Sunny Sewing Honeybee on Amazon 8 years ago
12/25/2014, 04:50 AM
Useful, relatively intuitive, and fun
This is a really nice labeling machine, and it's all-in-one, so there's no need to connect it to your computer. That being said, you can download (to your computer) design software. I downloaded it to give it a look, but it really doesn't seem necessary if you can get used to the printer's controls. However, it has some interesting label samples that can be tweaked, and it has them arranged by category: address label, album, asset management, cable and panel, greeting, identification, kitchen, media, office, sign, store, and thermal paper (AV). That being said, I also wanted to download this software because it's possible that there will be more content added in the future, and you can check for updates through it. At this writing, there's a firmware update (which isn't critical), but no new things (such as clip art or frames) available to add.
Though a lot of it is intuitive, there's a decent learning curve to figuring out how to use it. My biggest challenge when first making labels was figuring out how to create a new column. For example, how could I put a large graphic next to lines of text? The answer is Shift-Enter. That was the main thing that I couldn't figure out on my own, without the aid of the manual. The manual is very thorough, and explains things that may not be intuitive. Another thing to take note of before starting to use the tape is that you can change the cut option in the menu to small margins and conserve tape. Unfortunately, it defaults back to large margins, so this is something to check regularly.
The on-screen display is very helpful, especially as the machine "senses" the tape color you put in and will show you your label on the screen as it will appear once printed (both background/tape color and ink color).
It's worth noting that, though it has a standard QWERTY keyboard, normal typing isn't possible as the letters are buttons rather than keys. When designing labels, the up and down buttons have to be used frequently for editing things. Because of these two things, any labels more than just minor plain text can take a while to make.
The only thing negative I can say is that sometimes the printout looks a bit pixelated; i.e., the lines aren't always crisp. But this label printer is really nice and comes with enough tiny graphics, frames, etc. to make labels for both practical and decorative purposes. Aside from being useful, it's also pretty fun!