Choosing the best label printer

  • Thread starter Thread starter h7qvnk7q001
  • Start date Start date
H

h7qvnk7q001

Does anyone know of any articles or reviews that compare features and
total ownership costs for label printers?

Label printers are marketed like Inkjet printers - the printer itself
is sold for a reasonable price, but the consumables (label tape or ink)
are extremely expensive.

So any useful evaluation has to factor in the price of the label tape.
I have been unable to find such a review.

The intention is for general home & small business labeling - not heavy
duty industrial or production applications.

Any pointers?

Thanks - Tim
 
Does anyone know of any articles or reviews that compare features and
total ownership costs for label printers?

Label printers are marketed like Inkjet printers - the printer itself
is sold for a reasonable price, but the consumables (label tape or ink)
are extremely expensive.

So any useful evaluation has to factor in the price of the label tape.
I have been unable to find such a review.

The intention is for general home & small business labeling - not heavy
duty industrial or production applications.

Any pointers?
Click to expand...

Both Dymo and Brother have a wide range of label printers that will take
different sizes and types of label tape. Before you can make your choice, you
have to answer a few questions:

1) Do you need plastic-laminated labels or are paper labels good enough for
you?
2) What is the tallest label size you will ever need? 1/4" or 1/2" or 1" or
more?
3) Do you need a PC-based labeller or a standalone one (ie. one that runs
off batteries and has a keyboard and a small screen) or both?
4) Do you need to use fonts that are smaller than approx. 5 pt?
5) Are fixed-size (die-cut) labels good enough (ex. 1" by 2") or will you need
to do very long labels of arbitrary length (ex. 1" by 8.357") ?

Once you have these answers you can go through various product descriptions
and see if they meet your needs. As far as label tape, plastic-laminated is
significantly more expensive than paper, wider tape is a little more expensive
than narrower tape but the printers are significantly more expensive. Brother
makes the PT-2600 which is both a standalone and PC-based printer and costs
about $130. It can use either laminated tape for arbitrary length labels or
die-cut paper tape. However it is a 180-dpi machine so it can't do small
fonts. For that you would need the PT-9500PC which is a 360-dpi machine but it
costs $300 even though it uses the same tapes.

If you want VERY cheap labels, you can always buy letter-sized label sheets
and feed them through your existing inkjet or laser printer. :)

--Tom.
 
Does anyone know of any articles or reviews that compare features and
total ownership costs for label printers?

Label printers are marketed like Inkjet printers - the printer itself
is sold for a reasonable price, but the consumables (label tape or ink)
are extremely expensive.

So any useful evaluation has to factor in the price of the label tape.
I have been unable to find such a review.

The intention is for general home & small business labeling - not heavy
duty industrial or production applications.

Any pointers?

Thanks - Tim
Click to expand...


Printing volume will affect your choice. I was using Dymo label printers
for several users, but found duty cycle of these printers rather low- They
only lasted about 3 months! It seems they do not like to print long "sets"
of labels. The print head would overheat and eventually burn out. I have
had good luck with Zebra label printers. I am using about dozen and have
had only one failure (and it was DOA). Not network ready, but you can
purchase a module that plugs into the centronics port that allows ethernet
connectivity. Wide variety of label widths. Thermal or thermal transfer (I
use thermal, saves headaches changing ribbon). But they aren't cheap.
$400-$450 (But they are cheaper than the big high volume printronics label
printers I have hanging the network for shipping labels! about $2000)

Mark
 
Back
Top