Epson LabelWorks LW-300 Label Printer

The Epson LabelWorks LW-300 Label Printer ($39.99 direct) is the lower priced of two similar standalone label printers that Epson recently introduced, offering most of the features of the Epson LabelWorks LW-400 ($49.99 direct, 3.5 stars) for $10 less. This battery-powered machine performs basic label printing, offering various fonts, type styles, and a wide variety of symbols. It?s highly portable and operates totally PC free.

The Basics

The LW-300 has a white base, matte-black top, and rounded corners. On top is a QWERTY keyboard, about 5 inches wide; a 4-way controller; a 1-line LED display; ?and about a dozen function buttons related to creating labels. To the left of the display is an On/Off button; to the screen?s right is the Print button, its importance underscored by the fact that it?s one of only 2 green buttons. The other, on the printer?s right side, lets you snip the completed label.

The printer measures 2.2 by 5.9 by 5.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.2 pounds. Although it?s wider than a normal hand?s width, an indentation on the bottom doubles as a finger grip; I had no trouble holding the printer in one hand and typing with the other.

As is the case with the Epson LW-400, the LW300 is a totally standalone label printer; there?s no way to hook it to a PC if you wanted to. The upside of that is you can print labels anywhere you can carry this ultraportable device. The downside is you?re consigned to using the small QWERTY keyboard to create your labels.

Even using two hands with the printer resting on a table, typing for me on the LW-300?s keyboard was strictly hunt and peck. The keyboard is nearly an inch wider than the one on the LW-400, but I still wasn?t able to accurately touch type with it. The Editors? Choice Brother P-touch PT-2730 ?($100 street, 4 stars) operates either standalone or connected to a computer, as does the Dymo LabelManager 420P ?($110 street, 4 stars), though the Dymo?s own keyboard is alphabetically arranged rather than QWERTY.

The printer is powered by six AAA batteries. Should you forget to turn the LW-300 off, it will shut itself off after five minutes. The bottom can be easily opened to replace batteries or the tape cartridge. An optional AC adapter is available for $25 (direct).

Epson offers 25 different label cartridges, up to a half-inch wide, for the LW-300, including standard, strong adhesive, clear, glow-in-the-dark, iron-on (fabric), metallic, and pearlized, in several different type and background colors. The Epson LW-400, for which Epson offers 41 cartridges up to ? inch wide, supports the printing of specialty labels such as barcodes, double-sided tabs, wire wraps, and flags. Both the Brother P-touch PT-2730 and the Dymo LabelManager 420P support printing of three-fourths-of-an-inch labels.

Inserting a label cartridge is literally a snap. Once you remove the printer?s bottom cover, you just snap the cartridge into place, making sure that any excess tape is fed through the two guides.

Label Making

Creating labels is straightforward enough, though it takes time to get used to the function keys and I found myself constantly referring to the instructions. One function key toggles between upper and lower case; one sets type size (you can have either one or two lines of text on the label); one lets you choose the font and another, the type style (bold, italic, outline, etc.). One function key lets you add punctuation; another, symbols; and yet another, accents.

A Setup button performs various functions, among them specifying label length; adjusting space between characters; chaning the font width, creating vertical text, and creating mirror-image text. A preview button scrolls through the text you?ve entered and lets you know label length.

There is a learning curve in mastering label making with the LW-300, and you don?t want to lose the instructions, but in time it gets easier and quicker.

The LW-300 took 11.6 seconds to print a 2.8-inch label reading This is a test and 19 seconds for a 4.9-inch label reading PCMag: Printer Speed Test, essentially the same speed as the LW-400. The Brother P-touch PT-2730 took 11.6 seconds to print a 3.5-inch-long label, also reading PCMag: Printer Speed Test, while the Dymo LabelManager 420p ($110 street, 4 stars), printed the same text in just 6.5 seconds.?

If you don?t plan on printing barcodes, wide labels, or labels for cabling, the Epson LabelWorks LW-300 Label Printer offers most of what the LW-400 does, for less. Although there?s some learning curve, it?s easy enough to use, highly portable, and its wider keyboard is slightly easier to type on than the LW-400?s. The Brother P-touch PT-2730 and the Dymo LabelManager 420p let you create labels either as a standalone device or from a computer keyboard, but both cost more than twice as much as the LW-300.?

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