We rarely laminate but we do overprint with UV/Abrasion Guard sold by both Duracoat and Advantage Sign Supply under the Apex brand name for vehicle work and anything else outdoor that we want to last longer than 3 years in direct sunlight.
As mentioned previously, we've had problems Edge printing on Oracal films. Especially black foils. Expect to see a major improvement with the Gerber/3M films. Oracal used to print without problem and then they changed something, so do not base any evaluation or problem correction by running tests using Oracal films.
To improve on pin holes and other dropouts, always start your day by running about 3" wide by 11.75" tall of solid color. This serves to get the temperature of the print head up to speed and spread the heat out evenly.
Whenever problems happen with the prints, slow down to Edge I speed.