Dymo and alternatives

[Wingsley]

Over ten years ago, our household/business bought a couple of refurbished Dymo LabelWriter 320 label printers direct. They are simple and highly reliable devices, despite obvious design quirks, especially in the software. Our favorite uses for the Dymos are as printers for mailing address labels for packages and newsletters and also occasionally for "Hello!"-style name tags and container labels. (We use 4-inch-by-2-5/16-inch labels on rolls that we buy on eBay)

It's neat that the Dymo software on MacOS can help us design neat little mailing labels, but it's quirky and our older LabelWriters are technically (though not explicitly) no longer supported. One other great thing about Dymo's software is that it taps into Apple's Contacts (Address Book) database and mines it for contacts and lists so it's easy to find addresses for mailing labels.

We have one of the 320s plugged into an AirPort Extreme base station via USB cable. It works well, and fast, but I'm concerned about the future. I wonder if there will come a day when a newer version of the software comes out that "breaks" the 320s.

I find these label printers to be very useful and reliable, to the point where they are valuable. (Even though they receive light use, and one isn't even plugged in.)

I'm concerned that...

(1: Dymo's software will eventually "break", orphaning these 320s.

(2: The Airport hardware will eventually break down, and newer non-Apple WiFi systems will not offer a working USB port to connect to a printer.

(3: If I eventually have to replace either the WiFi equipment or the Dymos, or both, it will be hard to find a newer label printer setup that can connect to non-Apple WiFi equipment.

(4: We have both iOS (iPad) and Android mobile devices. Dymo software for iOS and Android does not garner good reviews. Apparently, according to other folks, the software is half-baked and "hasn't been updated in years". That's not a good sign.

Are there any good newer solutions out there that play well with WiFi and mobile devices? We need something that plays well with MacOS, iOS and Android. Despite quirks and future-proofing concerns, Dymo's 320s have been very good to us and the labels can be found cheap on eBay.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Over ten years ago, our household/business bought a couple of refurbished Dymo LabelWriter 320 label printers direct. They are simple and highly reliable devices, despite obvious design quirks, especially in the software. Our favorite uses for the Dymos are as printers for mailing address labels for packages and newsletters and also occasionally for "Hello!"-style name tags and container labels. (We use 4-inch-by-2-5/16-inch labels on rolls that we buy on eBay)

It's neat that the Dymo software on MacOS can help us design neat little mailing labels, but it's quirky and our older LabelWriters are technically (though not explicitly) no longer supported. One other great thing about Dymo's software is that it taps into Apple's Contacts (Address Book) database and mines it for contacts and lists so it's easy to find addresses for mailing labels.

We have one of the 320s plugged into an AirPort Extreme base station via USB cable. It works well, and fast, but I'm concerned about the future. I wonder if there will come a day when a newer version of the software comes out that "breaks" the 320s.

I find these label printers to be very useful and reliable, to the point where they are valuable. (Even though they receive light use, and one isn't even plugged in.)

I'm concerned that...

(1: Dymo's software will eventually "break", orphaning these 320s.

(2: The Airport hardware will eventually break down, and newer non-Apple WiFi systems will not offer a working USB port to connect to a printer.

(3: If I eventually have to replace either the WiFi equipment or the Dymos, or both, it will be hard to find a newer label printer setup that can connect to non-Apple WiFi equipment.

(4: We have both iOS (iPad) and Android mobile devices. Dymo software for iOS and Android does not garner good reviews. Apparently, according to other folks, the software is half-baked and "hasn't been updated in years". That's not a good sign.

Are there any good newer solutions out there that play well with WiFi and mobile devices? We need something that plays well with MacOS, iOS and Android. Despite quirks and future-proofing concerns, Dymo's 320s have been very good to us and the labels can be found cheap on eBay.

Dymo is hardly the only company that makes roll-fed label printers. Other names include Zebra, Brother, and Printronix. You may also find, after careful analysis, that switching from roll-fed to sheet-fed labels may work for your business. You'll have far more options. A large variety of inexpensive sheet-fed printers currently support printing from Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. While I deeply dislike Avery's label software, there are word processor templates available for nearly every label size, and apps like Mac Contacts will print directly to a fair number of standard sheet label layouts.

As to the whole USB port "thing" - it's far more likely that today's printer will be wifi connected, rather than USB. If it isn't, there are plenty of other solutions available besides AirPort - old-fashion wifi "printer servers" are available from many makers for $50 or less.

 

[jdechko]

(1: Dymo's software will eventually "break", orphaning these 320s.

(2: The Airport hardware will eventually break down, and newer non-Apple WiFi systems will not offer a working USB port to connect to a printer.

(3: If I eventually have to replace either the WiFi equipment or the Dymos, or both, it will be hard to find a newer label printer setup that can connect to non-Apple WiFi equipment.

(4: We have both iOS (iPad) and Android mobile devices. Dymo software for iOS and Android does not garner good reviews. Apparently, according to other folks, the software is half-baked and "hasn't been updated in years". That's not a good sign.

Are there any good newer solutions out there that play well with WiFi and mobile devices? We need something that plays well with MacOS, iOS and Android. Despite quirks and future-proofing concerns, Dymo's 320s have been very good to us and the labels can be found cheap on eBay.

Dymo makes newer versions of the label printer, such as the 450 model, which is reasonably priced, so if the hardware breaks, I think you should just upgrade to a newer model.

A cheap windows computer or older Mac could handle the connection directly, and the printer can be shared with other devices fairly easily.