DYMO LabelManager Plug N Play Label Maker for PC or Mac (1768960)

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.

It works great. You get a lot of labels out of each cartridge and you save a lot of effort by being able to simply type and print to it like any other printer. Beats thumbing around on a handheld device. Be cautioned though, that you may be struck with the label bug and find all sorts of things labeled that you wouldn't normally expect to see. We have been noticing it a lot around the office ever since we picked up a number of these.Update: Over time, we had to drop this score from 5 stars to just 1. We hardly run into something we want to leave a 1 (or preferably less) star review for, but this one fills the need without a doubt. The printer is absolutely amazing until it completely fails on you. Which it will within 1-3 years it seems. This is pointed out in other reviews and all of those reviews are correct. There is an internal battery that will simply die over time and Dymo designed it to fail when the battery dies by not allowing it to function without the battery properly being able to take a charge inside. Even if you keep it plugged into USB at all times, it will not function if the battery is dead. The battery is half the cost of the printer or more, thus not a justifiable cost. There are 3rd party knockoff batteries, but they will still run you $20-$30. In the end, these printers turned out to be a flop.We now have had five units in the last 5 years that have found their way into the trash. The first one that failed, we tried replacing but that one had problems from the start and had to be returned. So now, we no longer have any of this model here in the office. We still have the 450 Turbos which work good, but could never recommend this one again and heavily advise against buying one.

The label maker works as described and is very easy to install, also to download the software and create labels. It just plugs into a powered USB port on a computer, which recharges its battery. It does, as most label makers, cut off quite a bit of unprinted tape, but no more than any other label maker I've used. Since it has to be plugged into a computer, it's not as portable as the handheld Dymo that I had previously, but once the software is opened on my computer, it's much easier to make labels using my keyboard than the keyboard on a handheld label maker. The software lets you insert text, an automatic updating counter, a few simple shapes and lines, barcodes, auto-updating date and time, circular text, and addresses from an address book (mine came with a dozen addresses -- maybe someone pre-owned my label maker??). You can also import your own graphics. Great choices -- the only problem is, I'm using the supplied 1/2 tape, so there's not much room. I uploaded and added a photo go a label, but it's very tiny. Still, useful software, mostly for borders and a good selection of fonts, sizes, and colors. Much more versatile than the hand-held label maker I'd been using. I experimented for quite a while and haven't yet used up the sample tape supplied, but I did purchase three extra, full-sized rolls -- black on white, black on clear, and white on clear. I thought of purchasing a wireless version, but there were too many problems cited in reviews. Happy, for now, with this purchase.