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Hi, I have a friend who needs to buy a new heat gun. I have the SU brand and I like this product and trust that it will last a long while. But she can go for less money with a coupon at Joanne's or Michaels. What do you all think of the Martha Stewart and Marvy brands? Has anyone used these in comparison with the SU brand and what did you think. TIA for any feedback.
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FS465
Before I bought the SU! heat gun, I had gone through several Marvy's from Michaels. They don't hold up to the occasional drop and they easily overheat. Haven't tried any other ones. I need to add that I emboss everything and use mine daily. For the stamper who will have it in a box more than use it, lesser quality ones probably will do OK.
Mary Beth
I have the Marvy one from Michael's/JoAnn's that I bought years ago and it is still going strong. I don't do alot of embossing so this one is fine for me.
I have the Marvy one from Michael's/JoAnn's that I bought years ago and it is still going strong. I don't do alot of embossing so this one is fine for me.
Same here, for 7 years now. It's fine for what I need it to do. Should it ever fizzle out, I'd get the Tim Holtz heat tool.
I also have the one I bought from Micheals/ JoAnns. It works well, but a few years ago I bought the SU one and I think it is a bit better. It seems to heat better and melt the powder faster, at least to me. I do still have both and use the other as a backup if I need two of them.
I have had the Marvy one for 15 years now; I do a lot of embossing, and it still works perfectly. Of course, I don't know if they make them now like they used to!
__________________ Linda E
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I own two of the Ranger "Heat It" tools (that Tim H. uses) that Valerie is referring to and I absolutely love them. I bought my first one back in 2000, believe it or not, from Walmart. A few years ago I dropped it and put a small crack in the barrel but it still works just fine, but I started trying to find another "Heat It" replacement to no avail. I went ahead and bought three different ones including the Marvy but my "Heat It" is the very best that I've ever owned....I LOVE it!!!! A few months ago I finally found one here and trust me I ordered one immediately. The lady (Cindy) that owns this store is fantastic to buy from...I've ordered from there a number of times!!! I hope I NEVER have to be without my "Heat It".....I use heat embossing all the time.
I would think one of the "other" brands is the SU brand in disguise. You know how that works!? A lot of the tools are manufactured at the same plant and just have a different sticker put on to brand them.
I don't even know the one I have but I used to to heat shrink wrap paper for shipping for three years almost daily and it is still working, I would say it is a generic brand, bought at Walmart.
I've had a Marvy heat gun for about 7 years now, and I haven't had a bit of trouble with it. It heats up quickly and melts my powders and shrink plastic beautifully. I'm not sure, but I think SU used to sell the Marvy with the SU name on it; and now they sell the Milwaukee brand with the SU name on it (and in black).
As far as other brands, the first gun I bought 13 years ago is still working although the switch quit working so I bought an SU gun (when I was a demo). The old one is now relegated to the barn to be used as a heat source to thaw out pipes on the electric waterer. It has spent literally hours 'down the hole' to thaw things out and it still working when needed but you have to plug it in to start it unplug to stop. When it dies, I'm not sure if I will let my SU gun go & buy the Tim Holtz one for myself, I love how quiet they are.
What I'm saying is the cheap one probably would be ok, unless she's an embossing maniac! I think the trick is to treat it nice, don't drop it or store with stuff on top or most of all block the vent when in use.
I had a Marvy for about 15 years then I sold it for $5 and decided I wanted to try something new. So I bought a Darcie. More expensive than 15 years ago but about the same as a Marvy. So I sold that one too. Then for Christmas my ds bought a Ranger Tim Holtz Heat It for $18 through Amazon and I just LOVE it! Very very compact, ever so quite and heats in an instant, with heat coming out with a little hot air rather than a heat coming out with hurricane type winds. I get so much done now, rather than waiting and wasting embossing powder and it's a dream on Shrink It material. The only problem I found was when I wanted to hurry up a project that I had sprayed with Glimmer Mist. The paper curled quickly and the only way to fix that is a do over or just tape it down well like I did. Luckily it was the base die cut of my project so I could use alot of tape on it.
Alot of words hope you can use even a portion of this jabber.
Last edited by mom2mikbo; 03-17-2010 at 06:36 AM..
Reason: info added.
I've had my Milwaukee heat gun from around 15 years ago, and it works just as well as it did when I first bought it. It went through an early period of stamping when all I did was emboss, a long break from stamping, two major moves and my most recent stint with stamping that's lasted almost three years.
I have a real heat gun (the kind use to remove paint) and I use it for embossing all the time. I love it because it has 2 heat settings (low and high) which is really nice for delicate papers. I've dropped it many many times and it still works. The bonus is that it was about 1/3 the price of the pretty craft store heat tools.
I have a real heat gun (the kind use to remove paint) and I use it for embossing all the time. I love it because it has 2 heat settings (low and high) which is really nice for delicate papers. I've dropped it many many times and it still works. The bonus is that it was about 1/3 the price of the pretty craft store heat tools.
Perhaps it's a Canadian thing! I have the same...my brother is a painter so he had an extra kicking around (it was new even!) I'd rather spend the extra money on stamps, paper, other fun tools...Like my new bind it all!
I have the Darice brand - purchased it about 5 years ago at Joann's and love it. I drop it quite often without any problems. I use it quite often to Emboss before coloring in images. I used a 40% off coupon and purchased it very cheap. If I ever have to buy another one- it will be the Ranger Heat It! tool.
I've had two different Heat-It guns and two Marvy's and both are adequate - BUT - I now own a Milwaukee and love it. I've dropped it at least twice with no problems and when I drop it it drops on a tiled floor. If you heat it up for a minute as they recommend, the embossing process goes lickety split!
__________________ ShariW
Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart-Prov.3:5a
I have the coloriser and I love it. It is compact which is a big one in my cramped room and it has 2 heat settings. I know several people have had problems with it but going on 3 years now and I have had no problems at all.
I have a Marvy, the Heat It and the Milwaukee
The Milwaukee is the best in my opinion. Mine is an old one that has lots of years of service on it and it rocks!
I have had 3 different heat tools. The first was the cheap one from Hobby Lobby. I used a coupon and it was pink. It worked fine however it was VERY LOUD. When I got my 2nd one I gave this one to a friend just starting out and she seemed appreciative and she was not one to have the newest and best of things.
The 2nd one I purchased because I got intrigued by one I saw in the Paper Wishes Catalog...It was made by Heritage Handcrafts It looked like a PINK PIG! I LOVED THIS!!! It was so QUIET... It had a Hefty stand (Not just a thin wire) It also reached 650 degrees and the Tip stay cool (great safety feature with small children around. However my 3 lb Chihuahua (at the time was a puppy) chewed up the wire. I went to buy another one and could not find it ANYWHERE!!! (Even Ebay BOOHOO!!!)
My husband new how upset I was and secretly took it to an appliance repair center and had them replace the cord for me. I am sure it cost more to replace the cord than it was when I purchased it brand new. (You should have seen all the old men workers come out from the back wanting to know what it was!!! They had taken bets as to who would guess correctly...They had never seen anything quite like it. If I had known I would have glued Googly Eyes and a pipe cleaner curled tail to really look like a pig!!!)
While I was without...I purchased the Ranger Heat Tool. I LOVE this one as well. It is as Quiet as my precious PINK PIG and does a great job. It was a an affordable price around $25. I tend to use this one the most these days because if my sweet little 4-legged baby decides to chew another cord...The Ranger Heat Tool is easily replaceable and apparently my PINK PIG is not.
I had bought one from Micheals and it has went on me already. I had used it a little off and on and I tried to do three cards the same and it bite the dust on the third. I had also bout one stampabilities and it done the same thing a few months ago. I would say it would be worth the extra investment to purchase the stampin up one. I know two people that have had their's and have made about 15-20 items back to back at stamp camps and they help up. They usuall use their's on a daily to weekly basis.
I have had a Milwaukee for 14 years and I love it! I have used others but they do not compare in my opinion. Mine does not have any kind of guard over the metal nozzle so you've got to watch out, especially with kids around. But the performance is great, even after having been dropped several times. Since the SU brand is the Milwaukee I'd spend the extra $ and get it.
I personally have had a Milwaukee heat tool for about 10 years and love it... heats up quickly, is more quiet than the SU one (still noisy though), and has less "blow" than the others I've tried.
I bought a new Marvy from Michael last month. I had to make 16 cards all with embossing powder on them. The heating gun took forever to warm up enough to start melting the powder. I went scourging the house looking for my old one. Thank goodness I found it cause I never would have gotten finished with the Marvy. It went right back to Micheal the next weekend. Not buying one again that for sure.
Tim Holtz heat gun-craft tool---I would use nothing else. It is great-quiet, no blowing powder around-great from shinking plastic. Love it-I'm glad they are finally back on the market!
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I got mine at HObby Lobby for 40% off, so it was about $10.00. I love it and I use a lot. I don't know the brand. It heats up fine. I haven't had any trouble with it. I couldn't ever see paying the price of the SU heat tool even tho almost everything I have is SU.
__________________ All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy!
The 2nd one I purchased because I got intrigued by one I saw in the Paper Wishes Catalog...It was made by Heritage Handcrafts It looked like a PINK PIG! I LOVED THIS!!! It was so QUIET... It had a Hefty stand (Not just a thin wire) It also reached 650 degrees and the Tip stay cool (great safety feature with small children around. However my 3 lb Chihuahua (at the time was a puppy) chewed up the wire. I went to buy another one and could not find it ANYWHERE!!! (Even Ebay BOOHOO!!!)
My husband new how upset I was and secretly took it to an appliance repair center and had them replace the cord for me. I am sure it cost more to replace the cord than it was when I purchased it brand new. (You should have seen all the old men workers come out from the back wanting to know what it was!!! They had taken bets as to who would guess correctly...They had never seen anything quite like it. If I had known I would have glued Googly Eyes and a pipe cleaner curled tail to really look like a pig!!!)
Valerie
Yes!!! I have a Pink Pig and absolutely LOVE it! I got mine through Addicted to Rubber Stamps.com.
I LOVE my pink pig but after I had to go through so much trouble to replace the cord and couldn't find it anymore...I kind of "protect it" by not using is as often. I have my Ranger Heat It tool plugged in all the time but I pull out the Pink Pig when I have friends over or go to a class...People love it and want to try embossing and find that it really is easy and fun.
Valerie
I have the Heat It tool as well and I love how quiet it is and that it doesn't warp the paper or blow it all around, but sometimes mine makes a funny sort of high pitched whine - does anyone else's do that, is it normal?
I also have the EK Success Coloriser and the Milwaukee and they are both great, just noisier and produce a little more forceful blast of air.
I own two of the Ranger "Heat It" tools (that Tim H. uses) that Valerie is referring to and I absolutely love them. I bought my first one back in 2000, believe it or not, from Walmart. A few years ago I dropped it and put a small crack in the barrel but it still works just fine, but I started trying to find another "Heat It" replacement to no avail. I went ahead and bought three different ones including the Marvy but my "Heat It" is the very best that I've ever owned....I LOVE it!!!! A few months ago I finally found one here and trust me I ordered one immediately. The lady (Cindy) that owns this store is fantastic to buy from...I've ordered from there a number of times!!! I hope I NEVER have to be without my "Heat It".....I use heat embossing all the time.
Pam
I totally agree. I just received my Heat It today (purchased from another retailer online), and I just HAD to write about how amazed I was at the difference between it and the Marvy heat tool. It is night and day. In fairness to Marvy, it did last several years, but in the middle of an assembly line project it suddenly died. I think it overheated. I called Marvy's customer service (and they were friendly) but I was told that their heat tools aren't supposed to last for more than a year. I don't know if that is with continuous use, or just the average shelf-life of the product, but i was disappointed to hear that because I don't want to have to replace a heat gun that often.
Now, I can't vouch for the longevity of the Heat It yet, but i was literally blown over by how well it embossed and so quickly-- I blinked and it was done. And the results were remarkably better than the Marvy.. and mind you, I was still mid-project, so I used all the same materials as I used with the Marvy before it conked out.
With the Marvy I would often over emboss on certain parts of a design, under emboss parts for fear of over-embossing or warp my paper even though I moved the tool around and kept it at the recommended distance. I now believe that the Marvy tends to have too strong an air current and not enough power and that's why I didn't get such great results. The Heat It is more powerful (500 watts compared to the 360 on the Marvy) so it heats more quickly, and yet somehow is much quieter than the Marvy. Also, because it heats so quickly, it embosses quicker and I have not had a problem warping my cardstock (YAY). The whole image embossed at the same time and looks professional-- best I've ever been able to achieve.
Let's just say that I was so enthralled with the results that I went online, searched the forums, and was eager to post-- now that's customer satisfaction.
I just got a Dewalt heat gun for Christmas. Any suggestions on the best settings for heat embossing? I don't want to start a fire or anything. LOL
I'd suggest starting on the lowest setting to begin with, experimentation is the only way to find out. The trick to prevent scorching or starting a fire is distance, time, and movement. Let us know you like it. I've a Milwaukee heat gun and love it. Dewalt has great products, keep us posted!
I just got a Dewalt heat gun for Christmas. Any suggestions on the best settings for heat embossing? I don't want to start a fire or anything. LOL
What Anne said. I'd suggest letting it heat up until it's hot before embossing. For my Milwaukee that means about 20 seconds for the first emboss. Being hot means less time it's close to your paper, which is a good thing.
Heat Gun Brand Comparison Question
