Brother PTP750W Wireless Label Maker, NFC

When it comes to label makers, spend a little extra and get this one. My wife asked why I was buying it when she had two other hand held, cheaper machines. I quickly made a label with a picture on it and asked if hers could do this. 🙂 Obviously not. Didn’t take long to win her over. So you can print a label from your phone or you PC. Setup was extremely easy. Just plug it into the USB on your PC, and it will load and install the software, and it easily finds your Wifi. After setup you don’t need to cable to your computer. There’s an app to download on your phone, we have iPhones, and it works great. At first you may not like the fact that there is no keyboard on it, but when you start to use your phone or PC, you’ll realize just how much easier it is. Plus, you can easily change fonts, make multi-line labels, add tables, graphs, photos and more. You can get a variety of tape widths from 1/4″ (6mm) up to 1″ wide. There is a less expensive version that only works with USB, but I figured that I’m going to have this for a long time, so why not spend just a bit more and get one that everyone in the house can use from their phones or laptops, and without cables.

This Ptouch model is the one is the best to print labels with a good resolution to print 2D bare core labels.
I did buy 5 for our LAB inventory and no failure observed.

First, the good bits:
* Excellent build quality, which we have come to expect from Brother products.
* Multiple connectivity options: USB (of course), two WiFi modes, NFC.
* Does half-cuts, which is essential for removing the tape backing if the tape you are using does not have a split backing. Of course, also does chain-printing, so you do not waste tape if you are printing large batches and/or multiple copies of labels.
* Their editor is more than adequate, especially now that it does all sorts of barcodes and labels for wiring. And if you really must, you can always design in another editor and import as a .png image, although that’s an overkill.

Now for the complaints:
* The print head is not large enough to cover the full 24mm tape. This is not documented anywhere on the web site or the printer manual. I did manage to find the specs for the printhead in the SDK documentation, and it is only 128pixels, which at 180dpi gives a usable height of ~18mm. This is reflected in the editor, there is an ~18mm frame showing the print area, but it is annoying that a quarter of the tape is wasted in margins.
* Worse, narrower tapes *still* enforce vertical margins instead of printing on the entire tape. To wit: on the 18mm (0.7”) tape, the printable area in the editor is 16mm. Now, there is some logic behind not allowing full-bleed printing: the positioning of the tape is not totally accurate, and if there is no tape to carry away the heat of part of the print head, the latter may be damaged. Still, I should have an option to risk that.
* The WiFi setup was confusing: in the WDS mode, where the printer initially acts as a WiFi access point so you can connect to it, the configuration URL (/general/status.html) is missing. It’s only after you have set up the printer to work with your local WiFi network that the URL becomes active. Not that there is anything useful you can do; it would be nice if they had included a light version of the editor.

Overall: more than adequate for light use.

I saw a subcontractor make quick and lite work of labeling IT equipment on a new construction. My other Brother desktop/portable printer just died after 9 years of printing abuse and had to have this unit. I suggest you get the battery brick to make it rechargeable and portable, but even without it, regular batteries work very well and it doesn’t drain them too quickly. I’ve used via wireless and USB cable with my laptop and using the NFC on my phone to quickly attach and print.

It has the lite version of the p-touch software but register and get the full version that allows you to make precise labels to work perfectly on Patch Panels, for wall plate circuit ID, even I brought in my company logo and it adjusted size and printed beautifully. I hope it lasts as long as my other one, but even if that one was still working, this P750W just put that other one on the shelf collecting dust. For my work, Invaluable! Yes, I am very well aware of some other “professional” labelers at 3 and 4 times the cost…No, I prefer the functions and features of the P750W, as well as the control I have to adjust much easier than others can do.

Lots of trouble connecting this printer to wifi + documentation of printing protocols is not clear. Would avoid!