P-Touch Monochrome Label Maker, Versatile Easy-to-Use Labeler, PTD400AD, AC Adapter, QWERTY Keyboard, Multiple Line Labeling, White

This is my third label maker. My first was DYMO, which worked well for a few years and then started to fail. The second was the smaller version of this Brother one, which I've had for three years. Without going into detail, the Brother models, while they take up more shelf space, are much easier to use than the DYMO and much more versatile. I'm about to turn 77, and I think they are very easy to learn; but maybe that's because I started with DYMO. Anyhow, if I can do it you certainly can. Others have complained about the high cost of tape. There are plenty of third party tape manufacturers whose products are good. I now default to Unistar, which has been as good as Brother for my use. I don't expose my labels to the weather, and I don't know if the Brother labels would be better for that. The cost of Unistar is about a third, which validates the complaint that all the money for Brother seems to be in the tape. Also, read the posts by others on how to use the chain function to conserve tape. Again, as others have said, there is significant wastage if you make a lot of separate short labels. Here's another insider secret: If you want the font to be as easy as possible to read at a distance, use the Florida font. It is BY FAR the best for that purpose. I particularly like how easy it is to switch tapes. I can do it in about five seconds. Tapes come in various widths and color combinations. You will find that when you switch tape widths, the font sizes for ALL type size-settings adjust accordingly. That caught me by surprise the first time. I do like the bigger (PT-D400) model better than the smaller one (PT-D210). The key layout is more intuitive, and you don't have to use the shift function as often. Its max tape width is 50% greater, and for items on high (distant) shelves, that can make all the difference. The cabinet opens and closes easier, and the window that shows what tape is loaded is right on top and easy to see. Also the "clear" function works, which is the one thing that i could never get working on the smaller model. I'm addicted to these label makers. I wouldn't want to be without them.

I used the sample cartridge to experiment and still had enough to do a bunch of labels. The cure for too-much-white-space on each end of the label is to put it into 'chain' mode. (I don't have the manual with me, so I can't tell you what page explains how to get it into that mode.) There will be white space at the beginning and end of the chain, but hardly any in between each label. It asks you after each label is printed if you want to advance the tape so that it can be cut. I printed 10 labels in a row with minimal white in between. Perfect. Keyboard makes creating the labels so quick, printing is almost instant, the AC adapter means I won't ever have to fool with batteries, and the manual explains everything very well, making it easy for me to jump in and start creating labels immediately. At the moment, I'm using them for spine labels on books, so I mostly did 2 lines. Big numbers and letters. I also used the 4-line setting when I had very thin books: small numbers & letters but very clear and readable. Auto-font chooses the largest font that will fit, depending on the number of lines needed. I easily changed the font size down when I needed the letters to fit onto a smaller space. When I'm done with the books, I will try address labels and labels for the drawers and boxes that hold supplies for all my other hobbies. I've not had any trouble with it, so I can't say how helpful customer support is...and that's good!

I use the labeling device all the time. It is fun to be able to play around with the font size, style, and so forth – in order to instantly professionalize whatever it is I am labeling. ☺ It is light years beyond the Dymo Labeler I was using for many years. Technology has moved on at an accessible price. This particular device can be used on electrical current or on batteries. That is handy if you want to take the device around with you to where you are doing the labeling. It comes with a charger, which other models do not. It is 7" x 7" and I keep the extra tapes in a zipper pouch. It comes with a wide, white starter tape. The ones I ordered in the pack of 5 are more narrow, but that is fine for most labeling tasks. It is very easy to snap in the different colored tapes. Gone are the tape-feeding problems I continually had with the Dymo labeler. The labeler is great for labeling all those connector wires you have to deal with now in your life. It is great for labeling pill cases. The spices in our spice rack have never looked more elegant since I labeled them with large, bold font. At his request, I used a blue one to label our 7-year-old grandson's script for his last play.

This worked well one of the best investments for my business.

This thing is awesome. So easy to use. The cartridge has never jammed. I've printed hundreds of labels over two years and it never skips a beat. The only thing I would like to see changed is the amount of leading and trailing waste produced with a single label. If you only print one label, there is over one inch on either side of the print that is wasted and that you have to trim manually. I wish they could design it so that the edge of the cartridge is closer to the exit to reduce this waste. Of course, if you will be printing multiple labels, you can enter them all at once with a few spaces in between to print a single label and manually cut each. Oh, and the label backing has a slit down the middle for easy removal. That is a big plus.

Went through a couple of label makers/printer last year and got exasperated. Enter Brother P-touch Label Maker! This item produces no-hassle labels period. It offers basic features like multi line, font sizes and types which allow you to customize your labels with ease. The keyboard layout is very similar to a traditional keyboard, which makes it natural from an end user experience perspective. You won't be searching for functions like "shift" or backspace they all exist on the keyboard and they are exactly where you'd expect them to be. I am also impressed by the build quality of this product; it feels like a well made product. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a functional yet versatile label maker that is easy and intuitive to use! I am attaching picture collage of a few of my use cases.

My first Brother product of any kind was a PT-85 handheld personal label printer. I’ve had it for about twenty-five years now, bought it at an office supply store when Amazon was still only selling books. It cost me about fifty bucks and at the time all of the other options available seemed like they were made out of cheap plastic. It is the only electronic gadget I keep in my office desk drawer and I use it all the time and it is still going strong. Of the things I love about it is that it literally seems to go forever on six AA batteries, like over a year per set. Of the few things I don’t like about it is that like all label printers it wastes too much unprinted tape although I have found a few ways to trick it into wasting less. I saw today, in mid 2021, that Amazon was selling a new one for $220 bucks. It must still be very desirable. THE NEED FOR MORE But then was then and now is now. Since the mid-nineties I’ve owned label makers from several other brands. Each has things going for it but none every gets used as much as my ancient Personal Touch. Today however I need more versatility, different tape widths, larger fonts, more colors, bar codes, etc. It took me a long time to decide on finally choosing this model. I knew it goes on sale a lot and some stores almost give it away to get your replacement tape business but I didn’t want to wait or shop around so I accepted that about sixty bucks was more than fair for something that does as much as this thing. PROS 1. Lots of font faces, sizes and styles 2. AC adapter included 3. Two year warranty 4. Real keys like a laptop computer 5. Several hidden features CONS 1. Wasteful – but they all are. Learn the tricks to save money 2. Unusually dim and low resolution screen 3. Lever that has to be manually pushed down before lid will close (inconvenience, not a flaw) Before adding my opinion I need to say that only about one in ten is really helpful, and they usually point out the ones that are error filled or dead wrong. I don’t want to take the time to do that but it’s obvious most of the ones that are off base obviously didn’t read the instructions or if they did, they didn’t understand them. Considering its price I could not find one reason working against this model. Is it perfect? No, in a real world that’s not going to happen, but properly used I am very happy with my choice.

The form factor and size of this guy is really good. I have the bigger version of this which is better in several ways, but I love that this is small. I would say this is the best Size/Cost/Function ratio of any Ptouch. A few things to note -If you are using this for cable labels, the bigger one can write little labels sideways on a tiny wrap around on 3/4" tape. This one does cable labels in a different way and you don't have a choice. It prints out a flag with the label on both sides. Thats fine, but I prefer the smaller style that just wraps around. But this does allow for longer cable labels becuase you are not limited to a few letters that fit into the 3/4" width. So not all cable label capabilities are the same FYI. -The TZ tape is better than the new knockoff tapes that are coming out. The knockoff ones can leave white behind after you peel them so you don't want to use knockoff tape for situations where you are likely to remove the label later. TZ tends not to do that. -The larger version has a motorized cutter and a backlight display. This one doesn't have those features. At first it was a disappointment, but then those things don't matter at all unless you are working in the dark and have no thumb on your left hand. If you got a thumb and you work under lighting, you are good to go! please indicate if you find this review helpful or not.