GBC Inspire+/Rexel Style A3 Laminator, Laminating Machine with Starter Pack of Pouches, 4 Minute Warm Up Time, Black (4402076)

Brilliant little laminator. Takes a while to heat up but it works really well. Could do with an automatic off timer as I've left it on overnight several times but it's clearly well made as it doesn't overheat or give off any overheating sort of smells.

To start with I should have paid attention that it came from the UK. So it has a UK plug which in Australia can only be used with the plug convertor. So be aware. Upon usage -- only a few times as it just got bought -- it did the job but does have a distinct smell and heats up a lot more than my previous laminator which worked really well for at least 10 years. So time will tell whether this laminator's tendency to overheat will be an issue or not.

Works great

I bought the Style (white option) A3 size laminator as I now have and use an A3 printer. The laminator is easy to use despite the minimalist user guide which just shows a series of pictures with no instructions. You plug it in, switch it on and move the switch on the front to the left for cold lamination pouches and to the right for hot lamination pouches (they're different things). The green light comes on immediately for cold lamination and after about 4mins for hot lamination. Once you've positioned the article you want to laminate in the pouch and the green light is on, feed the pouch, closed end first, into the laminator aligning it to the left of the slot (although this doesn't seem to matter too much if you don't get quite right). The laminator will draw the pouch through and drop it out at the end. The spring loaded lever at the back of the laminator is only for freeing jammed pouches should that occur in which case you hold the lever against the tension of the spring and pull the pouch out from the front.Now for the tricky bit ! The laminator box states that it will handle 75-125microns but doesn't state whether that is per laminate (i.e. top or bottom sheet) or per pouch (both sheets). This is important as some pouch manufacturers quote the thickness as per laminate and some per pouch so one offering at 125 can be much thicker than another at 150 because the first was per laminate and therefore a total of 250 per pouch and the other was for the total pouch ! Have you lost the will to live yet ?I have contacted Rexel Customer Support online and they got back to me within minutes (well done Rexel !!) and they have confirmed that their figures refer to the thickness of the entire pouch. Now all you have to do is negotiate the minefield of pouch manufacturer's description of their products. Be aware that some here on Amazon describe their offering as 125 microns but when you look at the image of the packaging it shows 125x2 - in other words each laminate is 125microns and the total pouch is 250microns.I've knocked one star off of "Easy to use" as the user guide is so minimalist as I've said above but once you've worked out what it all means it's very simple to use and good value for money.

As a teacher, I can’t imagine my classroom without this A3 laminator. It’s been a lifesaver for creating durable resources, and everyone at school – even the office staff – borrows it! I’ve tested other models, but I always come back to this one. It’s been through a lot over the past 3 years, and it’s still going strong. Fingers crossed it stays that way, but if it ever breaks, I’ll replace it with the same model in a heartbeat. Highly recommend for any educator!