Can anyone recommend me a good basic label maker. Needs to be cheap and most importantly refills have to be cheap. I'm fine with third party labels from China on eBay but just needs to be cheap and get the job done.
I've tried looking and will continue to but seems like the market is flooded with so many models of Dymo and Brother.
Thanks.
I've been using Brother for a long time and can recommend them. Much like inkjet printers, the ongoing cost of consumables will be the determining factor. You can get compatible cartridges for Brother, and the machines can be bought for around $30 (Officeworks even start at $20). They use 2 types of labels depending on the machine, M and TZ(e). Just make sure you get the right type for your machine. I think the M type is a single layer thermal (a bit like fax-paper technology, keep it dry and out of the light :) ) and the TZ is multiple layers, laminated and waterproof, much more durable. Get that one if you can, it's much better. You can pay around $5.50 to $7.50 for the compatible cartridges depending on the colour combination, but they have to come from overseas (maybe 3-4 weeks?) unless you can find a local source I don't know about. The genuine ones are around $30 or more. The machine should come with a (short) starter tape to get you going.
http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/SearchDisplay?searchTerm=…
I agree with everything that endotherm says. I also have a Brother unit. One point that I'd add is that the unit adds an awful lot of blank tape at both ends of labels, so try to print all your labels at once and cut them with scissors.
I really don't thimk there's much difference between Dymo and Brother though.
Unfortunately that's due to the space between the cutting blade and the print head. By default they set the right margin to the same distance (I'm sure it helps with sales of tape). There is a setting where you can set short margins — it still uses the same whitespace for the left margin, but trims off a little stub before spitting out the rest of the label. The right margin is fed and cut short, thereby saving a little bit of tape, maybe a third or so. You are right in saying the best way to be economical is to print multiple labels all at once. They are sliced off as they are printed and no wasted stubs or long margins are created.
If you plan to label items that do not need to be waterproof the dymo offers paper tape which is quite affordable so you can switch between plastic and paper.
That's the M tape in Brother. Strangely in the compatibles, 4m of the "cheap" M tape costs the same as 8m of the more complex, laminated TZ tape.
Masking Tape + Permanent marker.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm after a label maker though.
I've used several different Brother and Dymo label makers and vastly prefer Brother.
All Dymo letratag models have an ugly font and a number of irritating features. My work replaced their old Brother numberpad-keyboard model with a new, more expensive Dymo qwerty-keyboard and I think it was a massive downgrade. In handheld models I would definitely recommend Brother over Dymo. (I was unfortunately gifted a Dymo by a well meaning MIL and hate it).
At uni I have access to a Brother model that plugs into your computer (model QL-570, $88 at Officeworks) and I love it; no paper waste, amazing customisation (any font, text boxes, images), can print any number of copies at once with auto-cutting, and you can save any number of files to use again/edit later.
Tape at Officeworks for this model is $41.95/30.4m ($1.40/m), compared to $4/m for Dymo letratag or Brother p-touch $3.40/m. Not only is the tape cheaper per metre, but most labels would be printed horizontally along the 6cm tape, making it last much longer per metre as well.
Obviously you have to use it a decent amount to justify the starting cost and larger rolls, but I smash through heaps of 4m tapes even at home (I am a bit obsessive about labeling though).
A huge number and variety of Tze tapes is available for the basic model Brother label makers on eBay at around $12 or $13, and sometimes as low as $10.
Dymo is probably your best bet. $30~ for the label maker and $15~ for refills. Can't see any being much cheaper.