I admit it. I gave in to the all-popular 3M ATG 714! Everybody loves it and I will also, I know that. Why? Because I’m soooo tired of gluing my photos and after a few days, they fall apart. Not just my pictures, but cards and other projects. I wanted a double-sided tape but I just can’t spend on the small glue gliders that don’t work well.
3M ATG 714
So, after so much of deliberation, I decided to buy it. Believe me, it wasn’t easy. I had to consider so much before making the investment. I’m very “economical” and I don’t like to have things that I don’t really need. These are some of the things that I considered:
- cost, not just the initial cost but the tape refills
- space that it’s going to take in my house
- right fitting to my small hands
I figured out that the 714 is big but not heavy, so I could handle it. Since it’s big, I’m not going to have any trouble finding it. It has a trigger, so I think that can give some control over the projects. It uses a 1/4 inch tape; that’s good for making cards or attaching photos.
Now, about the cost. The 714 is not cheap, at least for me. You make an initial investment but the tape is very inexpensive and the most important factor for me: it works! After I decided to buy it, it was the time to compare prices; after hours and hours of searching and researching, I found the best places. I want to let you know the ones that I considered the best prices:
- cropandstick $41.60 + 10.74 SH
- inkognitoart $40 + 5.00SH
- framingsupplies $41,69 + 7.63SH
- findtape $56.23 + 8.25 SH
- apakinc $41.29 + 8.00 SH
- ebay $47 + 7.85 SH
- armel $54
It may differ for your zip code because of the shipping, but those were the prices for me; I live in Florida.
But, that’s not all. You need to buy the tape. Depending on the kind of projects that you are going to do, you need to buy tape that is acid free or not:
3M 987 Economy, not acid free, 60 yards, approx. $3.50
3M 908 Gold, acid free, 36 yards, approx. $3.50
JVCC 7502, acid free, approx. $2.00
Conclusion: I bought the 714 plus the rolls all in one place…..that was framingsupplies. Why? Because the 714 plus 3 rolls of the gold 3M and SH was altogether $59.79.
Compared to cropandstick, the same deal was $62.84 and from apakinc was $61.93. Addicionally, I read great comments about framingsupplies.
I wanted the acid free tape and framingsupplies doesn’t have the cheaper JVCC, so I bought the 3M Gold for now. When I’ll need more tape I may go for the JVCC 7502, which is acid free also, but much cheaper. Findtape sells it for $1.99 plus $8.25 SH; amazon for $2.09 plus $7.00SH. Since S&H is high, it made more sense buying the tape and the gun together.
I hope this article will help you and save some hours or days of researching. If you have any question, let me know. I will be posting when I get my 714 and open the box. Have a great day!
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