American Crafts Zap Heat Gun Pink, Arts, DIY Crafting Projects, Embossing, Resin, Printmaking, Painting, Journaling, Card Making, Includes Built-in Stand

It is great

I'm new to heat embossing with embossing powder on cards, and this is my first heat gun, so I can't really compare it to any other brand. So far, I'm very happy with this!It doesn't take it any time, really, to heat up to "full strength" -- just a couple of seconds. This sucker gets HOT, so if you're new to this, it might take a bit of practice to figure out how to hold the paper up while attacking it with the heat gun. You absolutely do NOT want to leave the paper on the table while running the heat gun over it -- no, I didn't make that mistake, but I have a friend who did, and she ended up having to get her table refinished.It really heats evenly, and does a great job of melting the embossing powder quickly. It has a little wire "rest" so that you can put it down on the table without the hot bits touching the surface.One little warning: when you use this the first few times, it WILL produce some smoke, and it may look like a lot. But just give it time, and that will dissipate. It took mine 3 "sessions" to get rid of all the smoke, and it's fine now. I've made 6 cards of different designs with it, and by card #4, the smoke was gone. No further problems with it.Mine is still relatively new, so I can't really speak to its durability. If I have a problem with it, I'll edit this review to reflect that.

I've never used a heat gun before, and so I have no other brands to compare this to...but I can't see how it can get any better! So far, I've used it to make 120 save the date cards for my wedding. Each card had "save the date" stamped using Martha Stewart brand black embossing powder, which took the zap gun 3-5 seconds to heat and cure! Each card also had a corner designed stamped on using Ranger's superfine gold embossing powder, which took the zap gun a bit longer 7-10 seconds to heat and cure. The gun hasn't smoked up or had any problems yet! (here's hoping)Sept 24th, 2012 edit: I used this heat gun while I was overseas (with a transformer) and when I came home to finish ALL of my wedding projects which includes: 200 wedding invitations (cover, invite mat, reception card, directions card, rsvp card) 200 thank you cards, 50 bridal shower cards, 50 menu cards, 25 table numbers and 200 thank you labels for gifts. The gun didn't smoke up ONCE. It's a great buy! (also, DIY brides- I had my husband help and the only thing he liked doing was using this "gun"- it was the only job that seemed manly enough for him- so recruit your men!).

This is my second one. I have 3 heat guns... one broke, different brand. then I bought ZAP which works great. But , because the first one is now behind a filing cabinet where I cannot reach it...or lift it....I bought another Zap! It works, it's dependable, it's brightly colored so you can spot it. Even if you spot it in a location it's gonna require someone to move a 90 pound cabinet...it won't blend into the wood work. The guard, warning labels, and on/off toggle switch is good too. Safety features are always a plus. And it's inexpensive so if it falls behind a cabinet.... easy to replace in a pinch.

This is the second one I have bought. I have used this embossing heat gun almost daily and really put it to work. My first one lasted a little over a year and a half with daily abuse. I was so happy with its performance I have since bought another one. The tip can sometimes get a little melted, and I am sure it is my fault as I really use this thing for more than crafting, but if you use it for prolong time my plastic tip sometimes gets overheated and starts to melt inwards so I have to let it cool down. So this should last you forever if you are doing only light crafting with it.

This heat gun works as expected. I am using it to apply shrink wrap and so far it works quickly and maintains a steady temperature allowing me to apply the shrink wrap properly.The only suggestion I would have is that it would be great if there were a safety guard available that extended out several inches from the heat gun, however that is not a typical heat gun accessory, and not at all a criticism of this product. With what I use this for, it would be particularly easy to burn myself as i must move the items that are being heated while remembering to keep my arm out of the line of fire, so this is purely wishful thinking on my part in case anyone happens to know of an accessory like this or the company is searching comments for ideas.

Very happy with my craft heating gun. I tried using a hair blow dryer but did not work very well at all.

I actually use this for loosening and pulling up touch screens on tablets/phones. It's much more effective than a hair dryer, it's easy to use, and it's pink!It doesn't overheat, it isn't very loud (my hair dryer is WAY louder) and if your hand slips, the area around where it emits heat is not too hot to the touch.It does not have multiple settings but I can't imagine what you would need it to get hotter for. It's much more reliable than those "heavy duty" heat guns that have broken on me after a few uses. I'm very fond of this product and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an inexpensive heating mechanism.

When I first tried it, it heated up super quick and did the job right away. The only downfall is that it omitted a 'burnt hair'-like smell to it.

Got this to use for smart phone screen removal. I don't have any embossing supplies to try this item with but there is no problem with the heat gun itself so far. The noise is expected, definitely quieter than my blow dryer of course.

I love my embossing heat gun. I have never used one so didn't know what to expect. I fell in love after my first time use. I had a friend borrow it & she loved mine better that her old one-so I believe she ordered her own. I love the color as well. Would purchase more as gifts.

It does what it needs to do, heats up fast, but is kinda loud.

I LOVE this heat gun. Just started using it for encaustic projects. It heats up super fast and blows less air than some of the hardware store types I've tried. Plus it's light and the built in stand is convenient. Smoked a bit at first as others reported but that stopped well within the first use. Definitely recommend this.