BrotherP-touch CUBE Plus Bluetooth Label Maker (PT-P710BT), white

I bought this printer for basic product labeling: things like serial numbers for products I make. I chose it because it's wireless and untethered (if you choose to use it that way), and the Bluetooth interface lets me programmatically generate, print, and even autocut labels. When I start doing small runs of products, each needing a unique label (due to changing serial numbers and MAC addresses), this is going to rock. The built-in rechargeable battery won't chew through alkaline batteries or require swapping out NiMH rechargeable cells (and it prints while charging, too).Brother has some other printers which don't require AA/AAA batteries, but this one comes with a battery, whereas the others that offer a rechargeable battery require that it be bought separately, and they're overpriced. The real deal-breaker over the other Brother plug-powered printers was that the other options use 12 V DC jacks, apparently wired for center-negative, outer-positive connections. This is really bad, because it means that replacement third-party power supplies have to be this special kind, and if you accidentally plug a Brother power supply into something else that uses 12 V, but wired for the almost universally-adopted center-positive standard, you could blow that device up. I've let that happen once and now I won't allow center-negative power supplies into my household. Micro USB bypasses all that; it's very much standardized.I spent a day hacking on someone else's open-source proof-of-concept Brother driver in Python. After sufficient tinkering, I can now print arbitrary monochrome PNGs (as long as they are the right height) on my Linux laptop via Bluetooth. It looks like it also supports USB communication, if you need to use it on a machine that doesn't have Bluetooth. I haven't tried the CUPS driver (but one exists) or the Windows utility.Brother publishes an excellent and detailed programmer's manual that gives you nearly everything you need to know to do your own custom low-level printing, so I think this can be great for production or manufacturing environments on a budget.The convenience of being able to do one-off labels from my computer or my smartphone is a also huge win (you know, the intended application, lol). I had a project where I needed to print labels for hard disk serial numbers, so I used a barcode scanner app to read the serial number bar codes from the hard disk labels and then copied/pasted them into the Brother print app. This sounds clunky, but it's way more convenient and error-proof than hand-keying all these numbers with a keyboard (whether on my phone or a label maker with a keyboard).In fact, lack of a keyboard on the label maker isn't really a concern here. You're probably a lot better entering text on a cell phone than you are on a clunky label maker keyboard anyway, and you get perks like autocomplete, copy/paste, drag-and-drop WYSIWYG font adjustment and positioning, etc.More great features: it has an automatic cutter, which is great for printing a batch of labels at once. And it's possible to chain print labels to avoid the wastage you normally get at the beginning of a standalone label. You still do have to waste about an inch of tape for each batch job that you do, but that's not really a big deal.The Brother app on Android is okay and somewhat easy to use once you get the printer to pair with your phone and get the app to recognize it. It's got some quirks and annoyances, but no show-stoppers. For example, fine position adjustment of objects like text or images is tricky, because if you only move your finger a little bit, it'll think you're long-pressing the object and offer to delete the object or whatever. You have to move objects faster (and therefore further away than you want) so that it recognizes that this is a move command, and then you have to move it back to be closer to where you want. And it doesn't show the object as it's being moved, it only shows the bounding box, so it can be tricky to get objects to go exactly where you have them in mind.I decided to review it after I dropped it onto some concrete stairs I tripped on (I broke most of its fall--d'oh!), and it's still working.Weaknesses of this printer:* While this is a Bluetooth printer, it has no security, and no way to disable Bluetooth that I've seen. It's an open Bluetooth printer for anybody within range to pair with and print to. This will probably never be a real-world problem for me, but in theory some neighbor's kid could eat through all my tape with dumb/offensive messages if I left this turned on.* It automatically powers off a little zealously when left inactive while running on battery power. If plugged into a USB port, I think it still auto-powers-off, but much less quickly. Bluetooth should be pretty light on current draw if done correctly, so it'd be nice if they didn't turn it off so quickly.* It doesn't support 1.5" TZe tape, only up to 1". That's still pretty good, but I didn't realize I was limiting my options when I bought it.* The TZe tape cartridge system and/or Brother's standard print heads require a lot of top/bottom margin; the print area is smaller than I'd like. For example, for the 1" nominal/24 mm actual tape, the print area is 128 dots vertically, or 18.06 mm high. That means you have a required margin of at least 3 mm on the top and bottom. This margin gets smaller with smaller tape widths, down to almost nothing on the 3.5 mm tape. Look up the Brother programmer's manual for this printer to find the exact limitations if this matters to you.* The print resolution isn't super great, but it does have a reasonable high-resolution mode. This prints at 360x180 dpi instead of the usual 180x180 DPI, presumably by running the tape a little bit slower through the print head. This does improve text and graphics legibility, in a similar way to how subpixel antialiasing improves text legibility on a computer LCD screen: the horizontal resolution matters more, so it's good that it can boost that dimension of resolution.

Handy little Bluetooth printer that I use mostly for my electronic project labeling needs. A large array of label cartridges are available. The one downside for me is the amount of printer tape that is wasted during each print job. That being said, this little printer fits my bill for most of my workshop printer needs. Love it! Also, you can purchase a printer cartridge that prints white letters on black tape!

I've only had this labeler for about a month, but so far I love it. It replaced an older Brother P-touch that was, at least, 20 years old. It still worked, but the LCD screen was becoming hard to read.The app is so much easier to use than the keyboard. I don't miss it at all, and love the auto-cut feature of this one. Labels never have to be trimmed with scissors.

My HP Printer stopped allowing me to print labels, so I bought primarily for file label printing. But I discovered that it also works for flower pot labels and I use it more for that now. Have not had it long enough to see how it holds up in weather and will follow up after I see how it works. I do find the instructions to be unclear as to designing the wording on the label. I have not had any issues as some have described. I highly recommend it.

Easily the BEST BlueTooth label maker around. Durable and efficient, with long battery life. Hard to beat this one

I have been looking for a label maker that used my computer and was easy to use. I read many of the reviews and the talk about the waste when you print and cut as it always has a 1" lead that cuts out first for each label. I experimented and in a short amount of time, I had the wasted tape figured out. I needed to create several labels for my craft room and did not want that 1" lead cut unused at each label. When you click the print button, options pop up. I unchecked the "Auto Cut" and chose just the "Chain Print" until I got to the last label. You will get a long chain of labels so you only get the waste of the 1" at the very beginning. At the last label, I uncheck the "chain print" and choose just "auto cut". I use a pair of scissors and just cut the labels apart which takes literally seconds and no waste between each label. I get more bang for my buck with the label cartridge.I have bought a few different ones in the past but hands down this was the best. It was easy to set up. The cartridge just pops in. I wanted to use my macbook air so I downloaded the app through the apple store and just plugged it into my computer. I don't mind the fact that I have to use the cord that comes with it. I can use wireless with my phone but the idea was to be able to use the keyboard. When I am done, I just unplug and set it off to the side. My husband uses his cell phone from his office (next room) and prints from his cell phone. I held off on buying extra cartridges until I knew I was going to like it. I was surprised at the amount of labels I was able to print with the sample cartridge it came with. I have since ordered 6 more cartridges and can't wait for them to come in so I can keep going!I would highly recommend the Brother P-touch CUBE Plus PT-P710BT to anyone, especially to someone like me who is not the greatest on setting up equipment or getting apps to work!!

plenty of options for cartridges, fast and good legibility. Solid product.