Epson LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer

The Epson LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer ($49.99 direct) is the slightly higher priced of the two standalone label printers that Epson recently released, and it offers a few extra features (such as barcode printing) than the Epson LabelWorks LW-300 ($39.99 direct, 3.5 stars). It lets you print labels without a PC on plastic and similar tapes offered by Epson and can print anywhere, anytime, though with its cramped keyboard you may miss the comfort of composing labels on a computer.

The matte-black LW-400 measures 6.7 by 4.3 by 2.2 inches and weighs 1.2 pounds. I had no trouble holding it in one hand. It?s nearly an inch slimmer than the LW-300. Its svelteness has a downside in that the LW-400?s QWERTY keyboard is correspondingly narrower and harder to type with. As it?s a standalone label printer, you don?t have the option of using a computer keyboard. The Editors? Choice Brother P-touch PT-2730 ($100 street, 4 stars) operates either standalone or connected to a computer, as does the Dymo LabelManager 420P ($110 street, 4 stars), though the Dymo?s own keyboard is arranged alphabetically rather than QWERTY.

Its advantages over the Epson LW-300 include a backlit display; the ability to store 50 user-created label designs in memory (to the Epson LW-300?s 30); wider labels (3/4 inches to the LW-300?s half-inch); and the ability to print barcodes, double-sided label tabs, and flag or wrapped labels for cabling. (Supported barcode formats include CODE39, CODE128, ITF, CODABAR, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, and EAN-13.)

Epson offers 41 different label cartridges up to 3/4 inch wide for the LW-400, including standard, strong adhesive, clear, fluorescent glow-in-the-dark, iron-on (fabric), folder tab, metallic, and pearlized, in several different text and background color combinations.

The LW-400 is powered by 6 AA batteries. Should you forget to turn it off, it will shut itself off after 5 minutes. The printer?s bottom snaps open so you can replace batteries or the tape cartridge. An optional AC adapter is available for $25 (direct).

Inserting a label cartridge is literally a snap. Once you remove the printer?s bottom cover, you snap the cartridge into place, making sure that any excess tape is fed through the two guides.

Label Making and Printing

The LW-400 supports printing in 14 fonts and 10 type styles, and has more than 300 built-in symbols and over 75 frames. Creating labels is at once straightforward and tricky, as it takes time to get used to the function keys?many of them similar looking?and I found myself constantly referring to the instructions at first.

One function key toggles between upper and lower case; one sets type size (you can have either one or two lines of text on the label); one lets you choose the font and another, the type style (bold, italic, outline, etc.). One function key lets you add punctuation; another, symbols; and yet another, accents. A Setup button performs various functions, among them specifying label length; adjusting space between characters; chaning the font width, creating vertical text, and creating mirror-image text. A preview button scrolls through the text you?ve entered and lets you know label length. A barcode key lets you create specialty label types. Although it takes time to master the different functions, and I had many false starts, everything I tried eventually seemed to work as billed.?

The LW-400 took 11.7 seconds to print a 2.6-inch-long label reading This is a test and 19.2 seconds for a 4.8-inch label reading PCMag: Printer Speed Test, essentially the same speed as the Epson LW-300. The Brother P-touch PT-2730 took 11.6 seconds to print a 3.5-inch-long label, also reading PCMag: Printer Speed Test, while the Dymo LabelManager 420p ($110 street, 4 stars), printed the same text in just 6.5 seconds.? Both the Brother and Dymo match the LW-400?s ?-inch maximum label width.

For the $10 extra you pay for it, the Epson LabelWorks LW-400 offers advantages over the Epson LW-300, including a backlit display, greater label width and the ability to print barcodes and other specialty labels, plus the ability to store more (50) labels in memory. If you need any of these extra features, it?s the clear choice. For about twice the price, the Editors? Choice Brother P-touch PT-2730 and the Dymo LabelManager 420p let you print either standalone or from the relative comfort of a computer keyboard.

More printer reviews:

??? Epson LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer
??? Epson LabelWorks LW-300 Label Printer
??? HP LaserJet Pro 400 color Printer M451dw
??? Canon Pixma MX512 Wireless Office All-in-One
??? Panasonic KX-MB1520
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/9S4ygiFwmY8/0,2817,2401988,00.asp

when is daylight savings 2011 cain gingrich debate andy rooney dies andy rooney dies bank transfer day daylight savings 2011 us geological survey