Top 3 Factors to Consider Before Purchasing A Label Printer

When starting your own E-commerce business, openning a new brick-and-mortar store, or expanding your food delivery business, you’ll likely have to choose the a label printer. There are a wide variety of label printers for small businesses, each with its pros and cons. The situation might overwhelm you and you don’t know which one to choose. This article can help you find out the top 3 factors you should consider when choosing a label printer.

When choosing a label printer, at least the following factors should be considered: printing technology, printing speed, and portability. Having a concept of these helps you quickly understand whether the printer can solve your problems and meet your needs. Below you will learn how to analyze these three elements.

Printing Technology

The label printers mainly have two types, direct thermal printers, and thermal transfer printers.

Direct thermal technology uses a heated print head to print on paper covered with a special coating( thermal paper). It costs less and is smaller because no ink or ribbon is required, but only supports monochrome printing and the print fades away as time goes and temperature changes.

Thermal transfer uses the heat released from the print head to transfer the ink from the ribbon to the print medium. Unlike direct thermal printing, thermal transfer printing can be printed on paper, composite materials, or textiles with very clear prints and high abrasion resistance, light resistance, and temperature resistance, suitable for storage in harsh environments. In addition, thermal transfer supports color printing.

The following table can help you better understand these two thermal printing technology.

Printing Speed

You may see two different print speed units of measure in the product description. One is the number of millimeters that can be printed per second, such as 150mm/s, which means that 150mm can be printed per second. The higher the speed, the faster the printing speed. Another way of expressing speed is how many labels can be printed per second or minute, 0.5-2 labels per second are within the normal range.

Portability

If you need to be on constant travel or have the flexibility to print labels or receipts, consider a portable label printer. These printers are equipped with built-in batteries, which have strong battery life and support multiple charging methods, making them a powerful complement to desktop printers.