Barcode label printers use thermal transfer printing technology - giving consistent high quality and clearly printed labels - ensuring that your barcodes will read reliably. They can also can print fast - up to 300mm per second (12 ins per sec) with some models. They're easy to use and require minimal attention.
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 | Label Printer Packages
Want to get started without any fuss? This package deals come with everything you need to get started straight away. Get printing labels within minutes!
For full details on our starter package click here - Label Printer Packages
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 | Desktop Label Printers
Desktop bar code label printers are generally low cost, plastic cased printers. They can print labels up to 110mm wide and are ideal for low volumes of labels and for use in confined spaces. If you don't need more than a few hundred labels a day - look at these label printers. |
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Industrial Label Printers
If you need a bar code label printer to work in a dirty warehouse or workshop and soak up the inevitable knocks it will receive, you'll need to consider an industrial printer. These label printers are available in a range of sizes, from 104mm max label width to 165mm width. They're metal cased and the fastest print at speeds up to 300mm per second.
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Speciality Label Printers
If you have a special application, such as high definition barcodes for circuit boards or electronics or you need extra wide labels these are the label printers you need. We've grouped together the printers in our range into this heading. These printers have one of two features, firstly, they're capable of wide label printing - in excess of 150mm and secondly, they have high resolution printheads - sharper than 300 dpi. For more details on speciality label printers, click here.
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Choosing a label printer
This is what you can do with thermal label printers:
- Print onto plastic
- Print to direct thermal paper without print ribbon
- Print onto fan-folded materials – with fanfolded labels or tickets, you only need to open your printer infrequently
- Rewind labels onto rolls
- Manage your printer remotely
- Plug barcode readers, keyboards and scales directly into your printer
- Print at speed up to 18m (60ft) per minute
- Print labels from 25mm (1”) up to 200mm (8”) wide
- Print all day every day
- Print a single label on demand
- Print labels with a definition of 600 dpi
- Carry your printer around
Do you need a specialist label printer?
First, if the volume of labels printed is much less than 500 labels a week, it isn’t worth considering a speciality label printer, unless
- you’re printing onto plastics or
- you want more durable labels or
- you want a low maintenance printer.
With low volumes, a laser printer is quite capable of doing the task.
When volumes exceed 500 labels a week, the thermal label printer comes into it’s own.
11 Critical questions you need answered before you buy.
This check list covers everything you need to consider when choosing a label printer.
1. Label Width. Most label printers can cope with 100mm labels, so if that’s the size of label you need; you have a wide choice of printers. Some printers are limited to 50mm but the difference in cost compared to a 100mm printer is quite small and you can always print two 50mm labels at once with a 100mm printer. When you need wider than 110mm the costs go up. Printers tend to come in 150mm (6 inches) or 200mm (8 inches) widths. Don’t forget you can turn labels to print narrow edge leading.
2. Volume of labels. Label Printers with a higher speed tend to be more expensive and more durable. The TEC SX range, and the Zebra Z4M and Z6M are more than happy printing 4 or 5 hours a day. The Zebra TLP 2844 is better suited to 1 or 2 hours a day whilst ultimately the Zebra XiIII+ range will push out labels 24 hours a day.
3. Printer speed. Will you be waiting for the labels to print? Speed may be an issue. Label Printers range in speed from 50mm per second up to 300mm per second.
4. Direct Thermal or Thermal Transfer. What sort of labels will you need to print? Where they’re going on fresh food or the labels have a limited life (in the case of couriers, just a few days) then a direct thermal printer will do the trick. All label printers can work in direct thermal mode, but purely direct thermal printers are delivered without the components needed for ribbons so they cost less. Note: don’t consider direct thermal if your labels will be subject to direct sunlight or heat for more than a few hours, they’ll discolour – so, if your products are to be on display or around for some time – perhaps direct thermal isn’t the best for long term appearance.
5. What are you printing onto? What are the labels made from? If their plastic – you’ll definitely need a thermal transfer printer. If you want to print onto tags, you'll need a thermal printer, lasers aren't suitable.
6. Flexibility. Some label printers are more customisable than others. If you buy a printer today it might move departments and be doing a completely different job in a few months time. The answer would be to buy one of the Zebra Z range of printers, they can be retro-fitted with a high resolution printhead, an internal re-reeler for printed labels, label cutter, a different face panel and more memory. Add to that, the ability to update the printers ‘firmware’ and you have one of the most flexible printers in the world. Powerful software is also an asset, Zebra's ZBI printer feature is a bonus for integrating printers into different systems.
7. Presentation or identification? Is the label presenting your product or merely identifying it. For identification purposes, a 200 dpi printer is what you need. You’ll get a sharper image from one of the TEC printers (the B372 or B572) or one of the Z range of Zebra’s upgraded to 300 dpi. Zebra also do a low cost printer (the TLP3742) with 300 dpi printhead.
8. Durability? Where's the label printer going to be located? Nice clean office or dirty, dusty factory? Steel cased printers ensure the printer will be protected from those inevitable knocks it’ll receive in the factory.
9. Loved or abused? Who’s going to use it? Everyone or an assigned person? Where everyone uses the printer consider one that’s colour coded and easy to use. Some label printers (such as the Zebra Z or EPL range or the TEC’s) are easier to use than others (Zebra XiIII range are a little more tricky to load with labels and ribbons).
10. Mission critical? Printers often become a vital part of the production or sales process. A label printer’s down time becomes a factory’s downtime. To avoid this, think about one ultra durable printer (such as Zebra’s XiIII range) linked to the organisation’s computer network – the result will be a printer that never gets sick – and when something does go wrong (for example it runs out of ribbon) the printer emails (or pages) someone to fix it. Another solution and a more reliable one would be to buy two less expensive printers and employ one in a non-critical situation. If the critical one fails – you have another one to fall back on. Combine the printer with a service contract and you can rest assured your printers will be repaired in hours.
11. Portability. Sometimes the label printer needs to be portable, for example when printing tickets in a warehouse or shelf edge labelling. Zebra’s QL range of printers are designed to connect to handheld computers or even the organisations network.
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