My little one is approaching kindergarten and I purchased a laminator a while back. I coupon, and see the Scotch go on sale every few months in my daily emails, but I had used the same one previously when I taught preschool and I remember it being a little "light duty." I'm sure it works fine for small things, but if I remember correctly, I had to run something through a couple of times before it would properly heat seal.
I'm WAY too impatient for that, so I researched and found this one made by Royal. I love ebay and was able to find one shipped for around $35 (better than Amazon and it came with a starter kit). It is compact, heavy enough that it feels substantial, and it has a release latch in case your laminating gets crooked. So far, I am very pleased.
I just picked up 300 laminating sheets (no, I am not joking, haha) on ebay from Oregon Laminations as well. Their prices are very reasonable. Here are a couple of links:
Royal PL2100 Laminator (9"):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Royal-PL2100-9-Paper-Laminator-With-Starter-Kit-NEW-/310354126578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48428c26f2#ht_2315wt_1375
Oregon Laminations ebay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/oregonlaminationsstore
Good luck to you!