What's great about this product:

• This is a personal laminator with a very wide 13-inch feed opening. You'll be able to laminate a variety of documents including letter- and legal-sized ones, as well as photographs, maps, luggage tags, name badges, artwork, and so on.

• The ES-1310 has two rollers which is a good amount for a personal device. The rollers help ensure that everything you laminate will come out of the machine looking great. There are cooled guide rails that help your document come out of the device without any problems.

• This device is compatible with both 3 and 5 mil pouches.

• This machine has two hot settings that correspond to the two different sizes of pouches you can use with it. There's also a cold setting so you'll be able to laminate things that can't withstand hot lamination, such as ink-jet printouts. Since there's only three settings, using this product is extremely easy, even if you've never used a laminator before.

• The ES-1310 is equipped with a reverse mode that will be helpful if your document isn't aligned properly or if a pouch gets jammed.

• If you forget to turn the device off, it will automatically shut down after it hasn't been used for an hour. This helps prevent the motor from overheating so your laminator will last much longer.

• You don't need to use a carrier when working with the ES-1310. (A caveat: Although using a carrier isn't mandatory, you should really use one anyway. It will prevent the machine's interior from becoming coated with adhesive from the pouches you use.)

• The ES-1310 has a limited one-year warranty. It is also affordable so you can save a little bit of money.

And what's not so great:

• Although the ES-1310 is easy to use, it's disappointing that it can't accept pouches that are thicker than 5 mil.

• This laminator is kind of slow: it takes a full minute to laminate 1.2 feet of material. It also takes five minutes to fully warm up.

• Finally, this laminator will take up a bit of room. Its dimensions are 19.2" (width) x 6.6" (depth) x 4.7" (height).

Conclusion:

The Royal Sovereign ES-1310 is really one of the best pouch laminators available. Since it's labeled as a personal machine, it's perfect for use at home, but it would also be great for offices that need a laminator for occasional use and don't need a machine capable of using 7 and 10 mil pouches. It's great that this device has both hot and cold settings, and that it will automatically turn off after it hasn't been used for a while. The inclusion of a reverse mode is nice as well. While the machine takes a bit to warm up and it's not the fastest laminator on the planet, the ES-1310 is a great choice for just about everyone.