Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first label maker, so I have nothing to compare it to. That said: Pros: * Has a fair amount of versatility. (Not like a computer, but a lot of choices) * Has the framed options, or just letters. * Has a preview screen, which is limited, but still helpful. * Allows multiple labels to be chain printed, without sooooo much wasted tape. * Looks good, and made of quality materials, so not an eyesore on the desk. * Fairly compact, so not a space hog in the cupboard, when not in use. Cons: * HUGE waster of label tape. Just like all modern printers, it's all about selling you supplies! * Label Tapes are very expensive. * Preview window is nowhere near WYSIWYG. Know that. * Unnecessarily complicated learning curve. Way too many steps to do the simplest things. Overall, the labels it makes are nice, waterproof, and make things much easier to find and read, so worth the one time hassle of learning how to use it, and wasting a ton of tape trying to find out what you can do with it. TIPS: * I quickly learned to print out a sample text of each size, and each font I liked, & pasted on the bottom of the unit, so I can make an informed decision on lettering, without wasting a ton of tape to see what fits, for each new label. (I actually made a chain of labels with the font & size by name: Atl 12 pt, Hel 12 pt, etc, etc, for all the sizes and fonts I'd be likely to use, as each size 12 font is wildly different in size when printed, so you can't go by that.) ---------------------------------------- * Once I discovered how to reduce the wasted tape, by making a chain of labels without cutting them off individually, I printed off a list of steps to do that, and pasted it right on top of the label maker, so I'd always remember how. Steps to Chain Print: Label, Margin, Chain, OK, Type out the label, Print ... "OK to Feed?" = ESC, or OK. Note: When you hit Print, it will ask you if it's "OK to Feed?", where your answer will either be "ESC" to make the next label with a tiny waste of tape, or "OK" to feed the last label out for cutting off (ie the big waste of tape way). ----------------------------------------- Hope that helps others, as it was a fairly long process, and a lot of wasted tape, for me to figure it all out. : )