Fellowes SPL 125 Professional Pouch Laminator

Staff Review

A Look at the Fellowes SPL-125 Professional Pouch Laminator

A professional pouch laminator is a must-have item if your company or organization finds itself regularly laminating a lot of documents. If this is the case with your workplace, one machine you should really check out is the Fellowes SPL-125 professional pouch laminator. This is the most advanced laminator the company manufactures and it has a lot of features that make it easy to quickly laminate a lot of items. Plus, it’s available at a great price. To find out what the SPL-125 is capable of, please continue reading.

The Fellowes SPL-125 professional pouch laminator is a great machine for workplaces that laminate a lot of documents and need a speedy machine that can produce great results. The machine has a 13-inch throat so it can laminate a whole range of items, from small (such as ID cards) to large (menus and the like). The SPL-125 heats up in three minutes and it can laminate up to 35 inches of material per minute, which is extremely fast. The machine has four rollers to help distribute heat pretty evenly and it has a full range of temperature settings, from cold to very hot, so you can get just the right temperature you need for your laminating job.

The SPL-125 also allows you to choose how fast the machine will go. That, combined with the adjustable temperature setting, really allows for total control over your project. There’s even an LED user interface and a pouch thickness guide that makes the entire process easier. The machine is capable of accepting mounting boards that are 1/8″ or thinner, and it can work with the whole range of laminating pouches, all the way up to 10 mil in thickness. There is a reverse mode so you can efficiently clear up jams should they happen, and the machine’s automatic shut-off helps reduce the risk of the machine overheating, so you won’t need to fret about potential costly repairs…unless you don’t use a carrier when laminating. (More about this in a minute.) Finally, the machine comes with a two-year warranty and it’s available for the ridiculously low price of $599.95, making this one of the best – and least expensive – professional laminators you can get.

Before buying the SPL-125, you should be aware that the machine isn’t perfect. First off, the machine is housed in plastic, which obviously isn’t the most durable material. (If having a professional laminator with a metal casing is important, you should look at machines such as the GBC HeatSeal H600Pro.) Also, the SPL-125 has four rollers. Generally, this means that you should enjoy a great-looking finished product every time, but you could run into some issues when you try to laminate photos, especially those printed on specialty papers such as Hewlett Packard photo paper. Since the machine has four rollers instead of six, you may experience bubbling when you laminate photographs. So, if you laminate a lot of photographs, a designated photo laminator such as the Lamitek SL14 might be a better choice. Finally, although you don’t technically need to use a carrier with this machine, you should anyway. Using a carrier when you laminate can help you prolong the life of your machine because a carrier helps prevent adhesive from trickling out of the laminating pouch. Adhesive can really gum up the inside of your machine, leading to jams, possible expensive repairs, or even the need to replace your machine. So definitely use a carrier when laminating with the SPL-125.

Nevertheless, the Fellowes SPL-125 is an awesome laminator available at an great price. If you need a professional-grade laminator that is fast and easy to use, the Fellowes SPL-125 is definitely an obvious choice, despite its couple of drawbacks.