Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have had one of the smaller Brother personal labelers for many years, and it sat there in its little case, waiting for those occasions when I needed a label badly enough to take it out and bother with it. Why the hassle? Because it had a tiny keyboard that required lots of SHIFT and FUNCTION key alternates to get at common characters and functions, and because the display was tiny and did not show enough information (such as what the label would actually look like, and how big it would actually be). The labels themselves were fine, and the machine worked reliably, though.
I called Brother and asked them about if they had a similar label printer that would just connect to my computer, so that I could design and see the labels before wasting label material in trial-and-error efforts. They told me that the model PT-2700, and its companion PT-2710 had recently been introduced with such request in mind. I had not seen these in my local office supply store, because Office Max often carries only the cheaper models in a line as large as the Brother P-Touch series. I went back to the store and lo! ....they had just started to carry the PT-2700 at less than $100.
I am delighted with this label printer. It is connected to my computer via USB, just like my other printers. I can use either, or both, of the two printing utilities that came with the printer. One is a very simple editor that gives basic functionality where you don't care so much about exactly how big the label will end up, for example - this ends up being much like the guess-work process of the older and smaller P-Touch labelers. The other utility is a full functioned label designer with every bell and whistle I can think of. It automatically knows which kind of label cartridge is currently plugged into the printer, and shows a scale image of that label on the computer screen. Any Windows font in any point size, with any effect can be used in the label design. You can have multiple lines, multiple columns, different test fields, automatically filled-in fields, bar codes, clip art, line drawings, etc. The display in this editor is very WYSIWYG. A ruler hovers over the label to show exactly how big it will be. You can vertically or horizontally justify text as well. There seems to be no limit on how many fonts, sizes and effects can be used on a single label. You can have a different font, size and effect for each character if you want.
The installation CD-ROM also adds a macro to Microsoft Office applications, basically giving you a P-Touch icon in the toolbar of those programs (much like Adobe Acrobat does). Any selected items in those applications will be copied to the P-Touch application by clicking that new icon (the application will automatically open if not already running). Formatting is copied over with the text, etc.
Clicking the PRINT icon in either utility will cause the printer to shoot out a label in just a few seconds; I would guess about 1" per every 2 second or thereabouts. The printer automatically cuts off the leading edge, because that part might be curled if the printer has been sitting for a while, unused. The printer also cuts off the label at the end. While it prints, it slits the backing paper so that it comes off very easily (the smaller P-Touch machines do not do this, and getting the paper off can be a pain).
The PT-2710 is the same as the PT-2700, with the addition of a carrying case - this adds about $30 to the street price.
This printer uses the more expensive "TZ" series of tape cartridges. This kind of tape comes in a much greater variety of sizes, colors, and special types. TZ tapes also have a plastic lamination over the printing, so the image will not scratch off. Don't ask me how they do this! One gotcha with these tapes is that they are stored inside the cartridge in a pretty tight loop on the reels. When the labels come out, they are not curled - but watch out! When you remove the backing paper, they immediately want to return to their curled shape. Make sure that you have both ends of the label under some sort of control when removing the paper, of you will end up with a suddenly tangled bunch of plastic tape in your hands.
The printer can be used without a computer or USB connection. In this mode, it has a large blue-backlit LCD display with multiple lines. However, it is not WYSIWYG as you type your text and you can't tell how big the label will be as you design it. Also in this mode of operation, you are limited to a few fonts and 8 point sizes from 6 to 42 plus Extra Large size. The keyboard is more typewriter-like than the smaller ones, at 7" wide, with a normal QWERTY layout requiring no FUNCTIONs or SHIFTS to get at the functions. I said before that it's not WYSIWYG and you can't tell the size...that is true only in text entry mode. There is a Preview button, and when this is pressed, the display shows you what the label will actually look like, pretty much at actual size (the display scrolls for wider label previews), and it tells you how wide the label will be at this time. In preview, the correct fonts and effects are also visible.
The TZ tapes come in sizes of 9/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" wide. You can buy them in quite a range of colors. The basic is black on white, but common colors in the stores are black on yellow, red on white, etc. The Brother website lists a large variety of sizes and colors that are probably too specialized for most stores to stock; you can order them online.
There are 8 built-in fonts, from an Ariel-like sans-serif one called Helvetica, to a serifed one similar to Times Roman, plus script, stencil and other decorative fonts. You can select Auto type size, where the printer makes the text as large as possible while still fitting on the label, or you can select from the 8 font sizes. You can adjust the width factor of the characters, and you can apply styles to the fonts: these include Normal, Bold, Outline, Shaded, Heavy with outline shadow, and the same 5 choices with Italics applied.
The printer is very reasonably priced at around $100 street, and its build quality is very nice. It feels like quality equipment, although I have seen better-feeling small keyboards than this. The TZ tape is where Brother will get their money, since the cartridges run around $20 each, plus or minus a few dollars depending on how fancy the tape is. The iron-on and other specialty tapes are the most expensive.
The labels print at 180 DPI, which is not very high. When a label comes out, it seems crisp and precise in the appearance of the characters, but closer inspection will reveal very slight jaggies at the edges of slanted or curved shapes. To me, it looks like an ink-jet printer output when using cheap bond paper, when the ink has bled a little on the fibers. Since you will not be preparing long novels of small type with this machine, the quality is more than adequate, and it does look nice.
With such a nice machine and low price, Brother should do well with this printer.
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Brother PT-2700 Desktop Labeling System (Silver/Black)Thermal Transfer - 180 dpi - Cutter - USB
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