Pavo A3 Laminator II Review

“The Pavo A3 Laminator II is not even worth £1 except...”

Written on: 29/07/2007 by aliciaandrew (1 review written)

Good Points
Was very cheap (£34.99) with good spec on paper! (3 min warm up; reverse button; A3; variable heat settings; etc

Bad Points
First one 'ate' the laminating sheets despite being at correct heat setting. Just as well it had a reverse button. It appeared to 'catch' on the rollers just before it came out of the machine. I took it back to Hobbycraft where I bought it. They exchanged and also stated that their marketing department was experiencing similar problems but they held the Laminator pouch tightly as it was entering the machine and this appeared to help.
I tried the second one with trepidation and blank sheets of paper. This one was worse! First of all it smoked as soon as I turned it on - I left it thinking that possibly it was a bit of plastic or grease on the roller. I then waited for the green ready light to come on (it didn't). I decided to send through some sheets of plain paper to make sure it was going through - they came out wavy. Tried then with laminator sheets they came out wavy but at least weren't 'eaten'. I turned up the heat to the correct temperature for the pouches I was using (2x125) and waited for the thermostat to click (the ready light not working). The lamination came out very wavy and discoloured the plain lilac paper to pink ridges. Also the smoking started again. Tried the cold lamination switch (the green light came on for the first time and went off when I switched to hot lamination). Tried the reverse switch - this one - unlike the one I had returned - wouldn't stay down (i.e. worked like a 'rocker' switch). It is going back today and I do not intend to try another one!

General Comments
The Pavo A3 Laminator II is not even worth £1 except as scrap - wasted money on lamination sheets and lost an irreplaceable piece of memorabilia from initial machine eating it up. Obviously very badly made and could be dangerous!