Levenger Circa Portable Punch Review

I ordered this because it was part of a sale where if i bought a jr starter (or was it the letter?) set i would get the hole punch free.  Hey I sorta need one at work, and I can always use another circa cover right?  so off i went with my credit card and ordered it.  And then it showed up...



dun..
dun..
dun...

what the heck?  how does this work, I asked myself.  Oh well delve into other goodies first!  I got a set of the Levenger Garden Variety Set paperclips, a Rhodia Meeting Pad and a circa agenda on clearance.  After a couple of weeks of it just sitting around (in my defense I got this package the day before my wedding) I finally decided to open the levenger portable punch and investigate its workings.  Read the directions, got confused... read the directions a 2nd time and decided to experiment.





Thought I was going crazy with the punch.  Ok i finally figured it out.. took a lot of trial and error (ok maybe i'm just challenged with this punch or something..)  The portable punch comes in 2 pieces, a guide/rule and the hole punching section.

The Rule

The Punch

What's nice about the punch is that its usable for all different sizes.  There is a guide on rule part of the punch that allows for you to line up your paper sizes (Letter, Junior, compact and 3x5 card).  In addition, the punch is locked in place when not in use by a lock catch.  (See below right) Sliding the locking mechanism to the left releases the punch for use.  This allows for the punch to be more portable. 

 

Up to 3 piece of paper is inserted in the rule/guide section and is lined up with the appropriate size that you want.  Then the ruler section of the guide is flipped back so that the punch can actually be used.  

Basically the punch is lined up at pre-determined intervals based on the rule/guide's notches.



The paper is punched and the punched paper is held in a reservoir in the punch.  The paper is then able to be inserted into circa discs directly from the punch or you can do as i typically do and take the paper out of the punch and insert where ever you want to in your already bound notebook. 

Do I like the punch?  Yep, totally nice to have.  I am able to take this punch to and from the house to work or even to leave at work.  It is packable in a small enough space that it does not take up a lot of room on my desk.  Now that I've figured out how it works its great to have.  What I do wish is that somehow its easier to line up the pieces of paper -- as I place paper in the rule section, it covers up the guides as to what sized paper I am using -- and this wouldnt be a huge deal but I am slightly OCD about all the papers in my binder being lined up exactly alike and if its off slightly it would drive me nuts.  I typically keep the portable punch at work so that I have something to use when I am punching small amounts of paper.  3 sheets is really the max this portable punch can do at one time -- the guide holds the paper in place using magnets and the magnet really wont allow for more than 3 sheets of paper at a time.  

Where to Purchase?

• Levenger $29.00

Other Reviews

• Juridack (youtube video about Circa in general)