Label Printer Guide

The Barcode Warehouse is the UK's number one supplier of barcode label printers. We look after everything from initial consultation through to installation and integration with your systems. We also offer a wide range of on-site warranties and repair services. We also manufacture self adhesive labels suitable for use in these printers or for other applications.

If you are new to label printing or have any queries regarding purchasing a label printer, any member of our trained sales team will be able to answer your questions and recommend a label printer which is suitable for your application. You can contact us on freephone 0800 043 6655 or via email on sales@thebarcodewarehouse .co.uk

Alternatively you can find some basic information to guide you through the label printer selection process below:

Types of Label Printer

We sell many different types of label printer. Perhaps the quickest way to choose is to look at the budget you have available. To get set up with a desktop label printer you are looking at a cost of around £200 ex VAT. A mid-range label printer comes in at about £450 ex VAT and  industrial label printers starting at a price of around £650 ex VAT.

Desktop label printers tend to be our most popular products due to their low initial cost and compact size making them ideal for office environments where desk space is at a premium. We generally recommend that you use desktop label printers for printing no more than one to two rolls of labels per day. The number of labels per roll obviously depends on how large the labels are but we suggest that you can print up to 1000 labels per day using a good quality media.

Mid-range label printers start to make more sense if you regularly exceed the label printing guidelines indicated above for desktop printers. Not only are the printers more rugged but they also take bigger label (and ribbon if it's a TT printer) rolls meaning you don't have to stop printing and change the media as often. They also tend to be faster at printing labels which can make a big difference to printing large runs.

If you are constantly printing labels during your 8 (or even 24) hour work shifts then a high performance industrial label printer is a must. These printers will pay for their extra initial outlay by printing labels faster and more reliably than the cheaper alternatives. They are ideally suited to warehouse-type environments as they have solid metal cases and frames which can withstand bumps and shunts better than a small plastic desktop printer.

Direct Thermal and Thermal Transfer Printing

There are basically two main types of label printer; direct thermal (DT) and thermal transfer (TT). Both methods use a thermal printhead that applies heat to the media which is being printed. Thermal transfer printing uses a heated ribbon to produce durable, long-lasting images on a wide variety of materials. No ribbon is used in direct thermal printing, which creates the image directly on the printed material. Direct thermal media is more sensitive to light, heat and abrasion, which reduces the life of the printed material.

Direct thermal printing is commonly used for shipping labels, including compliance labels; receipts; pick tickets; coupons; event tickets; citations and parking tickets; name tags; visitor passes; and more.

Typical thermal transfer applications include: product identification; circuit board tracking; permanent identification; sample and file tracking; asset tagging; inventory identification; certification labels such as UL/CSA; laboratory specimens; cold storage and freezers; and outdoor applications.

Printhead Resolution (dpi)

You can further narrow down your label printer search by choosing a resolution which is commonly measured in dots-per-inch (dpi).

For most applications, 203 dpi resolution provides sufficient print quality. However, when higher quality printing is required, such as for very small labels or some 2-D symbologies, 300 or 600 dpi printers should be used.

Print Width

The most commonly purchased print width of label printers is 4 inches. We do offer a complete range of printers in the following widths to suit most applications:

2 inch - 4 inch - 5 inch - 6 inch - 8 inch

A two inch printer will take up less space on the desk but will only print labels 2 inches wide. A 4 inch wide printer is roughtly twice as wide as a 2 inch machine but can print any label size up to 4 inches wide and so on.