Customer Reviews

Brother PT-65 P-touch Home and Hobby Labeler with LCD Screen

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We owned another labeler made by Dymo and were not very happy with it. The keys were laid out alphabetically rather than QWERTY style and typing felt unnatural. We also could not find any store that carried blank label cartridges - even the store we bought it from (Best Buy) didn't. We had to order them directly from the manufacturer and probably paid more than we needed to.

Although the old labeler still works, we decided to purchase this one. It is a much better product. The keypad is easy to use and the unit has some great features built into it. I like the fact that you can change fonts, or frames and can print on a variety of colors. The labels seem to stick much better than the Dymo brand labels we used before. They adhere to surfaces that I couldn't get cellophane tape to stick to. Almost every office supply or electronic store seems to sell the label cartridges in several colors and sizes.

I only have two negative comments about this unit. First, sometimes it is hard to peel the back off of the label. You have to try to get your fingernail or similar object between the backing and the label and this is often difficult to do. Second, it needs SIX AA batteries to run. If you print a lot of labels you're going to be buying a lot of batteries. I wish that they could have designed it to run off of an AC power source also.

Despite these negatives, I think that this is great product. It works well, is compact, and is reasonably priced.

I love this little machine. It's tiny, taking no space at all to store, and you can easily carry it from room-to-room-to-garage-to-attic-to-basement to label all the stuff you're trying to get organized. The labels make a huge difference in household efficiency, and the process of getting things labeled suddenly becomes efficient itself once you've got this machine. (My one caveat: I, too, find the labels difficult to peel off from the tape, especially on days with high humidity. I'll try the tape-on-table process another reviewer recommended.)

I might add that because I carry this machine everywhere with me, I've now dropped it several times and my kids have knocked it off bookshelves and tables. The extremely rough handling we've given it has had no effect on the machine's operation whatsoever. You just pick up the scattered batteries, stick them back inside, and voila. Keeps on ticking.

Like other reviewers, I specifically chose this machine in preference to the more expensive ones. With something you're going to be carrying around a lot, the smaller the better as far as I'm concerned. And as other reviewers have already pointed out, the tapes are far less costly. This matters because you'll find you go through them fast. I've adopted a number of frugality measures in the kitchen, all of which involve cooking foods ahead of time in bulk and refrigerating or freezing them, and that means labeling. **Lots** of labeling. The labels are easy to remove from plastic containers even after containers have been run through the dishwasher several times with the label left on. If you **want** the label to survive dishwashing, you can count on that, too. I'm also using the machine to label boxes of children's toys and cards, boxes of office supplies, items to be taken to garage sales, etc. (Good for file folders, too, though I prefer to use my printer for that.) I use it constantly.

Since you're looking at labelers you might want to read David Allen's book Stress-Free Productivity. He is a labeler obsessive; one of his main pieces of advice is to buy a labeler. His clients actually pay him money to come to their offices and tell them to buy a labeler.

He's right. Having a tiny, portable, easy-to-use labeler instantly at hand is pretty close to being a life-changing experience. If I had to choose between, say, my microwave oven and my labeler . . . I'd probably take the labeler.

OK, that may be pushing it, but the labeler beats the blender hands down.

Excellent product! This is one of the first electronic devices that gets my "thumbs up!" within the first day of using it! And it get addicting making labels, for this thing here, that thing there. Fun and easy!

Excellent design, very comfortable to hold in your hand with a good weight/balance [not too heavy, not too light] and good size. The buttons are not too small and the arrangement of the buttons are easily accessible and easy to learn.

Excellent accessories with different types of ink/tapes and sizes! Very good printout of labels, quick and no jamming! and easy to cut. Wonderful smoothness and professional look to the labels. Good stickiness to objects too [plastic, metal, leather, paper], waterproof as well.

I would recommend this 100%, Brother's has created a product that is affordably cheap and easy to use, fun and reliable. Nothing to complain!

I originally planned to get the ... PT-1700, but ended up getting this model instead because of the following reasons:

1. lower price (I can live with being limited to only 3/8" and 1/2" tapes)

2. cheaper consumables (the PT-65 and PT-85 are currently the only two models using non-laminated "M" tapes, which are almost half the cost of laminated "TZ" and "TX" tapes used by all other Brother labelers)

3. more portable

The only thing keeping me from giving this baby a perfect 5 is the lack of an AC adapter jack -- requiring six batteries is a bit much.

I bought this model over others mainly because of its low price (I paid $10 bucks with no rebate hassles). It turned out to be a decent buy but it becomes obvious that the low inital price will eventually be offset by the high price of label cartridges.

*** Plus Points Include ***

- Easy to use though you will have to read the short manual to understand how to change the font, print size, etc.

- Decent size that is portable yet still highly usable

- Good quality print with a reasonable amount of fonts and borders

- Replacement cartridges have a variety of colored labels to chose from.

*** Negative points are: ***

- It does not take laminated labels so the labels are for indoor use only.

- The labels are always printed with a huge gap at the beginning and end so it wastes a lot of label space (and thus it eats up label cartridges).

- The batteries are a real pain to remove because they are staggered on top of each other

- If you print 2 line lables you cannot change the fonts or size

- As other users have mentioned, it is not easy to separate the label from its backing.

All in all this is not a bad label maker for people who need something cheap and easy for the occasional label or 2 but if you are obsessive-compulsive or need to print a ton of labels you are probably better off spending a few bucks more on something that wastes less of its label cartridge.

This is a terrific labeller. I bought it after reading David Allen's "Getting Things Done" and falling in love with his organizing system. My home filing system is now not only organized but legible.

It has a lot of bells and whistles I'll probably never need - I've been using the same typeface but there are others as well as frames if you are so deoratively inclined - but overall it's a workhorse.

The reason I give it four stars instead of five? No AC-Adapter plug. If my portable cassette player can have an adapter and still cost no more than this labeller, it can too. Six AA batteries is excessive, although I've printed hundreds of labels without yet losing my charge.

Of course, I should be investing in rechargeables.

An excellent product that works like it is supposed to.

My husband bought this so he could label his files at work (since even HE can't usually read his own writing). One day, he brought it home so he could print labels while watching TV. Silly man. I started using it to make labels, and he's never been able to get it away from me.

In the kids' rooms, I used it to label toy shelves and drawers so that even my pre-schooler knew where to put away his clean clothes. That was almost a year ago, and the labels have stayed in place through countless grubby fingers grabbing at them, as well as countless times I've scrubbed away at the marks those grubby fingers leave.

In the kitchen, I didn't stop at labeling cannisters or jars. I labeled drawers, shelves and cupboards, too! Now, neither my husband nor the kids have an excuse to avoid emptying the dishwasher, because they know where everything goes! As in the kids' rooms, the labels have stayed put and held up to repeated cleanings.

In the guest room, where the lightswitch operates three separate lights and a ceiling fan, I labeled the switch plate so my guests don't have to waste time flipping switches to find the one they want to turn on or off. Numerous visitors have commented on how helpful this has been, particularly when they're groggy in the morning.

Of course, it's been essential in the storage room where clearly-written labels have saved us hours of hunting around in boxes and bins. I even labeled spots on my husband's tool bench. Now when I borrow a pair of pliers or screwdriver he's no longer complaining that I don't return it to the right place.

This product is sturdy, too. My 5-year-old has taken a turn printing up labels and yanking out the tape. Although the tape has jammed in there a few times when he's done this (and I'm fairly certain any label-maker's tape would do the same thing), it's been a cinch to get straightened out. It's even survived being dropped on the floor a number of times.

I am impressed, and I'm also addicted to this thing. Naturally, my friends and family members all teased me over my addicition... until I gave them each one. Now they're addicts, too!

This labeler is great because it's portable, easy to use, and has good looking output. It has a number of commonly used symbols and will print on two lines. The consumables aren't cheap and this is exacerbated by the fact that more tape than is necessary is wasted before and after the word. The Casio KL-750 or KL-750B is also a good choice. Its print is a touch less sharp, but it's tapes come in a wide variety of sizes.

well the price of the unit is cheap but the label tape is expensive. it advances the tape more than necessary before and after the label which ends up being about an inch of wasted tape per label.

it can do two lines on the smallest text setting but aligns to the left side.

the labels can be hard to peel as there is no feature to help you peel them whatsover.

BIG plus as you can see its standard qwerty setup. it's easy to use.

This is a good labeler with many features for the price. Here are some of the features;
- 5 text sizes
- Bold, outline, shadow, italic and vertical text styles
- Underlining
- Symbols such as some non-english letters, arrows...