Phomemo Portable Printers Wireless for Travel, M08F Thermal Bluetooth Printer Support for 8.5"x11" US Letter, Small Inkless Printer Compatible with iOS, Android, Laptop for Car, Office, Home

Disclaimer: I was compensated for the cost of the printer by the manufacturer without any request other than to provide feedback directly to them on what would make this printer better which I also offer here. Phomemo M08F Letter Size Thermal Printer Straight-to-the-Point Overall Usability Great portable printer for the times when you absolutely must have a hard copy a non-intricately detailed document. Works well for text and line art in non-permanent things like tickets or event signage which I happen to print often enough. Since this printer uses thermal paper, I would not recommend it for long-term legal documents (Quick Guide states 7-10 year print viability if kept dry, at room temperature, and out of sunlight) but if you need a semi-permanent document, it completely fits the bill. You will likely want to purchase additional thermal paper to do any appreciable printing Likes • Compact • No ink - no mess • Easy to use hardware • Easy to use Android app • Easy to print on Windows with driver installation • Relatively quick for a non-industrial thermal printer • Great quality prints for the right use-cases • Great battery life Dislikes • Paper can get misaligned on insertion every now and again • Difficult to cancel or know if a print job has been cancelled • Noisy prints if on a resonant surface Things to consider • Prints can be expensive at 15¢ to 26¢ per page • Photos and very small text are not the intended use for the printer • Color graphics should be converted to grayscale before printing In the Box • Printer carefully supported in foam • Two Quick Start Guides (one more graphical and the other more text laden) • 2 ft. USB-A to USB-C for computer connectivity and charging • USB flash drive of computer drivers • Velvet carry bag • 5 sheets Phomemo thermal letter paper which are creased in thirds from being packed in the box and best to flatten a bit before use Build Quality As with all the Phomemo products I own, the quality is tops. There is no wasted space in the case and the entire printer feels sturdy if not a bit heavy (721g / ~1.6lbs). The hinge and hinge opening buttons, which allow for paper release or roller and thermal head cleaning, have a good feel without any play. The printer has two rubber feet which do a good job of preventing printer movement but they do little to address one of my few complaints about printing. Phomemo App (Android) I have used and generally like the Phomemo label printer Android Apps ‘Print Master’ and ‘Labelife’. The eponymously named ‘Phomemo’ App is no different. In app, it is easy to connect the printer with Bluetooth or the QR code on the printer’s top sticker, change settings (Auto Shutdown – I recommend setting to at least 30 mins.), and print all or individual pages from various sources of documents (browse the filesystem or Share to ‘Phomemo’ from an open document. There is even an available library of line art drawings over a range of categories for simple sign or coloring sheet printouts. The one thing that wasn’t entirely clear with the app was the best method for cancelling a multi-page print and what I found to work for me was powering off the printer and force stopping the app. Windows 10 Driver The ‘Phomemo’ App, Quick Start Guides, and the printer’s top sticker all make it easy to locate the drivers form Windows and MacOS. I only have Windows machines and had no issues finding, downloading, and installing the M08F driver. Printing was as simple as connecting the printer to the computer with the USB-A to USB-C cable and choosing the printer by name in any print dialog. Printing My test prints were done from a 100-sheet pack of Phomemo branded letter thermal paper that was on-sale for $20.99 (21¢ per sheet, a 200-sheet pack is available for $29.99 for 15¢ per sheet). Inserting paper and getting it to be properly aligned in the printer can be tricky if done too slowly. Make sure the thermal paper is oriented with the correct side up (‘This side should face up.’ is labeled on one side) and insert it as straight and swift as you can until it butts up against the roller bar inside. An improperly aligned sheet will print but the page can be skewed and the page edges torn ragged (only 2 of 20 printed sheets). If a sheet is inserted incorrectly, it is possible to open the printer and re-insert the sheet again. I printed using both Medium and Heavy darkness settings and observed a minimal difference in quality for most documents. If you have very small details or text (8pt or less) the Heavy darkness setting will make those parts more legible. Be warned that 6pt or smaller font can be spotty or illegible. All linear bar, Data Matrix ,and QR codes on tickets that I printed scanned with ease using my cellphone. The average time for a full sheet print was ~25 seconds. Battery Usage and Charging When unboxed, the printer had 97% charge. I printed 20 sheets, 18 at Heavy darkness, and that only took the charge to 84%. I cannot envision many scenarios that would have this printer use more than 25% charge. Charging back to 100% took about 30 minutes and, as stated in the text heavy Quick Start Guide, had to be done using the 5V 2A power which I had on my computer’s USB hub. Neither my Samsung Fast or Super Fast phone chargers nor my Anker 20W or 45W chargers would charge the printer. Recommendations to Phomemo to Improve the Printer • Adding pop-out or fold-out paper guides could ease proper paper alignment on insertion • Adding thicker or more dampening rubber cushions on the bottom of the printer could reduce the amount of resonant sound generated by the printer • Depending on the desired typical usage per charge, the battery size could be halved and still allow for 50+ pages per charge while likely taking the weight of the printer to less than a pound

Overall if you are looking for a simple thermal printer for travel I would recommend this product. This was my first time using a thermal printer like this and must say it is very compact and portable. It does need special thermal paper (will not work with standard copy paper) but I knew this and it was not an issue. I don’t think this would be a full printer replacement for me, needing special paper and needing to manually feed each piece of paper (no paper feeder tray) would make printing larger documents quite tedious. But given its compact size it would be a great printer to carry when traveling if you need the ability to print of a few pages now and then. It’s a simple black and white printing with decent resolution for documents, the shading for grays is acceptable but not photo quality (more or less what I expected for a thermal printer). The ability to print from my android phone is a great feature considering the portability of this printer. The app I needed to use was a little clunky but I was able to send the documents I wanted to print to the app and subsequently the printer without issues and it got the job done. Printing on my Windows PC was simple and easy, just connect the printer, turn it on and use it like I would any other printer. The appropriate drivers were automatically installed and I was up and ready to print in a minute or less.

I received the Phomemo Portable Wireless Printer to review and here are my thoughts: 1. The print quality is surprisingly good for a thermal printer. Better, sharper than the retail receipts I have received. 2. It's as small as can be and still print 8.5x11 paper. That's impressive. (Note: I'm sure it prints other sizes, but this is what I was given to try out.) 3. It prints easily via Bluetooth. While I did use their app to print, the app itself is lightweight and intuitive, and I was able to print from just about any document format. I use Google Drive for everything and it was able to print an exported PDF easily. No hoops to jump through, and no hiccups. 4. It is completely wireless. After it's charged, all you need is paper and a Bluetooth connection to print. There is an option for directly connecting to a laptop, but I didn't test that option because I am rarely at my desk. The charge seems to hold -- I've printed 6 sheets on a partial charge and it shows no signs of being out of juice anytime soon. Now for the cons, which are relatively picky and few (I am reviewing this for others, after all...). 1. The paper has to be *thermal* paper. It's do-able -- they sell it on Amazon, as well as at Staples, OfficeMax, and probably others. It's not hard to find, however, if you're geographically far from a thermal paper seller, and you run out, and you need it *now,* that could get tricky. BUT, that's the same story as any thermal printer (retail receipts, etc.), and I would assume if you're using this for business, you'll be sure to stock up on thermal paper to avoid this. 2. Thermal paper is more expensive than office paper. This may seem obvious. But here's the thing: if you are geographically far from a conventional printer, this is one way to print anyway. You can balance out the cost of driving to and printing at a copy center or the office with the cost of having the paper on hand and ready to use immediately. 3. The actual printing is a little noisy. Not loud, but noisy. So don't print next to a light sleeper or in church. 4. I'm not sure how to tell how much of a charge is left. Perhaps there is a way, but it's not obvious to me. Overall, I'm impressed with this printer. It definitely worth considering if you'd like the option to print on the spot. I think anyone who travels and does estimates would find this pretty handy, as it would easily integrate with any program or app that can export a PDF or other common file type. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you to Phomemo for valuing my honest review.

a mi hija le encantó, la impresora es pequeña, fácil de transportar en la mochila, obviamente no ocupa tinta es térmica y se pone fácil el papel

I have only recently bought this compact printer and I have been very impressed with its performance and its utility. You can carry it around with you and print wherever you like! No ink for this printer. You only require the appropriate paper. The quality of the printing is quite surprising! I recommend buying this compact and useful printing device.

Es una buena impresora en este caso la utilizamos para las plantillas del tatuaje y nos sorprendió la calidad con la que imprene las plantillas además de que es muy fácil de usar la verdad es que 10\10 cumple muy bien con su función esta muy completa

It is a very convenient size. However, it's not a full printer replacement. It's actually quite inconvenient to print multi page documents for example because of the way you have to load pages at just the perfect angle, and the print quality is pretty poor. If you just print single sheets irregularly, and you don't need super high quality, then this is for you

Llegó rápido y bien protegida. Es fácil de usar e imprime decentemente. Para momentos puntuales resulta muy útil. Ocupa y pesa poco. Calidad-precio muy bien