Barcode Printers

There are many different types of barcode printers and you may be wondering how you can choose the right one for you. This article will help you choose by going over the options available to you.

1. First, ensure you know what size of labels need to be printed by the printer. This will narrow down your options significantly.
2. Second, consider what type of conditions that your labels will be exposed to, once they have been printed, and how long they have to last. This should help you choose between direct thermal printers and thermal transfer printers.
3. Consider the media that your printer needs to support.
4. Consider the environment that the printer will be in – will it be dusty or dirty? Some printers are more suited to industrial applications.
5. Check the interface and network connectivity that your current infrastructure has and ensure the model you are looking at supports this set up.
6. Consider the symbologies and graphics capabilities of the models you are looking at, in line with your needs.
7. Consider whether the printer will need to support international characters.
8. Look at the durability of your options and how important this is to you.
9. Consider the volume of labels you need to print and how quickly your chosen models can produce these volumes.
10. Consider print quality – sufficient print quality is usually 203 dots-per-inch (dpi) resolution but if you are printing very small labels or certain 2-D symbologies, you will need to look at higher quality print resolutions such as 300 or 600 dpi printers.

If you’re not sure what to choose, the best thing is to give a specialist company a call, and they can advise you on the options that best meet your needs.  We recommend the Barcode Depot’s friendly team (tel. 0845 271 0250).