A Review of the GBC HeatSeal H212 Laminator

Do you need an affordable, easy-to-use laminator for home or office use? If so, you're reading the right review because the GBC HeatSeal H212 laminator could be just what you need. This is one of the company's newest products and it has a bounty of features that should make it appeal to anyone who needs to laminate his/her documents. This review will take a look at the HeatSeal H212's positives (and its few negatives) so you can make an informed choice when buying your laminator.

The GBC HeatSeal H212 is a jam-free pouch laminator that was engineered for both home and office use. This laminator has throat that measures 9.5 inches across. This allows you to laminate a lot of different items, from small ID cards to legal-sized documents. You can use both 3 and 5 mil pouches with this laminator, and although you technically don't need to use a carrier with the H212, it's recommended so you can prolong the life of your machine.

The HeatSeal H212 is easy to use. You can pretty much just take it out of the box and get laminating, even if you've never done it before. The unit has a variable temperature control that allows for cold lamination with GBC SelfSeal laminating pouches. This is a great feature to have in a laminator, because it means you can laminate fragile documents (such as old letters) without having to purchase an additional machine. The HeatSeal H212 has two heated rollers which produce beautiful, flawless lamination every time you use the machine, whether you're laminating pictures, work documents, or craft projects. Plus, the machine heats up quickly (within four minutes) and can laminate a 14-inch document in about a minute, which is pretty impressive for a machine at this price point. (The H212 retails for less than $200.00.) There's also an automatic shut-off which is not only a handy safety feature, it also helps you conserve power. Finally, GBC has included a free 12.5-inch trimmer with this laminator, so you can easily (and cheaply) give your laminated items that finishing touch. (Thanks, GBC!)

The HeatSeal H212 only has a couple of flaws. The first concerns the document tray at the back of the machine. It's rather short, so it won't be particularly helpful if you're laminating larger items. If you need to laminate larger documents, a roll laminator would probably be a better choice because the H212 can only process documents up to 9.5" wide. (One option would be GBC's HeatSeal H312. It's essentially the same machine as the H212, but it can laminate documents that are 12 inches wide.) The same goes for rigidity since the H212 can only handle the thinner laminating pouches. It would have been nice if GBC had made the machine capable of processing 7 and 10 mil pouches, because then the machine would have been just about perfect.

Nonetheless, the GBC HeatSeal H212 is a great laminator that performs well and is available at an affordable price. The additional free trimmer is a nice bonus, as is the machine's cold lamination capability. If you need a machine for everyday laminating projects, the GBC HeatSeal H212 is definitely a laminator you should consider purchasing.