DYMO LabelManager Plug N Play Label Maker

I bought this for simple around-the-home labelling duties. Well made. Bigger than I thought it would be. Glad they supplied cable as the USB connector into the unit is an old-style that I did not have lying around.

Would recommend downloading the additional full Desktop software from Dymo site. It’s not very intuitive but once you work it out it’s fine and offers a lot of extra options.

I had setup issues when first using related to what appears to be a know-issue with the tape-cartridges. You load the tape unit, and when printing it makes lots of noise as if it’s working, but the tape does not move or print. Some searching online indicated this was a common issue and relates to the tape cartridge and not the printer. I was able to solve it eventually by following the online help from others. Seems to be a hit-miss thing depending on the individual cartridge. So am expecting to encounter this again.

That issue aside, I’m very happy with this printer. Great labels and the convenience of using my computer to create them rather than dealing with the (necessarily) clunky interfaces on the stand-alone units. If you don’t need a portable stand-alone unit then this is the one for you. No batteries required either. Powered by rechargeable internal battery and charged by the same USB connection to PC.

UPDATE: Beware that the INTERNAL BATTERY degrades if not kept charged up. Something I did not know. I just took this out of the cupboard after about 8-9 months of not using it and it will not print. Looking online this appears to happen when the internal battery self-discharges and then degrades below the point where it will charge again. Rendering the printer useless without a replacement battery which are very hard to find and cost over half the price of a new unit. If I had known then I would have set a reminder to charge the battery by connecting to my PC every 1-2 months. Now I have the annoying prospect of buying another new unit of this exact same printer, just so I can use up the various tapes I already have. Or start again with another brand/style of label maker that does not have this issue.

Since I have another DYMO Hand Held Label Maker, I sort of expected this one to be very much like it. I was very much wrong. This PNP Label Maker is very much just what it says it is. A very good label maker that connects up to a PC at a very good price. I was a bit concerned about how easy it would be to hook up. (I can sometimes get confused about what goes where when getting things hooked up right.) But I shouldn’t have worried. The instructions are very clear and it’s hard to mess up. After placing the batteries into the label maker. (They only go in one way.) and snapping in the supplied label tape cart. and plugged it into a available USB slot and it was “seen” right away as a addition drive on your computer. After the computer “sees” the drive you either right click and selected open or double click on the DYMO software icon and it opens the app where you create and then print your labels from. I was impressed how easy it was to print out the first label. And it printed out almost right away after I clicked the print button. I also was impressed by the quality of the label itself. I was expecting the same or somewhat like the same type of label that my handheld label printed out. Instead this label’s surface is shiny and it feels a bit tougher than the older hand held labels I’m used to. The blank label refills are a bit more pricey, but not by much and given the way they look when applied, I could deal with that. One small thing that may cause some people a problem, but wasn’t one for me. If you turn off or unplug the label maker, it acts just as if you had unplugged a USB external drive. That is, it isn’t available unless it’s plugged in and powered on. So if you use the power button on the label maker, it acts as if you’ve disconnected the label maker totally even though it’s still plugged in. Since I usually leave my systems on, this isn’t a real problem for me. Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase and can say, so far, it’s a really good way of getting a label maker attached to your computer. Good job!!
8/25/15 Update: The only problem I’ve had with this label maker is with the battery and that was more than likely my fault. But I feel a buyer should know this. If you have problems check out the battery as mine seems to have gone dead. It wouldn’t recharge and as a result the label maker’s software doesn’t remain connected to the PC but will drop in and out and finally out altogether. Batteries are available at DYMO for this item but I couldn’t find one on Amazon that would fit it. Still a really good label maker but this one thing is a problem as you should be able to get a replacement battery easily and not have to buy from just one place. This doesn’t change my rating but is there for consideration.

I researched a lot before picking a label maker and I’m very happy I chose this one! Great value for what it can do.

My few issues with it:
The software that shows up to install when you plug the machine in is outdated and could not be installed on my Mac. I had to search for a newer driver on the website, and somewhere I found one that had the picture of my model. I installed it and it would keep telling me the printer was “not connected”. Turns out it was the wrong driver, I found the right one kind of buried somewhere. With the right one it worked perfectly.

Something else is that the Dymo software itself is not great. When you type your text, it adds an unnecessary margin around it, making the text smaller than it has to be. When you add a second element like a clipart, the extra margin from the text and the clipart creates a large gap between the two, which doesn’t look great. The solution for me was making all my labels on Photoshop with 0 margins around the text and images. That way there’s no wasted space on the top and bottom (for some reason, the app doesn’t add them if you’re inserting an image), and I can just cut away the extra side margins once it prints. There’s no reason for the software to add those top/bottom margins, but as long as I can do it right by importing an image, I’m happy!

Even with those down sides, this is still a 5-star review because the cost-benefit of this machine makes it totally worth it! The labels look amazing, I don’t have to worry about batteries because it’s USB, and now that I figured out how to make them look the way I want, it’s super fast to make them.

If you want total control over the design of your labels and are able to design them in an external app, I definitely recommend this model!

Easy to use and makes very legible labels on half inch tape. I am using with Windows 10 without problem.