Jeff McRitchie

GBC HeatSeal H520 Laminator Review

Whether you need to laminate name badges, sell sheets, menus or posters this unit can probably do the job. Aimed at the medium to large office market, the GBC HeatSeal H520 is designed as a solution for organizations that need to laminate documents of many different sizes. In the following review, we will take a look at this laminating machine and provide you with a list of what we consider to be its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

1. The most remarkable thing about the H520 is the speed at which it operates. While your typical pouch laminator operates at a speed of around twelve to fifteen pages per minute, the H520 gives you a speedy thirty one and a half inches per minute of laminating. If you add this kind of speed to the short warm-up time that the H520 also boasts, we can see how you could get a lot more done in a pretty short time with this machine.
2. Another feature that we really appreciated is that the H520 gives the user the capability to laminate documents using 3mil, 5mil, and 7mil pouches. This is a lot of versatility for a laminator at this price point.
3. The document feed opening of the H520 is quite large, measuring twelve and a half inches. This sort of width will allow for the laminating of menu sized items and pouches, and if you use GBC's long side sealed pouches, your productivity and speed will increase all the more.
4. Another thing we really liked about this machine was the LCD control panel. The panel will allow the user to control the unit's temperature, since the speed is fixed. We also appreciated the guide that is printed on the side of the machine that shows us the correct settings to use for the different pouch thicknesses.

Weaknesses:

1. Every machine on the market has a few disadvantages, and the H520 is no different. This particular machine is what is known as a carrier free laminator, meaning that is not meant to laminate documents using pouch carriers. Though this makes the H520 a faster machine than those who do need carriers, it presents the user with a couple of issues. One of them is that the adhesive used in the process can build up on the rollers over time. What happens then, worst case scenario, is that a laminating pouch can become wrapped around the machine's rollers, and the machine is essentially irreparable at that point. This is avoidable, and to prevent this from occurring, or at the very least to have it covered under the warranty, the user must clean the rollers on a regular basis using the cleaning sheet, and you must also use GBC's own laminating pouches. You can still use the machine with carriers. However, you might need to adjust the temperature so that the machine runs a little bit hotter in order to account for the additional thickness of the pouch carriers.
2. Though the H520 laminates items that utilize 3, 5, or 7mil pouches, it draws the line at 10mil. This means that you may want to consider another machine if your organization is looking for a laminator for documents that will require a certain amount of rigidity, such as signs or name badges.

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