Apache AL13 13" Thermal Laminator and 20 Laminator Pouches

I bought this laminator based on the price and the reviews. You can't beat the price and it works great! The laminating machine at my school ran out of laminating film right as school started for the year. And the funds to order new film ran out. Sadly, the film ran out as I was in the middle of laminating some of my posters, so had one half in and half out of lamination. Took it out of the film, cut it as close to the edge of the poster as I could and laminated it again with my (new) laminator with 5 mil. film and it turned out great! Can't even tell it was stuck in the old laminator. Have it hanging on my door. Everyone thinks I made a new poster! It's lightweight and portability make it perfect for anywhere. I've used it on my dining room table, packed it up for dinner, then took it school the next day to laminate more items. The cold setting works great for the non-thermal laminating pouches. It presses them together better and flatter than I ever could. (Had some of the non-thermal laminating pouches I bought at the store before I bought the laminator, as a teacher you never let anything you have go to waste!)I bought all my 5 mil. laminating pouches from Oregon Lamination. The quality is wonderful. As a teacher, I spend a lot of money and time making cards and games for my students. I want them to last for years. With the help of my Apache laminator and the lamination from Oregon Lamination, I know they will last. This is one of the best purchases I've made for my classroom, ever!

Possibly the best 20 bucks I've spent gearing up for my new classroom. I hate having to wait to get things laminated and I use a lot of pass arounds so I thought I would give this little laminator a try. It is fantastic. Heats in 3 minutes and as long as you don't try to race through a huge stack of stuff, it does an absolutely perfect job. I think 5 mil bags are a bit thick for classroom stuff so I will likely buy 3 mil next time, but their bags are also high quality, super clear and easy to work with. Best results with feeding one, waiting perhaps 30 seconds to a minute and feeding the next with the 5 mil bags. Give it time to recover. I haven't had to wait with the 3mil bags and standard papers. Love it that it can handle the wider stuff too as maps and things need the bigger format. Great product, super value.

I purchased the 13” machine. I’m glad I did because it gives the input slot wiggle room. Meaning never gets caught if it goes in a little crooked. Also allowed me to run pouch laminate horizontal through the machine.Sometimes the heat seal close to inside paper didn’t heat to full transparency from outer edge to inside paper. Likely my fault because I wasn’t watching the. Light to make sure it was up to temp.But the 13” gave me the width to turn it horizontal to run through a second time once it had cooled.Absolutely no problem.I originally purchased the Apache 5ml pouch because of negative reviews for thinner pouches. No problems very stiff end result.I next purchased the 3ml pouch and again zero problems. 3 ml was sturdy but less stiff.Again if an area was not fully transparent along inner paper, after it cooled I ran it through again. I Knew my end product would be near water so wanted that heat seal as close to inner paper as possible.I will add that at times getting that tight seal required running it through the machine multiple time, ie 3,4,5 times.Always cooled laminated paper before running it through for another heat pass.Never a problem with the Apache machine & Apache laminate pouches combo whether 3 or 5ml.Excellent product. Both machine & pouches.

This is the first laminator I have ever used, so I don't have the benefit of comparison. I ordered it from Amazon for about $20. I am using it to make bench cards and tags (informational tags) for plants at my greenhouse. My first impressions are good....-- Plastic housing is sleek and simple.-- Not to bulky.-- Comes in a small box that is barely larger than the device. Which I think is cool, cuz this will go back in the box after use to keep the cat hair out. It does not like laminating cat hair.-- Heats up quickly. I did not feel like I was waiting around to use it.-- Laminates 7 lineal inches in 38 seconds.I was using 5Mil Scotch 3M pouches. 5 x 7 size. I laminated laser printed, normal weight printer paper. I placed 2 pouches side by side and fed them through. The pouches laminated long-way in 38 seconds. The first run or two left the laminate a little hazy (not sure if the haze is a brand issue or a laminator issue). So I ran those through again. The effect was cleared. After running the machine for 3-5 laminations of the same size, the lamination was clear first time through.One set of laminations, I did not remove immediately from the machine as it spit them out. The edge that was sitting closest to the heat of the laminator was distorted. I waited for the lamination to cool, ran it through a second time, and removed it immediately. This resolved the wavy edge.I don't know if any laminator makes noise while running, but this is as silent as the grave. There isn't ANY sound whatsoever. I ran almost 40 laminations one after the other. It was consistent after the 3rd set. I even tried two partial papers in a 5 x 7 pouch, and it laminated around them very well. I will be able to cut them apart without issue. I am quite pleased with the results.If there is any longevity issue from use, I will update this review.

Wonderful little machine, at a very reasonable price! Does a great job

Las primeras ocasiones si calienta muy bien , después de algunas usadas , se atora y calienta por partes

Pésimo equipo, no enmica a pesar de que los rodillos estén calientes

Not as good as my last laminator, but it does the job. Great price and pretty good quality. So far so good. Hope it lasts!I am updating my review, because of the customer service. I never expected that my review would get any feedback from the company. They did not like the less than perfect review and wanted to have a satisfied customer. Before I could respond to their e-mail, I had a new laminator delivered to me! The replacement model was the professional unit (AL13P2). It is a heavy duty unit with a temperature control. It does amazing lamination. So far so good in the week I have had it.

Worked great!