BradyHandheld Color Label Printer with Keyboard, Multi Line Print, 6 to 40, 6 Font Sizes, 203 Dpi - Yellow Black, 9.5 x 4.5 x 2.5, Tape Cartridge Included, 2 Year Warranty, Alphanumeric Thermal

I purchased this printer over 6 years ago to replace another inferior brand which was problematic. It is not used in an industrial setting, but I made the significant price difference purchase to eliminate frustration with erratic printing and feeding with my former label printer. This is a wonderful printer with LOTS of options too numerous to list individually. My only disappointment is that it will not work with single-use lithium AA batteries which never leak, and which I use in just about everything else. The lithium single-use batteries deliver a higher voltage, about 1.7-1.8V, more than the 1.5V alkaline batteries recommended in the user manual. There must be protective circuitry in this printer to provide over-voltage protection, because with single-use lithium AA batteries, the screen remains blank and it won't power on.. I don't want to chance alkaline batteries leaking and destroying my beautiful printer, so I don't leave them installed when I don't intend to use it for a while. I am very satisfied with this great label printer!

I have tried many label makers over the years: Brother, Epson, Dymo - my favorite was Epson for a long time because the one I had was easy to use, the batteries lasted and there were plenty of tape types from which to choose. However, I could never find a type of label tape that would stay on cables. Eventually they all fell off from either heat (connected in a rack, often plugged into connectors positioned behind the exhaust fan of gear), bending or friction. I decided to go with Brady since it seems this label maker is used in many industrial applications like electrical panel labeling and IT data centers. I was especially interested in the self-laminating labels. Well, they didn't disappoint! I have used this for about two months now and not a single label has fallen off, even after winding up the cables and relocating to a different studio. I saw some comments that the AA batteries don't last long in this label maker - that may be true if you leave it on for long periods of time but I generally label a few cables, turn it off and run/connect them then turn it back on again when I am ready to make the next labels. Doing this, I have been using the same batteries for a couple months without having to change them. My ONLY gripe with the unit is that after it sits for a while the first label printed will have a thin black line at the head of it - maybe where the tensioner or cutter was sitting on the tape in storage. It's nothing that would prevent me from using or recommending the label maker, though. The first cartridge I received ended up with a broken ink layer so the labels were being advanced out of the machine but nothing was printed on them. I contacted Brady and they mailed me a replacement free of charge. Good customer service, quality build and labels that stay on.

Just Wow. After using the normal brands from the office supply stores, I new I needed something better for labeling Cat5 Ethernet, HDMI cables, and other stuff. I wanted something that would do the self-laminating labels. This does a good job with those. BUT, it does a Fantastic job with the configuration where it just prints sideways on the normal labels with enough copies to go around the wire. I'll probably use that for all my personal stuff and just use the self-laminating ones for professional work.I really like that I can print the labels I need with 2 copies of each number and have it auto increment serial numbers. This way I can easily print twenty labels numbered C0001-C0010 with two copies each and then put one cable on each end of each Ethernet cable. Make sense? :)I should've broke down and bought this earlier!Oh!!! One more thing: The manual is a joke. Be prepared to spend some time (and a foot or so of labels) trying out the various options. You've gotta tinker with it to get the best out of it. I just had some fun while watching TV and quickly figured out what I needed.

If you want to label your cables to make for a professional install, the Brady system is the best and most affordable system available. I had previously bought a self-laminating label product which consisted of a sheet of about 30 labels which you print on a laser printer. At about $20.00 per sheet plus the proprietary software that costs about $150. What a waste of money that was, as it was too expensive and cumbersome to deal with (lining up the software for the printer was a nightmare!). Then, I bought a P-Touch and their version of self laminating labels. They had almost no tail thus they really did "self laminate." They worked, but all of the labels were not completely adhered to the cables. It looked sloppy. Then, I found the Brady system. It was way affordable and much, much easier to use and gave professional looking results. There are other (way) more expensive products that have similar self-laminating label makers, but the Brady printer at ~$93 is the best option. Paired with the M21 self-laminating labels (I chose the 1" laminating tail, but will purchase the 1.5" in the future as a longer tail is necessary for Cat7 and 14-gauge speaker cables.