Apache AL18P Professional Hot/Cold 18" (Actually 17.5" max Laminating Width) Thermal Laminator and 20 Laminator Pouches

I've been using this daily since I received it a week ago. I've laminated 3 x 5 index cards for recipes as well as used the 11 1/2 x 17 1/2 7 mil thick pouches for some maps and photo prints. Plain paper as well as photo paper. The unit performed flawlessly ! I was very satisfied with the warm-up time as well as the speed at which the lamination process is completed in. NOW...I've read some reviews pertaining to the fumes. REALLY??? Has anyone ever purchased a new electric oven and not had any fumes the first time? How about a new electric hair dryer first use? It's an electric unit and this is normal. Yes, mine had fumes the first time and being honest, I'm using it in a 8 x 20 foot room. Each time I used it, the odor diminished. But be reasonable, you're still heasting a plastic so there will always be some odor but nor after a week it's very little. When I look at all the possible uses for this machine and the items I will be able to preserve without having to run out and pay to have it done and since gasoline is not getting any cheaper, in my opinion, this unit is well worth the money. BEST PART !!! I called the company as I had a question about the operation of the unit. I GOT A LIVE PERSON !!! Not press 1 for this, 2 for that and so on, but a live person who answered my question immediately ! No song and a dance, no run around, no I'll get back to you...just a straight up front answer. I don't know about anyone else, but that's a big star in my book. I will highly recommend this machine, as well as SPN Performance.

First few tries with 3 mil lam, the temp was set at the recommended setting of 230 degrees- had to bump it up to 240 so I wouldn't get any silvering (patches of laminate that didn't bond and made dark colors look silver). I had to remove the metal covers on top and back of the Apache laminator to prevent the front corners from wrinkling, otherwise it works really well. Same for the 5 mil laminate. had to turn it up to 302 degrees to get a good lam. Overall, it's a great deal! in the last two weeks I've run about 200 sheets through it. Update: After less than 10 months this POS died. It was NOT used every month, maybe every other month or less. Total number of pieces through this machine was less than 50 sheets. Rollers do not work now. Heats up but doesn't turn. Total waste of money. Would suggest to stay away from this.

This is the best machine and the best price ever! Cheetah mounts customer service is amazing! I ordered my Laminator and had it sitting in my craft room for almost a month. Today I was really excited to use it for the first time.. ( I have owned one before and know exactly how it works). I fired it up and it was malfunctioning. I called customer service and spoke with Stephanie. She was very sweet and tried to work me through over the phone to get the laminator working properly (we tried several things). With all things there are always potential issues (shipping damage, loose wires etc. I understand that). I was dreading having to send the unit back (it's very sturdy and quite heavy. I said "Oh Stephanie, I don't wanna have to ship it back"! She said,, "No worries, for your trouble I will ship you out a new unit, since we can't seem to get it working with Tech. support"... Ok, Really? could it get any better than that? I am amazed at some of the reviews here saying this unit is "expensive" are you kidding? you can't touch an 18" Hot laminator that does what this machine does for less than $1000.00 and I'm being conservative (from my extensive searching). I have owned this laminator before, I used it for over a year extensively, the temp. started having issues and I returned it to amazon (they charged me shipping which was hefty) I wish I would have known to call Cheetah mounts and deal directly with them. I ended up having to wait over a year to find the 18" Apache for sale again ( I couldn't find it anywhere) and like I said 18" laminators are very expensive so I waited. You can't go wrong with this machine and this price. You may need to play with the heat settings a bit just at first, because everyone's situation can be a bit different. There are folks on here that have given some pretty good advice in their reviews. I could not be happier!! Thanks Cheetah Mounts for making such a great product that we can afford for personal use, and for having such great customer service and standing behind your product like you do. High Five!

8/6/14: We've had this laminator 1 year and 1 month, just past the warranty. It suddenly stopped heating up. This one replaced one we had that we'd been using for several years. The reason we got this new one is because the old one was getting pretty beat up and we were afraid it would stop working and we would be left without one. We ended up donating the old one and now are kind of sorry we did. It's still working fine. (Just to be clear, the old one was not an Apache) I saw some other reviews and everyone seems happy with it but I wonder how long they've had them. In my opinion, don't buy this one, it won't last. 8/7/14: UPDATE: WOW! I just spoke with customer service and they are sending me a new laminator, 2nd day air! I don't even have to send them the old one back. WOW! If this really happens that is the best customer service I've experienced in a long time! I'm going to update my rating for now and I'll let you know how it turns out. 8/14/14: UPDATE: Another WOW! The new laminator came in AND customer service contacted me to make sure I got it. This one is working fine. They sent me a brand new one, even though the other one was out of warranty by a month, no shipping cost, and I don't have to return the defective one. Also, the warranty on this new one is 1 year too. I must say Apache has great customer service and they will make good on their products. I'll be adjusting the stars upward to 5 because of the great customer service. Thanks Apache!

This is the second AL18P laminator we have bought. We use it in business to laminate 5 mil and 10 mil pouches. Unfortunately, the first one we bought, which lasted more than a year, had instructions for the AL13P, and the temps stated in that instruction sheet were quite a bit higher for 5 mil (we use 5 mil for letter size documents) than what is stated on the new 18" laminator surface (so glad they put that decal on the laminator itself). My biggest complaint with the product is the extreme SQUEAKING. There doesn't seem to be any way of stopping it. Were it not for that, it would receive 5 stars.

This is my one-week review. This machine works really well. It replaced an increasingly-crankly GBC laminator which was MUCH less user friendly. Easy initial startup. Everything seemed pretty obvious to me. I didn't even read the instructions until after I'd done the first job. I set it up atop my front-loading clothes dryer (I was a bit leery of setting it atop any wooden surface...perhaps I was a bit paranoid.). Turned it on and set my temperature. Then I waited for warmup, which took about 5 minutes to heat up and stabilize; definitely got the stinky smell for a bit. I laminated about 100 ID cards (5mm pouches) for an event. I staggered groups of them throughout the 8-1/2 x 11" carrier. One-pass at 302-degrees did ten of them. Nice-clear-well-fused laminate. I used my corner-rounding tool to make nice corners. As others have mentioned, this laminator takes a long time to cool off (much more time than it took to heat and stabilize). Mine took about forty minutes to become cool to my touch. I unplug any electrical device I'm not using. My wish: a dust cover for a cooled-off laminator. I use my laminator for different-sized and different thickness, cards and pages.

So this laminator, which is VERY heavy, is packaged in the cheapest, thinnest cardboard box you can imagine by Apache. On top of that, Amazon shipped it to me in that box instead of double-boxing it, so the box arrived looking like it had been through a war zone. The cover that goes over the rollers was dented and pushed down on one side. That cover is pressure-fitted and 4 flimsy metal tabs (that will easily break) are supporting it underneath. I also noticed a lot of paint/metal flakes falling out of the laminator. I don't get why Apache would make such a heavy-duty laminator and then cheap-out on fit and finish and then package it in a flimsy cardboard box. It seemed to laminate fine, but first impressions matter, so I sent it back and ended up buying an Akiles laminator from another vendor. Huge price difference, but you get what you pay for. Came boxed in a proper, heavy-duty cardboard box, and the vendor double-boxed it for extra safety in transit. It laminates flawlessly and has better features (6 rollers instead of 4, up to 14 mil instead of 10, variable speed, memory settings, etc.). Fit and finish are immaculate on the Akiles. So if you want to "graduate" beyond the consumer-grade, plastic laminators that don't give you precise temperature controls, I'd recommend saving up and going with a higher-end brand.

I first purchased this laminator last year. I'm about to bury my 3rd one! I would not recommend this unit or the return policy for CheetahMounts. The first one quit working (rollers rolled, no heat) after less than 2 months. I wanted a replacement but the lead time was 60 days or more. I declined and I got my money back after shipping it back. After discovering that there is not another 18" pouch laminator out there anywhere close in price, I gave this another shot. Again, less than two months later, it quit. It wouldn't turn on (for both laminators we checked the fuse, no problems). This time they told me to throw away the laminator and they would ship me another new one. I received an email on December 9th that they had shipped the laminator. I received it a week later. A couple weeks ago it stopped functioning correctly. The machine turned on, the unit heated up but the rollers wouldn't turn. We checked inside and found nothing keeping the rollers from turning, and then it just stopped working altogether. I emailed CheetahMounts and let them know the issue. To make a long story short, they would not give me my money back as it had been over 30 days, they would let me return the item to them but I had to pay shipping. That's their policy. I've been a quality engineer for my company, and I am currently a manager for a large office furniture manufacturer. We would never cause our customer this pain. I can't continue to waste time or money on this unit or CheetahMounts. We've made the decision to bite the bullet and buy a real laminator. I would strongly advise anyone trying to save some money to steer clear of this item, it is not worth the time or the money.