Dymo labelers are of three different types: embossing label makers, thermal label printers and tape printers. The thermal label printer line—the LabelWriter series—is currently the most popular among American small business owners because they are more versatile than other Dymo labeling machines.

But how do Dymo thermal printers compare with similar devices made by the competition? And why should that matter to you? And if you are determined to get a Dymo unit no matter what, which one should you pick for your business? These are some of the most important questions that we will answer in this article.

Dymo-printers
CONTENT

Why Should You Choose a Dymo Label Printer?

What Are the Pros and Cons of Dymo Label Printers?

How Should You Choose the Right Dymo Label Printer for Your Business?

Which Dymo Label Maker Is the Best?

What Kinds of Labels Are Available for Dymo Label Printers?

In What Ways Are Dymo Printers and Labels Different from the Competition?

Why Should You Choose a Dymo Label Printer?

When you surf online or go to Staples, you will see a myriad of direct thermal printers offering various conveniences. Compared to their competitors, Dymo printers are not the fastest, cheapest or most tech-loaded. However, buyers still go for this brand for the following reasons:

Crisp Images

Easy Setup Process

Compact Design

Wide Online Compatibility

Compatible with Mac & Windows

Warranty Length

Gorgeous Labels

Date & Time Stamping

American Brand

1.

Crisp Images

Dymo label printers have a default resolution of 300 dpi, allowing users to create sharp text and images. This is enough for printing intricate logos and most business barcodes. 

2.

Easy Setup Process

Most Dymo buyers can set up their printers right away. The easy-to-install software can be found online or on the CD that comes with the package. 

Learn More:

3.

Compact Design

Dymo label printers are only slightly bigger than your open hand. Both the print head and label holder are protected inside the machine. This beats the design of thermal printers like Rollo, which require you to buy a separate label holder.

4.

Wide Online Compatibility

You can use Dymo label makers on any US shipping service and e-commerce sites readily. You do not need additional software or browser extensions to get them to print barcodes and shipping labels online.

5.

Compatible with Mac and Windows

The versatile and user-friendly Mac and Windows are the most widely used operating systems in the US. If you use either one of these, you won’t have a problem installing a Dymo label printer.

6.

Warranty Length

Dymo’s warranty expires after two years, whereas competing label printer makers offer only one-year warranties. Warranties help maintain direct thermal printers.

7.

Gorgeous Labels

Dymo produces die-cut labels of different colors and sizes, letting you create neat, professional-looking tags. Additionally, the Dymo Label™ software has numerous customization features, so you can make fabulous designs that reflect your brand.

8.

Date and Time Stamping

Date-and-time-stamping lets your customers know how fast you act on their orders. This is crucial when shipping products, as delayed delivery can impact your seller reviews negatively.

9.

Dymo Is an American Brand

When you buy a Dymo label printer, you buy a product made with the highest manufacturing standards. You also get to help a homegrown business and its American workers.

Dymo thermal printers can answer the labeling needs of most American small business owners. That’s why it remains a popular brand.

Why Should You Choose a Dymo Label Printer

What Are the Pros and Cons of Dymo Label Printers?

We just enumerated the advantages you can gain when you buy a Dymo printer. However, when you compare Dymo LabelWriters side by side with their competitors, they fall short in many ways.

  • Dymo printers get jammed a lot, wasting both money and time. However, users can avoid frequent jamming with proper maintenance.
  • The maximum label load is low, only about 200-300 for most label types and up to 1,000 for some of the smaller ones. If you need to print thousands of labels a day or use different label sizes, the frequent label roll changes can slow you down. Calibration difficulties can worsen the problem.
  • Compared to Brother labels, Dymo labels do not have their own spools. Label roll replacement and calibration add to your labeling chores. Meanwhile, the Brother labels’ drop-in feature makes label changes quicker.
  • Dymo printers do not have cutters, which can also speed up labeling. Competing brands like Zebra and Brother do.
  • Dymo label printers function at slower speeds than their competitors. This may be a tradeoff for their high resolution. However, 230-dpi printers like Rollo and Arkscan are usually enough for most small businesses.
  • Dymo label printers print only in black, just like most other devices of their kind. This means that you cannot print your logo in color on Dymo labels. Switching to a thermal transfer printer or one of Brother’s black-and-red printers expands your labels’ color palette.
  • Most Dymo label printers connect to computers by USB cable. They require a lot of maneuvers before you can make them print wirelessly. The LabelWriter Wireless is the only remote-printing Dymo model, but it has no battery that will let you use it as a portable machine.
  • Dymo apps have glitches that can slow you down.
  • Dymo printers do not have an open slot for feeding extra labels. This keeps you from expanding their maximum label load or using fanfold labels.
  • The two-year warranty prevents you from checking out cheaper, third-party Dymo label alternatives. Dymo labels cost much more than their generic counterparts.
  • Dymo customer service is sometimes hard to reach for questions about their products.

Here is a table summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of using a Dymo label printer:

The Pros and Cons of Using Dymo Label Printers:

Pros

  • Crisp images
  • Easy to set up
  • Compact design
  • Wide online compatibility
  • Work with Mac and Windows
  • Two-year warranty
  • Professional-looking labels
  • Date-and-time-stamping enabled
  • American brand

Cons

  • Frequent jams
  • Low maximum label load
  • Calibration problems
  • No drop-in feature
  • No cutter
  • Slow printing speeds
  • Print only in black
  • Most models connect to PCs by USB only
  • No battery, so not portable
  • Software glitches
  • No extra label feed slot for load expansion
  • Do not use fanfold labels, which help reduce clutter
  • Expensive labels made even pricier by Dymo’s two-year warranty
  • Customer service is sometimes hard to reach

We recommend that you check out as many direct thermal printer brands and models as possible before deciding which one to buy.

How Should You Choose the Right Dymo Label Printer for Your Business?

When shopping for a label printer for your business, you may want to compare Dymo with other brands before settling for a unit. Dymo printers produce great-looking labels but may decrease your productivity significantly. It is best for facilities needing fewer than 1,000 labels a day but not those with more.

Additionally, businesses relying on non-Windows and non-Mac operating systems cannot use Dymo printers unless they are willing to spend extra tweaking their computers.

That said, if you still want to use a Dymo labeler regardless, here are some things to consider when deciding which model to buy:

Print Width

Print Speed

Extra Features

Print Width

Like other dedicated labelers, Dymo printers have two maximum print widths: 2” and 4”. The LabelWriter 4XL is the only model with a maximum print width of about 4”, so it is the only one suitable for making 4 x 6 shipping labels. 

If you need to ship to customers on a regular basis, get the LabelWriter 4XL. It will speed up your mailing tasks and help you avoid smearing your shipping labels. Since it works with any Dymo label type, you can use it to create a wider variety of tags.

Meanwhile, you may consider other Dymo printers if you need only a dedicated small-label maker. You may buy both wide and small types if you think doing so will make you more efficient, but most startups do not need to. Growing businesses switch to other brands if they need faster thermal printers. 

Find High-Quality Labels Compatible with Your Dymo LabelWriter Printer at enKo!

Dymo-1744907-4″-x-6″-right

Dymo 4XL Shipping Labels

: 220 Labels/Roll
: 4″ x 6″
: Dymo Printers
AS LOW AS $5.86 / ROLL

Print Speed

This feature will matter only if you’re comparing small Dymo label printers and not considering other brands.

The Dymo LabelWriter 450 is the slowest small printer in this product line, printing at a speed of 51 2” labels per minute.

The next ones are the LabelWriter 450 Turbo, Duo, and Wireless which can all produce 71 2” labels a minute. However, the performance of the LabelWriter Wireless may be affected by the signal speed.

The fastest in this product line is the LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo, which has two narrow print heads with speeds of 71 2” labels per minute.

Extra Features

There are two Dymo LabelWriters that have features unique from the others.

First, if you want innate wireless capability, you must consider the LabelWriter Wireless. It allows remote printing from another PC without the need for extra hardware or software. The Dymo Connect app lets you hook up your Android or iOS phone to the LabelWriter Wireless easily.

Second, if you want a machine that creates durable thermal tags as well as regular thermal labels, you should think of getting the LabelWriter 450 Duo. Its tape print head works with coated thermal labels strong enough for asset tagging. The tape labels are similar to the other types that Dymo is known for.

Otherwise, if you want simpler features, you may consider another Dymo LabelWriter model.

These are the things to keep in mind when deciding which Dymo unit to buy for your business.

Which Dymo Label Maker Is the Best?

That depends on your needs. As you can see, each Dymo LabelWriter model has something different to offer. Here is a table comparing the units side by side:

Feature
450
450 Turbo
Twin Turbo
Duo
Wireless
4XL

Dimensions (inches)

4.9 x 5.7 x 7.2

4.88 x 5.75 x 7.25

8.5 x 5.33 x 7.38

5.5 x 8 x 7.25

5 x 8 x 4.9

7 x 5.5 x 7.38

Weight (lbs.)

1.99

1.44

2.5

2.98

1.5

1.96

Max. Print Width (inches)

2.2

2.25

4.16

Label Types

Only 2” labels or slimmer

All Dymo labels, including 4 x 6  shipping labels

Print Speed (2” labels per minute)

51

71

71 on each print head

71

71

53

Prices start at

$110

$140

$220

$230

$160

$210

What are your goals for labeling?

  • If you want only one device to address all your thermal labeling needs, the 4XL may be best for you.
  • If you think your business can make use of tape labels, then get a LabelWriter Duo.
  • If you just want a dedicated small-label printer, get something other than the 4XL. If the price is more important than the print speed, get the LabelWriter 450, which is the cheapest model. If print speed matters as much as the price does, get the LabelWriter 450 Turbo.
  • If print speed is a major consideration, you may want to get the Twin Turbo, which is the fastest Dymo unit. 
  • If you need a wireless small-label printer, you may want to go for the LabelWriter Wireless.

Remember that all of these units are compact, interface with the same operating systems and have the same 300-dpi resolution.

What Kinds of Labels Are Available for Dymo Label Printers?

Below is a table showing the different types of Dymo labels:

Product Code

30277

30327

30333

30330

1738595

30332

30347

30336

30252

30320

30321

30334

30324

30323

30256

1744907

Label Desciption

File folder labels (2-UP)

File folder labels (1-UP)

Small multipurpose labels

Return address labels

Barcode file labels

Multipurpose labels

Book spine labels

Address labels

Address labels (350/roll)

Address labels (260/roll)

Large address labels

Medium multipurpose labels

Diskette labels

Shipping labels

Shipping labels

Shipping labels

Size (Width x Height)

9/16” x 3-7/16”

9/16” x 3-7/16”

1/2” x 1”

3/4” x 2”

3/4” x 2-1/2”

1” x 1”

1” x 1-1/2”

1” x 2-1/8”

1-1/8” x 3-1/2”

1-1/8” x 3-1/2”

1-4/10” x 3-1/2”

2-1/4” x 1-1/4”

2-1/8” x 2-3/4”

2-1/8” x 4”

2-5/16” x 4”

4” x 6”

These are for the regular thermal labels, and they come in different colors. For the LabelWriter Duo, the tape labels are available in five sizes: the 6-mm, 9-mm, 12-mm, 19-mm and 24-mm.

In What Ways Are Dymo Printers and Labels Different from the Competition?

Dymo printers and labels are unlike the competition for several reasons:

  • Dymo labels have special markings that aid their printers’ sensors. These markings keep you from using the labels on other devices. Likewise, Dymo label printers cannot use generic labels, which lack these position indicators. You could say that they also contribute to Dymo labels’ high price.
  • Dymo labelers use two types of thermal print heads. The first one is the regular thermal print head that uses uncoated heat-sensitive labels. It accommodates multiple text lines and intricate images. The second is the tape labeler that uses laminated thermal paper. Some types can print multiple lines, but none can print complex graphics. The Dymo LabelWriter 450 Duo can work with both types of labels. Others work with only one.
  • Dymo is one of the first to introduce colored thermal labels in the market. Coloring is another means to customize your business labels. It is a great way to make your brand more memorable, even if you use only a monochromatic printer.
  • Dymo labels are die-cut and have rounded edges—a design that makes them look more attractive and businesslike than generic labels.
  • Dymo labels lack the drop-in feature. Then again, so do many other brands.

You must take these distinct traits into account when comparing Dymo printers with their competitors.

In What Ways Are Dymo Printers and Labels Different from the Competition

A Recap: Looking for a Dymo Label Printer for Business

When it comes to thermal printers, Dymo units are popular among American small business owners. They are beginner-friendly, compact and produce clear images. The thermal labels manufactured by this US company are also highly customizable.

However, Dymo label printers have a long list of drawbacks that can make you consider other brands. They are slow, not portable and tend to jam frequently. They lack many features that can let you cut labeling costs. Overall, they are less efficient and cost-effective than competing brands.

However, if you still want to go for a Dymo despite these downsides, you must choose one that fits your business needs best. Each model has distinct features that make them more suitable for some businesses but not others.

Finally, remember that when you buy a Dymo thermal printer, you must be ready for the ups and downs of Dymo labels. These stickers are great for customization and creating professional-looking business tags, but they do not improve the cost-effectiveness or efficiency of Dymo printers.

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Tags: Dymo Labels
Melodie

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