DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Saves time, Quick and easy to use, No need for ink
Disadvantages:	Do need to buy labels

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

INTRODUCTION

I've been selling on eBay.co.uk for a few years now and have sold and posted hundreds of items. Throughout this time, I've been writing delivery addresses on the packages with marker pens and with bigger items, I print out a packing note, which I enclose in see-through envelopes, which I stick onto packages. The first method looks unprofessional and is more prone to mistakes. The latter cost more but both methods were time consuming.

Even though I'm not selling hundreds of items at a time (more like a couple every now and again) the time and effort I was putting into addressing packages added up and seemed rather tedious each time. There have also been many occasions where I've found the delivery address or addressee's name being long and difficult to spell, which made the task even more tedious, not to mention easy to misspell when writing it down. Eventually, I'd decided to make my eBay life just that bit easier by buying myself a DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo, ironically, bought through eBay for around £70. I'd known about the DYMO brand and their portable handheld label printers, as well as these little desktop label printers so knew they were good.

SETTING UP

Setting up was the same as any other printer with a USB connection. I installed the software on my PC, plugged the printer's power cable into the mains and then plugged the USB cable from the printer to my PC. Once the software was installed and my PC picked up the printer, it added a new printer icon for the DYMO to my printer list. Lastly, I loaded the roll of labels (included), which is quite easy to do and there's even a label on the inside of the printer with diagrams showing you how to load the labels properly.

USAGE

The DYMO Label software is very easy to use. Simply type or copy and paste what you want on the label and then press the Print button to shoot the label out of the printer. It's very quick to print and can shoot out a label in around a second. You can then tear it off of the printer, peel the label from the paper and stick it on whatever you want to label. Once installed, it's simply another Windows printer and I've even managed to print labels out of Microsoft Word, albeit, it requires a bit more page formatting.

The software does provide a lot more functions such as the ability to let you store addresses in the address book, format the font, generate barcodes, add graphics, different shaped text, etc. It can also let you import and export addresses, so if you had a lot of addresses listed in a spreadsheet, you would have the ability to print off all the addresses in bulk rather than have to copy and paste them in one by one.

I use the labels for addressing items for posting but I have also found other uses for the address labels. I have labelled boxes, computers, printers, drawers, folders, etc at work and at home and it has proved to be an excellent tool for helping me organise myself.

On top of being able to buy different sized labels, you are able to buy different shaped labels such as circular ones, which have a hole in the middle so that you can use them to label CDs. Images can be printed but complicated pictures don't look good when printed even if you can make out what they are. Basic shapes and pictures are okay though.

RUNNING COSTS

Unlike most printers, this label printer does not require any ink. The only consumable that I need to worry about procuring are labels. The labels do seem quite expensive.

For example, the 99012 address labels;

RRP: £18.88 but seem to cost around £15 for two rolls (260 labels per roll) plus postage, works out to around 3p per label if ignoring postage, which isn't too bad. However, shopping around can get you better prices and there's even bigger savings to be made if you buy the compatible labels in bulk, which can purchased on eBay. I've done so and the labels work without any problems or noticeable difference in quality. On eBay, I've found two rolls for £4.99 plus postage, which works out to around 1p per label if ignoring the postage.

SUMMARY

PROS

- Thermal, so no need for ink
- Convenient and saves time
- Makes addressing look more professional
- Quick and easy to use
- Compact
- Compatible labels can be sourced for cost savings
- Warranty extended to 3 years once you register the printer,

CONS

- Labels can be expensive (but you can buy compatibles)

VERDICT

Whether you're an eBay seller or work in an office, the DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo can save you time and make things look more professional. I think it's a brilliant piece of kit so I can highly recommend it. However, DYMO do a lot of other products. There's also a LabelWriter 400 (no Turbo), which I'm guessing is just slightly slower. They also have twin printers that print address labels and strip labels, as well as handheld label printers so there's plenty of choice.

Although the initial price of labels may scare you off, the running cost really isn't that bad as there's no ink to worry about and it does save you a lot of time in the long run as well as making everything that needs labelling look professional. Definitely well worth it for any eBay'er or any office that sends out post or just needs a lot of stuff labelled.

Oh, I also registered my printer with DYMO which extends the warranty to 3 years so definitely worth doing!

Thanks for reading!