Customer Reviews

Brother PT-2600 Labeling System

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If your reading this, you're looking for a good Labeling System. If you want a "stand-alone" item (which even can hook into your computer) this is the best of both worlds. I use the Brother PT-2600 mostly as a stand alone unit. The few times I used it with my Mac G4, it gave many options---most of which I did not need, so I prefer to use it without the computer (although I keep the USB plug connected). I've used mine for nearly a year with zero problems and without the battery eliminator. It's still using the original batteries (it does take 8 AAs). Now, let me address the "caveat". I had a need to use gold and silver backed foil labels with black ink. Brother does NOT make such a product. They make Gold Ink on BLACK background (which looks worse than terrible). It is for this reason I purchased the DYMO LabelManager-150. Its smaller than the PT Brother series, only takes 5 AA batteries, and it too is still running on the same battery pack I received when I purchased the item a year ago (about 1 month after I purchased the PT-2600 Brother. In my review of the DYMO Labeler I only rated it four stars because it does not have an automatic "cutter" which cuts the label after you've printed it. You simple push a "cut" button and it cuts the label for you. It DOES feed the label out, however. The brother unit does this all for you, including cutting the label so the label simply drops on the desk or into your hand (no doubt this is why the BROTHER requires 8 batteries and the DYMO only 5).
Bottom line: Unless your a perfectionist like myself---I simply had to have that lovely "gold plated" background look on labels for a specific ongoing project ---than purchase the Brother. It has every format, even address mailing labels (the DYMO does NOT have that feature). For myself--- I had to have both.
I trust this review has given you some added insight into this product!

This little machine works well and is well laid out. It's easy to use, whether via computer or by hand. But it's heavier than I imagined (2.5 lbs). And it has this annoying quirk: when using it with the computer, it cuts an extra blank label of about 1/2" before printing the label. Technical Support said all Brother labelers do that. (See their full response below). When printing by hand, there's extra space on your label before and after the printing, which you can cut off manually. When printing by computer, there's an actual extra blank label that the machine spits out and cuts before printing your label. In either case, plan to waste about an inch of the tape for every label, no matter what size label you need.

That said, it really is great to be able to print labels on the fly. I'm envisioning a much more orderly environment very soon.

I noticed some reviewers either here or elsewhere complaining that the labels are hard to peel from their backing. This is not true of the labels that came with my labeler. The backing is split and very easy to peel off.

Here's the explanation from Brother Tech Support about the extra length of label:

PT2600 PS 5100 There is approximately one inch of space between the printhead and the cutter blade within the P-touch label printer. The three layers of material that make up all P-touch laminated labels must pass over this space in order to be sealed correctly and to feed correctly. Ordinarily a small piece of tape, 1 inch long, will first precede the printed label to ensure that this happens. This extra feed material cannot be eliminated. However, the piece of extra tape can be added to the printed label instead of being cut off by changing the "Margin" setting to one inch. There is no way to eliminate the excess tape feed.

My boss bought one of these things for the office as part of an effort to keep things organized and identified. While I resented this new part of my job description, I found the Brother PT-2600 Labeling machine easy to use and extremely handy. I eventually bought one for myself for my home office. Now all my manuscripts, floppies, CDs, and tapes are clearly labeled. It's a great tool!

I was looking for a "do everything" labeler system and this once surely does that and more. It can create bar-codes from your PC and it can even use Avery labels.. If you're looking for something to just do simple labels around the house and for your filing system, then this may be an overkill.... The biggest gripe that I have with this unit, vs. other units by brother which are smaller and have the manual cutter, is that this one wastes by far the greatest amount of tape(per print-out you waste almost 1 inch on the leading and 1.5 inches on the trailing ends of the print-out).....and if you don't have the AC adapter, it wastes a lot of batteries..... So unless you need all of the features this unit has to offer and you think you'll absolutely have a need for the extra features in the "near" future, then I would recommend a $25 labeler from Brother...

The machine is great. The computer interface is realy handy because the PT-2600's keyboard is a little hard to get aquanted with. The big draw-back is the price of the tapes. Like so many items you buy today the consumables ar the the big expense.

I picked this specific labelmaker for it's ability to natitively print barcode labels. I had the crazy idea to replace those little keychain barcode tags with barcode labels conveniantly stuck to different things that I carry around anyway. So far it has worked great and I have no major complaints with it. Also I love the fact that you can very easily print address labels just by changing out the label cartridge.

Good deal. I wished the product would've come with a voltage transformer and it's hard to find one off the shelf to fit it; but otherwise no issues with this purchase (at all).

I love this label maker. It's very vercitile. It works wonderfully. I love having all the different options it provides. I've been able to use it on many projects and haven't had any complaints yet.