GBC HeatSeal H100 Laminator Review

As a reasonably priced small pouch laminator, the HeatSeal H100 is designed for use in home offices or small businesses that occasionally need to laminate small items such as ID cards. In the following short review, we will take a quick look at the H100 and give you what we found to be some of the machine's strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

1. We have to say that one of the things we like best about the H100 is the low price. Coming in at about fifty dollars, this is an inexpensive laminating machine that offers new and low volume users the ability to create badges, ID tags, and other such items at will.
2. The H100 has a throat width of four inches. This should be plenty for most of the smaller applications for which the machine is intended. It should be mentioned that the H100's ability to use both 3mil and 5mil pouches is also a plus. Many lower end machines will take one or the other, but not both.
3. We were happy to find that the warm up time for the H100 was pretty quick, with a handy light to tell the user when the machine is ready to go.
4. The GBC H100 is a very easy machine to use, which is great for those who haven't used laminating machines before. All you need to do is to wait for the aforementioned glow light, and feed the pouches through - there are no speed or temperature settings to fret over.
5. The GBC name alone lends a lot of legitimacy to this machine. As one of the most trusted and respected manufacturers in the industry, the name alone carries weight. GBC has faith in this machine as well, as they offer a one year warranty with purchase. In most cases, if you have a problem with your machine, GBC will simply replace it with a new one. No hassles. That is really nice for the consumer.

Weaknesses:

1. The H100 is limited to running two thicknesses of laminating pouches: 3 and 5mil. While this adds a little flexibility to the machine, it turns out that most of the smaller laminating pouches that might be compatible with the H100 aren't readily available in 3mil thicknesses. This just means that you are pretty much limited to using 5mil pouches with this unit. Not a huge deal, but something that you should keep in mind.
2. The throat width of around four and a half inches is perfect for a lot of applications, such as ID tags, badges, and other items that are around the size of a driver's license or a little bigger. However, you will not be able to laminate sheets of paper or larger cards with the H100.
3. The H100 is not the fastest machine out there, but for small projects it really shouldn't matter all that much. Just realize if you are looking for a machine to produce hundreds of laminations per day, you might want to find one with more capabilities.
4. The H100 is without some of the features that some more expensive machines have, such as a reverse function or a jam release lever to help with paper jams. If you do have a pouch jam after the warranty is out, the machine will most likely need to be replaced. These units do not have replaceable or repairable parts.