Royal Sovereign 12" Desktop Laminating Machine with Jam Release Lever (CL-1223) , White

This was my first ever laminator. I noticed other card makers used this very one. The first one that arrived came in a badly damaged box. There was a chip out of the side of the laminator and the green ready light never came on. I contacted Royal Soverign and had my replacement in 2 days. Phenomenal customer service!!! To return the damaged one was free.The replacement laminator is simply perfect. It comes up to temp rather quickly, the feed is smooth and the results are just right. I cannot recommend Royal Sovereign enough!!!!

I was torn between buying this or the Heidi Swapp Minc laminator for my crafting. I like to use heat foil on my card making projects. This works like a dream. I'm glad I saved the money and opted for this instead. I heats quickly and has a hot or cool setting. I just purchased some off brand laminating sheets, and they work well in this machine for laminating our fishing license. I haven't tried the Scotch brand sheets as I have heard they don't seal well, so I opted for an off brand. You will not be disappointed if you just need a basic laminator.

I have used this machine just once so far.I am in love with it. Very satisfoed with my purchase. It took some time to heat up but I am very satisfied with the end result.I may buy the smaller one for crafting purposes

I think this product will work well for laminating. That is not what I bought it for. I use it for foil transfer on my greeting cards. For this purpose it is marginal. I let it warm up a full 30 minutes before I used it and it still was not warm enough. I even put my card in several times, and used an extra shim. Not as good as advertised by other users on Youtube. I will keep trying.

As a teacher it’s nice to have this compact and effective laminator in the room. It’s safe to use, not hot on the surface. The lamination sheets go through nicely, and it’s good quality adhesion and stiffness. One day it ate my project, and I don’t know why. However, it was easy to fix, (see on YouTube), and I haven’t had the problem since. Bear in mind the sheets of laminate are about 8x10, so it’s not for big projects. I’m really happy with it so far. Have used it about 200 times.

It works fine but not sure if gets hot enough for laminate, or could be the sheets I have. Cold setting awsome

I've never used a Laminator before and I read A LOT of reviews before settling on the 12" Royal Sovereign (the 8.5" had plenty of neg reviews for lack of heat at the far left and right edges). I was involved in a family project that grew and grew and before I knew it, I'm laminating hundreds of playing card sized items. I started it up and wouldn't turn it off for HOURS. There was one day at the end where I left it on for 10 hours straight. I'm not recommending this - it has to be against the manufacturers guidelines, but I'm letting you know I did. The machine is a champ. The last of those 200+ laminations came out as perfectly as the first. The heat level was perfect. Although I had purchased 5 mil sheets I never used them. I only used 3 mil sheets, but after using it a bunch I don't think the thickness of the sheets is an issue. You're not melting the plastic so much as the adhesive that's sprayed on it. Anyway, I can only attest to the 3 mil sheets. Really great product or else I would not be wasting my time writing this ridiculously long review! Thanks if you made it this far!

This laminator was very easy to use. I have a 9” version that is awesome. But wow! Every attempt came out hazy and the finished product was barely warm when it was processed. I tried several warm up times: 15’, 30’, 45’, 1 hour. I think I received a defective unit. Perhaps the heating unit was damaged. I decided to return it.I simply went to my orders and hit ‘return’ and my app generated a scannable code for me to take with my item to UPS. The UPS staff scanned the code to pay for the return shipping and I was immediately reimbursed. That made it a good experience.So what did I do in the end? I chose to stick with the brand...but purchased the Professional, 4-roller version. It’s listed on Amazon for ~$98, but I had a coupon with a binding and office supply store and purchased there.It may be an ok laminator...but sometimes, you get exactly what you pay for.