Summary
Brother P-touch TZ label printers are an excellent choice for creating durable water resistant labels. The label tape is available in various heights. Label length is customizable. The printers and supplies are available from various vendors such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Staples.
Dymo printers are well suited for printing mailing labels or shipping labels. A variety of label sizes are available. The printers and supplies are available from various vendors such as Amazon and Staples.
Brother and Dymo labels generally stick well on clean smooth surfaces. The Dymo brand is popular for postal mail labels and other uses where a paper surface label is adequate. For durable water resistant labels, the Brother P-touch TZ label printers are an excellent choice.
Brother Labels — Pros and Cons
Brother label makers have the following benefits:
- Custom label lengths — use only what you need.
- Water resistant and durable labels with glossy plastic protective surface.
- Label tape available in many height options.
- Because of their durability and plastic material, the labels are fairly easy to remove if desired. Yet, the adhesive is strong so they tend to stay in place unless intentionally removed.
Brother label makers have the following drawbacks:
- Labels do not stick well on some surfaces such as certain types of brushed aluminum. A smooth surface is ideal.
- The margin of space between labels is very large and wasteful. It is necessary to set the cut margin to small.
Dymo Labels — Pros and Cons
Dymo label makers have the following benefits:
- Available in traditional postal mail label size as well as larger wider shipping labels.
- Label surface is like paper and can be written on.
Dymo label makers have the following drawbacks:
- They are not water resistant.
- On some clean smooth surfaces, after a long period of time, the labels may be difficult to remove.
- Each label has a fixed surface area where printing is done.
Reducing Margins with Brother Label Printing
Because the Brother labels are a continuous feed cartridge, it’s helpful to reduce the spacing between printed labels.
The margin adjustment is available in settings. There will typically be a selection of full, half, or narrow gap between printed labels.
This is useful when you want to print multiple copies of a specific label design.
You can also achieve a narrow margin by typing in the label contents repeatedly in the same row. This way you can control the margin by the spacing you use.
Brother Label Size
Here are some useful label sizes for the Brother P-touch labels:
- 12mm (0.47 inch) — This size is helpful for printing a single line of text in a bold easy to read size. This is also considered a 1/2-inch option.
- 18mm (0.7 inch) — This size is useful for objects such as VHS tape spines or similar items. The text size can be very large, or multiple lines of text can be printed and still be readable. This is also considered a 3/4-inch option.
- 24mm (0.94 inch) — This size is useful for several lines of text or printing really large labels for reading from a distance. This is also considered a 1-inch option.
Note that label sizes are in even millimeter sizes to conform to the international metric world-standard of measurement.
Brother Label Refills
For ensured quality and compatibility, purchasing label refills manufactured by Brother will be a good choice. However, economical third-party suppliers are also an option for saving some money on replenishment.
Dymo Label Usage Efficiency
The Dymo labels are a specific width. Your label content needs to be sized to fit within the label size you’ve selected. A helpful size for standard postal envelope labels would be 1 inch by 2 1/8 inch.
Although a full adhesive label is used when printing, it is possible to print repeating text or content on a label. So, a single label could be printed and then cut into several adhesive stickers. This is an efficient way to fully utilize each label.
So, if you have many items that have the same price, that price could be printed perhaps 10 times on the same label and then cut to create ten small price tags.
Conclusion
With label printers, it would be hard to choose just one printer to serve for all situations. It’s better to have a Brother and a Dymo label printer for their strengths and features that best suit each individual situation.
