DYMO LabelManager 150

What a fascinating invention! Why didn't I know about this when I was 7? I would have taken great pleasure in labelling everything I could see! My Mum, Dad, TOys, Cat....

So much fun!But aside from that, this device actually has a very sensible purpose. It enables you to print labels of varying colours and backgrounds depending on the cartridge you insert. The labels can be used for almost any purpose, such as:

• Labelling cabling which is especially useful in the world of IT (where I work) as in a server/switch room you may have thousands of cables all connected to switches but no way of identifying which device each cable is for, simply wrap the label around each lead.
• Labelling shelving can help you keep your shelving units more organised and tidy. Just stick the labels along the front of the shelves
• Putting labels on equipment, such as a persons name, or a machine number
• Labelling plugs where you have many plugs plugged into sockets but are unsure which plug is for which machine.
• Safety warnings, for example you could print a label that says DO NOT USE and stick it to a faulty piece of equipment
• Printing plant labels to stick on those little plant stick things you can buy to save you writing on them and not being able to understand your writing at a later date!

As you can see, the uses for this machine are positively endless ranging from the sensible to the not so sensible. Someone who I work with, who shall remain nameless, took it upon himself to label all his possessions with his name! Looked quite ridiculous to be honest, but gave us all a good laugh.Actually I would like to print one of these off and stick it to my girlfriends head when she is asleep and see how long it takes in the morning for her to realise its there... you never know, she might even go to work with it still on there!..... evil aren't I!

Anyway, back to the product.

Design

The LabelManager 150 is quite small for the type of device it is, as some can be quite cumbersome. I find this ideal as I can take it out with me when I am walking around the site labelling cabling or switches and its as light as a feather, similar I guess to those fancy devices the electric man carries when he comes to read your meter. At the same time it is also ideal to be desk based as it takes up very little room and is portable so if its in the way you can just move it a bit.

Power

Assisting with the portability the DYMO LabelManager 150 gives you the choice of running it using mains power when you are office based or in an area for a while that has power sockets available. ALternatively you can choose to run the device on battery power. If you are interested it takes 5 x AA batteries.

Cartridges and Output

The labels that this machine outputs are in ribbon form if you know what I mean. The actual size of your output depends on the type of cassette you put in. Cassettes are available in widths of 1/4" (6mm), 3/8" (9mm), or 1.2" (12mm). You can get them in a range of colours. i.e. black on white, blue on white, black on clear etc. Another advantage of this machine is that you don't have to just print one label at a time. If you want more than one label of the same thing you can print up to 16 at one time. The length of the label is determined by the amount of text that you wish to place on one line, but you can manually adjust this if you want a slightly longer label. You can choose from sizes between 40mm and 400mm. The minimum size you can have is 40mm. I.e. if you choose to print a label containing just one character the output would still be 40mm long (although you can just trim this up with a pair of scissors - mind your fingers). Once your output has come out there is a little slicer button on the side which you just push to cut it off cleanly.

So how do you do it?

Right, you've decided what you want your label to say, now you just need to print it. First turn the device on and then just type in what you want on the keypad and press print. Thats it. There are a few buttons on the front that allow you to change the text size and type. You can also add frames to your labels and there are six types of frame to choose from. Thats it. If you don't like the colour just change to a different cassette, and if you don't like the output mess around changing the font styles or border.

Cost

This device cost us £80 when we bought it.

I have included a picture of the device together with a sample of the output.

Highly recommended!