MUNZEE Lamination Wear and Tear Test Results

After five months outside this Munzee Card is still holding up well.

For those of you who are into the Munzee craze you might be curious as to what methods of card placements are holding up and which ones are not. After I first heard of Munzee back in August 2011 I did a series of dunk tests. You can see that post here:
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/2011/07/munzee-card-dunk-test-no-punch-holes.html

These are the same tests I use when checking out new geocache ideas to see how waterproof they actually are.

What I have personally tested in regards to Munzee are different methods of lamination. The results were notable. There are two types of lamination that I experimented with. The first was the cold, press down business card lamination. The second was using a hot press lamination machine with the business card size jacket. Both looked almost identical when put together correctly. It looked like the paper Munzee cards suspended inside would keep all safe and dry. 

For the most part that is true, however there was a serious flaw with both methods so I felt it best to mention it here. The critical flaw is if you punch a whole in the lamination AND the hole cuts through the paper card inside. Once this happens you no longer have a good seal and your card will leak!

Lamination bonds plastic to plastic. It does not bond onto the item placed inside the lamination jacket. So you must ONLY punch your hole in an area where the lamination is clear through and nothing is between the two sheets. You may have to print your Munzee card a little smaller to accomplish this.

For the endurance portion of the test I placed some of my Munzee cards out in the wild for four or five months. I just recently checked up on a couple.

The results: The Munzee where I did the cold, press down lamination remained waterproof, BUT, the edges did look a bit frayed and are starting to separate just enough to make me think that in another year or two they may need to be replaced. The Munzee that I hot pressed with a machine looked the same as the day I put it out. Not a defect anywhere. In fact the plastic tie I placed it with was badly faded and the Munzee card was not. Thought that was interesting. So there you go.

You be the judge in the matter of how you place your Munzee cards. For now the hot press machine appears to be just a bit better.

- HHH

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