settings, no- jam technology; it also laminates at a speed of 15 inches per minute. Let’s get into the details of each of these features.
This device has an inbuilt indicator which allows you to identify when the machine has warmed up. Usually, this device takes 5 minutes as warm up time. There is two temperature settings in this device. For different pouches having varying thickness, we can use one among the two temperature setting. This laminating machine also consists of power saving facility. That is it gets switches off for more than 1 hour of inactivity. It has hidden cord storage, folding tray and a carry handle.
Verdict
For a person who is looking for a laminator which is handy, portable and which has a large amount of add on features, then this is the right choice. This device has many features and adds on that many of its competitors don’t have. But when it comes to the pricing section, Scotch PRO thermal laminator is surely on the costly side.
Price Range: $20 – $50
GBC Pinnacle 27 Ezload Thermal Roll
This laminator surely stands out of the crowd with its ability to laminate large documents. The maximum document width that this laminator can laminate is documents with 27 inches width. So laminating large posters and large prints will not be a problem for you if you have this laminator in your possession. It has most of the features that a laminator should have. Temperature control for the heating element, automatic shut down technology, jam removal mechanisms. Nam e it and you have it in this device. We can get into the detailed view of each these aspects in the features section.
This machine has temperature buttons which allows you to select the temperature for the heating element. This device is compatible only with films which are up to 3mm thick. This implies that this machine is not suitable for thick laminations you may already know the use of energy conservation mechanisms and this machine has not left out this mechanism. This laminator takes 8- 10 minutes to get warmed up. But once it is warmed up then it can laminate at a speed of 10 inches per minute. The EZ load technology that this machine has enables you to load the documents on to the machine precisely.
Verdict
The only drawback that this model has when comparing with its competitors is that, this machine is not good for thick laminations. So for laminating thick documents, you should probably look for other laminating machines. In all other sense we find it the right laminating device and hence you can go on with it. Also, give a good look at the price also as big laminations does not come with small prices.
Price Range: $800 – $1200
Bluesmart 3 in 1 OL299 Laminator
This device delivers more than what a simple laminator can deliver. This device can also perform the functions of a rotary paper trimmer and a corner rounder. The carefully included two roller system also helps the user to get rid of bubbles and wrinkles in laminating documents. There is also a jam release button which helps you to release jammed papers within a fraction of a minute. Let’s get to know this amazing device more closely in the features section.
As mentioned earlier the paper trimmer included in the device can help you to cut the paper straight, wavy edge or perforated. We would like to say this is an artistic inclusion into the device. The machine can perform both hot and cold lamination. In the case of hot lamination, the machine will take a maximum of 5 minutes to get heated up. There is an LED indicator light which helps you to understand when the device is ready to go.
Verdict
On the whole, this device is fun to work with. It has many add-on features which could amaze you. They have aggressively priced the device which makes it even more attractive. We find not much of a reason to make you not to buy it as everything was there which a laminator would want.
Price Range: $20 – $50