Label Printers

Printers and Labels/Tags

Printers can be battery powered, mains powered running from a DC power source or a combination of both and there are different types of print systems:

Direct Thermal – this relies on heat to print onto the label/tag and therefore it is ‘heat sensitive’ and and life span for readability is often short.

Thermal Transfer – this is the most common printers used and uses a ribbon to transfer the information on to the label/tag which means a tough material can be used resulting in more durable tags.

Over the years we have used and sold many printers, but thermal transfer is definitely, in our opinion the best solution as the tag should always remain readable. Direct thermal labels/tag swill often become unreadable if subject to heat or sunlight (much like a till receipt left in sunlight).

Thermal transfer printers will normally be bigger than direct thermal and most are designed to run from the mains via a DC adaptor. If they are small, then they will be expensive maybe 3-4 times the normal price and consumables will also be expensive.