Brother P-Touch 65 > Reviews > Label me, baby...

Author's product rating:   

Picture quality	Excellent
Printing speed	Very fast
Colour sensitivity	Excellent
Ease of use	Very easy
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Small, easy, Prints look nice
Disadvantages:	Maybe the price

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Hello everybody,

this is my very first review in Ciao.uk. I normally write reviews for Ciao.de in Germany of course in the German language.

I would like to write about my newest labeling system, the brother P-Touch (PT-65) 65. I bought it in Germany for about 30 Euro (40 Dollars, I do not know the currency rate into GBP).

The labels produced by this system are very clear on its paper/label.

You certainly want to know how to print and produce the label, don't you? Ok, here comes the answer:

First of all, you must unsert six AA alkaline batteries in the back of the machine. After that you may want to insert the tape cassette, also in the back of the machine. Afterwards, you may turn on the PT65 by pressing the ON/OFF button on the front of the machine. Now you can enter a text with a maximum of 55 characters and when finished you just press PRINT and the label is being printed. To cut off the printed label, simply press the violet botton on the left hand side of the machine. Furthermore, you may want to peel off the back of the label.

The machine can produce labels in the following ways:
in CAPS, with NUMbers and different characters like smiles, hearts etc... . However, it can also underline, frame and change text style (Arial, Times New Roman etc...), shadow, bold, write vertical, horizontal, italic and outlined. Also, five different text sized are available.

The label colours are available in white, pink, yellow, red, blue, gold, silver and green. It prints on two label widths (3/8" Tape=9mm and 1/2" Tape=12mm) and also up to 2 lines.

Furthermore, it can also repeat prints by just pressing the PRINT button again for as many prints as needed (and tape inserted).

The tape refills cost about 5 Euro ($7,45 USD).

Of course, like any other machine you may have to clean it sooner or later. Please go by the following steps:

First, you must turn off the machine, to prevent injuries like cuts.
Then you remove the back cover and the tape cassette. Use a dry cotton swab (Q-tip) to gently wipe the print head and rubber pinch roller with an up and down motion.
Then re-insert the tape cassette and place the cover above it. Turn on the machine and simply press CODE and FEED SPACE to feed the tape, and print.

Like every label machine it may happen that the tape cassette finishes. In order to change the tape cassette, please do the following:

First remove the back cover. Pull the empty tape cassette out, remove the paper tab from the new tape cassette and insert into machine. Make sure it clicks when you insert it. Close the back with the cover. Feed the tape by holding down CODE and pressing FEED SPACE, then cut the tape by pressing in on the tape cutter button. (Remember the violet button on the left hand side)

You may also have to change the cutter unit sometime and for that you have to remove the back cover again. Grasp the tab on the top of the cutter unit and pull out the cutter. DO NOT TOUCH THE BLADE!!! SERIOUS INJURIES MAY OCCUR! Then grasp the tab on the new cutter unit and insert it.

My experience with this machine is just good and super. I have never had a problem with the labels, the machine itself or the changing of cutters, tapes or batteries. I only have to say that this machine is worth its money and I certainly can speak out a 100% buying recommendation. The lables quality is super, the colours look very nice. The machine it self is very easy and the user's manual is in English and Spanish and very easy written, and therefore easy to understand. The Design is classic, nothing special, but still very impressive. (A little machine that makes wonderful labels). Reliable? It sure is. I have it now for over 1 Year and it still runs like on the first day. The extra functions impressed me a lot and it looks funny to make a variety of labels. The printing speed is very fast, not even 10 seconds and the label is printed.

Since I have not had a technical problem or issue yet (within one year) I have not called or used the technical support services. Therefore, I cannot make a statement about that.

Thanks for reading my reviews.

Tiziana for Ciao.uk on 12 Feb 2007