The Fellowes Starlet 90 binding machine is one of the most economical plastic comb binding machines on the market.

Designed for home and small office users this machine is designed to give users the ability to bind their own documents, reports and proposals without spending a fortune on a binding system.

This machine is small, easy to use and even includes a convenient carrying handle for transporting the machine.

Strengths / Features:

The Fellowes Starlet binding machine is one of the least expensive comb binding machines available on the market. With a price of just over $50, this machine is a great choice for someone who needs to occasionally bind a few documents or reports.

The Starlet has a unique design that allows the machine to fold flat when it is not in use. When folded there is a convenient handle to carry the machine from place to place. It also includes a slide out tray for holding a limited supply of plastic binding combs and provides a special sizing guide to help determine the correct size of spine for your document.

Unlike many other low priced plastic comb binding machines, this unit offers metal fingers and hooks as part of the comb opener. Units with plastic fingers and hooks will often break over time and are far less durable.

The Fellowes Starlet also includes one handle for punching and another handle for opening plastic combs. The two handle design helps to reduce wear and offers a nice small footprint for the machine.

This machine can punch up to 7 sheets of 20lb paper at a time. Although other units can certainly punch more, this is a respectable number for a low priced unit such as this.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

One major limitation of this unit is that it is only designed for use with plastic combs up to 1/2" in diameter. This allows users to bind documents up to 90 sheets using this unit. It is certainly possible to punch documents that are thicker than this. However, the comb opener is only designed for use with smaller combs. If you need to bind thicker documents, you might want to look for a heavier duty larger binding machine.

The Starlet is designed for use with letter sized (11") sheets and oversize (11.25") covers. It can not be used to bind documents that are shorter or longer than eleven inches. Organizations that need to bind legal sized documents or half size books need to consider other binding machines.

Although the hooks and fingers of the comb opener on the Starlet are made of metal, virtually everything else on this machine is made out of plastic. For light occasional use this shouldn't be a huge problem. However, this machine is not designed for heavy use and if used heavily, the plastic parts will most likely break.

Recommendation:

For individuals or organizations that are looking for a low cost plastic comb binding machine to bind letter sized documents up to 90 sheets thick, the Fellowes Starlet is a good choice.

It has a nice sleek design and the fact that it folds flat and contains storage for comb binding spines makes this a great choice.

However, the Starlet is not a good fit for organizations that need to bind custom length documents, need to bind large numbers of documents or need to bind documents that are thicker than 1/2".

If you need more information or would like to purchase the Fellowes Starlet Manual Plastic Comb Binding Machine or any of the other Plastic Comb Binding Machines that we carry please feel to visit our site or contact us with your questions.

This review was written by Jeff McRitchie who is the director of marketing for Mybinding.com. Jeff has written more than three hundred articles and more than two hundred reviews on Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers, 3-Ring Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Supplies, Paper Shredders and Paper Handling Equipment.