Craft

Surebonder PRO2-100 Watt Glue Gun

Best value workshop glue gun

It’s time for another Cool Tools video review. We’re going to take a look at the Surebonder Pro2 100 watt glue gun. I got this for $30 on Amazon, and you can pick up the same one using the link in the description, which helps support my show and the Cool Tools blog.

For years, when something called for hot glue, I’d reach for this 14 watt mini glue gun. It’s horrible. It takes forever to heat up, the built in stand is practically useless, and you have to unplug it to turn it off.

After researching my options, I settled on the Surebonder Pro2 as the best value in a step-up, workshop glue gun. There are more expensive options, and I also purchased a $70 option I’ll compare this to in a later video for Cool Tools, but for around $30 this delivers a significant improvement over the craft store variety glue guns.

There’s a built-in stand that actually works. You get a nice, long, 2-prong cord to work with. There’s a power switch at the base of the handle, so you can turn it off as soon as you’re done with it instead of fiddling around to unplug it. It heats up faster. It takes the bigger half-inch diameter glue sticks. And it has nozzles you can buy that you can swap out more control.

Another advantage to using a hotter gun like this is that most general purpose hot glues will take longer to cool down and set up, so you’ll get a little more working time with it. You can also fall down the rabbit hole of different glue types — low heat, high heat, wood glue, colored glue. Now that I don’t hate this thing, it’s been fun to see what options are out there.

My only complaints with this are that it would be nice if the heat were adjustable, and I wish the power switch lit up when it was on for a little visual feedback. Otherwise, I’m thrilled with this and wish I’d upgraded sooner.

-- Donald Bell 05/8/18

(Cool Tools has a YouTube channel with many more tool reviews — editors)

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