Life is stressful enough, so you may as well do what you can to cut down on all those little annoyances. Thankfully, there are simple ways to solve for such minor hassles, and many involve taking a hot second to get yourself—and your home—better organized.
A label maker is a great place to start, as designating a place for items and IDing them can save you hours of collective frustration. If you're ready to summon your inner Marie Kondo, read on for our top label maker recommendations. There are a lot of little things to consider when shopping for a label maker. Budget aside, start with nailing down essential versus nice-to-have features based on your needs.
That can include everything from the number of font sizes and styles to label production speed. For example, if you want to do some basic labeling at home, you likely won't need a device that has 14 fonts and 97 frames and can print graphics and QR codes. For mass mailings, a device that spits out labels lightning-fast will be a priority.
In terms of design, label makers run the gamut from bare-bones manual to battery-operated to models that work via Bluetooth. Ergonomics are important, too, particularly if you'll be holding it rather than setting it on a desk, and portability may also be a consideration. Our selection includes label makers from well-known top brands, including DYMO and Brother, all with average ratings of four stars or more. This model cannot print barcodes, so if you need a label maker for retail or warehouse applications, you'll want to select a different model.
However, we think that the LabelManager is one of the best label makers out there and will do an excellent job for most people, despite its shortlist of flaws. This device links to a smartphone, tablet, or computer using a free app. Once connected, it is straightforward to create labels from your smartphone or tablet.
We love the P-Touch Cube Plus's wide variety of pre-programmed templates for specialized labels such as cables, cabinets, files, and several sizes of barcodes. The downside to Bluetooth technology is that it requires a third-party device to interface with the label maker. If you want a model with a keyboard on the maker itself, the P-Touch Cube Plus is not the best choice. This particular model is also a bit spendy. Unless you're really after the latest and greatest in cutting-edge label maker technology, a more affordable model might make sense.
That said, this device is an excellent choice for those that want to use a smartphone or tablet to make labels. Entirely manually powered, this device will never require an additional battery purchase or an annoying battery change. To make a label, you just turn the dial to the preferred letter or character and emboss them into the tape by squeezing the handle one letter at a time. The Xpress Pro is also dirt cheap — you won't see much of a dent in your bank account if you choose this model.
First of all, you have to turn the dial to emboss each letter, which is a bit of a slow and cumbersome process compared to using a keyboard or a smartphone to define text. Unfortunately, the Organizer Xpress Pro only offers one font — if variety is a determining factor for you, this is not the right choice.
Still, we think that this model is perfect for a garage, shop, or for those that don't want the hassle of dealing with batteries or apps. This device is programmed and ready right out of the package — just slap some batteries in, and it's ready to go.
We find that qwerty keyboards, such as the one on this model, are more comfortable to use than those with buttons in alphabetical order. The PT70BM does have a few shortcomings.
There are very few options for letter sizing, fonts, symbols, and it does not print barcodes. We also weren't thrilled that a shift key is needed to switch between letters and numbers — other models have buttons solely dedicated to numbers that make typing faster and easier.
The PT70BM has a bit of a lag time between when characters are entered and when they show up on the screen. Lastly, when it comes to printing, this device is outright slow. But, when all is said and done, the P-touch PT70BM handles most label maker tasks at a fraction of the cost of much of the competition. The software for this model has several easy-to-use templates, one of which is dedicated to printing addresses. With the Turbo Direct software, you can also buy subscriptions officially licensed by the United States Postal Service to print postage labels so you'll never have to visit the post office in person.
This model uses direct thermal printing, so you won't have to worry about running out of ink. It's also incredibly fast — the can print 50 addresses per minute, making it the ideal tool for boosting your shipping productivity. For one, the software installation and setup process is time-consuming and complicated compared to models with phone apps or no setup at all.
The first thing we considered was ease of setup out of the box. Did it come with batteries or another power source, as well as tape cartridges? And we evaluated how easy it was to load the batteries and cartridges into the label makers. We then got to work on making labels, typing out both short and long strings of characters to see how each keyboard felt. We paid close attention to the layout of the keys and how many useful function keys the printers had.
After we had produced a nice pile of printed labels from all the makers, we attached them to a mason jar. We then took them off and reattached them to check for adherence after several removals. Finally, we ran the jar through the dishwasher to test for durability when put up against water, heat, and detergent.
Its narrow keyboard design makes carrying it one-handed around the office easy, and its rechargeable battery alleviates the stress of having to keep a stock of AA batteries for every time the charge runs out. It also has the ability to plug into a PC or Mac for using different fonts and more easily tweaking labels before printing them.
The display was slightly dimmer than that on the Brother PT-D , but it still provided enough light to be visible even in a dark room. On such a small form factor, this saved us a lot of frustration during our testing. Despite its size, the Dymo also houses more functional buttons, like save, format, print, and a four-direction navigation pad, than the competition. Most of the models we tested, namely those from Brother, have a cutting mechanism that you press down on to chop your labels.
Reloading cartridges into the Dymo was easy. If you need more memory, the Brother PT-D has 50 slots. Though we found typing on the Dymo a bit tricky at first, it was easy to get used to after about 30 minutes of usage.
But in all other areas, we found the Dymo superior to the Brother. You have to either buy six AA batteries and plop them into the back of the PT-D or keep it plugged into an outlet via the AC adapter. The more desktop-like keyboard also made the Brother too wide to comfortably hold in one hand and felt too small to quickly type on while resting on the desk. Rather than using your grip to press down on the side of the device, you have to shift the position of your hand and press down with one finger, which felt awkward in our testing.
The Brother does have better storage than the Dymo: You can save more frequently used text to easily print out at a later date. Brother offers the widest variety of tape sizes and colors, with options ranging from 3.
For those who need to print out bar codes, the Brother supports them just like Dymo. You can store up to 30 of your personalized labels for easier access in the future. You can even print pattern designs such as flowers and polka dots to create decorative labels. The preview window shows what your label will look like, so you print the label exactly as you want it. Powered by six AAA batteries, this Brother label maker is lightweight and portable. A protective case is included to safely store and carry it.
You can even include batteries and additional tapes inside the case for easier portability of your supplies. This hand-held, battery-powered DYMO label maker is lightweight and can be carried with you to create labels whenever needed. The label maker uses a thermal printing system for faster printing. You can choose from five font sizes, seven print styles, eight box styles, and even print on up to two lines for more efficient labeling.
The character LCD screen allows you to preview your label content before printing. It comes with a one-year warranty that protects your purchase if anything goes wrong with the label maker.
The label maker prints water-resistant labels in a variety of sizes for quickly accessing files and other tools. Labels can be printed in 0. The label maker includes fast-formatting keys you can use to customize labels based on your preference.
Choose from six font sizes, eight text styles, four boxes, and over symbols and clip-art images. Change the text and background colors for color coding and enhancing your organizational system. You can even format text with bold, italics, underlining, and more. These options allow you to create custom labels.
You can preview the label content on the large LCD screen. Related: The Best Portable Scanners. You can carry the lightweight, portable Brother PT-H label maker with you to create labels on the go. It keeps things simple with three fonts, five patterns, 14 frames, and symbols. The small number of customization options allows you to create the perfect label design within seconds without having to scroll through dozens and dozens of features.
You can also choose from 10 pre-designed decorative labels. Choose from a variety of colors and even specialty tapes for extraordinary jobs think flexible cable tape, extra-strength adhesive tape, and fabric iron-on tape. The laminated tape is durable enough to be used indoors and outdoors.
0コメント