GBCThermal Laminator Machine, Inspire, 9 Inch, 7 Min Warm-up, 3 Mil to Legal Size, 5 Mil up to 4" x 6" (1701855)

I purchased this back in 2014. I still have it. The only downside is that it does take about 3-5min to heat up. Other than that it does the job

I work as an instructional coach in special education. I visit multiple schools in a day. Often I create materials and want them to be used right away. It may be a week before I am back at that building. So, it is important that I can laminate materials quickly and waiting for the schools to get it done isn't always an option.The warm up time is longer than other models that I have used taking at least 8 minutes. I have learned to plan accordingly and this has not been a major draw back of the machine.If I am laminating a single page of paper (full 8 1/2 by 11 size) the results are great. However, most of my laminating involves items that were cut prior to placing in the pouch (picture schedule icons, file folder items, etc). When I put the items in the pouch they lay nicely but it is a challenge to get them to stay in the same spot as I feed the item through the laminator. My prior laminator had a cardboard carrier that the pouch was put into first. This really helped the items stay where I had put them. Another colleague has a pouch laminator that has a feeding tray on the front as well as the back. This allows you to lay the laminating pouch flat prior to feeding it. I never had a problem with items shifting prior to laminating. Since the majority of the work I do will involve putting multiple smaller items into one pouch I have found that if I stack a book next to the machine I can get the same effect of a tray and have since minimized some of the shifting.Even with the long warm up time and needing a way to keep smaller items together,I would probably have rated this a 5 star product because of the great price and the fact that it is very portable. I keep it in the original box and it fits easily into a standard sized reusable tote bag. However, I have used the machine for less than a month (maybe about 40 sheets of Swingline brand laminating film) and have experienced a problem already. I called the customer service number provided in my owners manual and the lady was one of the friendliest customer service representatives I have spoken to in a long time. She told me what I needed to do to get a replacement. (just made the request, so I am not sure how long that will take). Hopefully it will not continue to be an issue.

I purchased this for $14.99 on a "today's deal" at Amazon. Since it did not come with any laminating pouches, I had to run to the store to purchase some just to try the machine out!. Had I known this when I ordered the machine, I would have purchased the pouches with the machine!It took about 10 minutes for the machine to heat up which is a lot longer than any machines I have used before. The laminating also was slower. But, this machine really did a terrific job!! I was very impressed with the tight seal around my document. It was impossible to peel or separate the laminate from the document! I laminated several different thicknesses of paper, card stock, and thin cardboard, with great results! I was even able to trim the excess laminate very close to the edge of my document without breaking the seal!! I had the machine on for about an hour while I was testing the different paper thicknesses. The machine did not get hot to touch and did not heat up my counter top.The machine came with a rough texture piece of paper for "cleaning" the rollers. After each use while the machine is still hot and plugged in, this sheet of paper needs to be feed into the machine and is supposed to remove any sticky residue from the rollers.I cannot tell if this really works until I use my machine for a while. But, In the past, I did throw out two machines(a different brand) because they got gunked up with sticky residue and there were no instructions on how to maintain or clean the rollers.I would recommend this machine for Home use. It is only a 9" Laminating Machine so it cannot handle Legal Documents (11" x 14") or 12" x 12" scrapbook paper.

Very disappointed! I bought this as a lightning deal and it was supposed to come with a bunch of the laminating consumables. I was considering buying a laminator and when I seen this deal I took the plunge. When it got here it came with NOTHING! Not a single sheet! It was Christmas so I didn't open it right away and realize. So I didn't contact amazon and ended up just missed out. I haven't even tested it because I have nothing to use with it and have been to annoyed by the issue to even look into ordering stuff for it.UPDATE:From 1 to 3 stars.I've since needed to use this laminator and it worked really well. They recommend that you run the piece of cardboard through after you are finished which I did. This was the one issue I came into. There is no give on either side so when you run this through it has to be perfectly straight or the machine will eat it. This could also be an issue with things you are trying to laminate. Kind of the same way a printer is where the paper needs to feed perfectly or it will get jammed. This is the same way. So just be very careful that everything is lined up perfectly straight. That is slightly harder to do with this then it is with a printer though since a print doesn't need to be sucking paper into it as soon as it touches it so you have the chance to make sure you get it right. This thing needs to warm up and then as soon as you put your project near it the thing sucks it in which makes it a little more tricky getting it right. I'm sure it will get easier over time the more I use it. I've just got to get used to it.So overall I'm still not thrilled about getting ripped off on this but it was still a good buy. It still works and is still useful. Just be sure if you see this as a deal of the day that you actually receive what is promised before to much time has passed.