Brother QL-800 Printer Review

Just like all other Brother QL printers, the Brother QL-800 maintains a unique feature: auto-pick. Essentially, your Brother printer automatically identifies the size and model name of labels and selects the appropriate size on your printer software, unlike Zebra, which requires manual setup. How does it work?

You may have noticed that all Brother-branded labels come with a cartridge. These cartridges, with different combinations of holes, enable Brother QL printers to identify label sizes. This eliminates the need for manual guesswork and label size setup, saving a lot of time.

However, the trade-off is the cost of the labels. Because every Brother-branded label comes with an unreusable cartridge, the label cost for Brother QL-800 printers is higher than that of almost all other brands. This is not only due to the cartridge cost but also because there are fewer labels per roll, as the cartridge takes up space. For example, for 4” x 6” labels, there are 200 labels per roll for Brother DK-1241 , but 220 labels per roll for Dymo 1744907 and 250 labels per roll for most 1” core 4” x 6” labels on the market.

However, there are label vendors like Betckey that provide labels that are  70% more affordable , and they come with a reusable cartridge that is compatible with Brother QL printers.

Auto-crop stands out as a distinctive feature of Brother QL printers. Once you enable the auto-crop function, Brother printers will automatically trim the labels. This feature proves highly beneficial when you need to print a large quantity of labels simultaneously. Otherwise, you'd find yourself managing lengthy labels that tend to twist or having to manually separate labels numerous times.

The inclusion of auto-crop ensures compatibility with continuous labels like DK- 2205 and DK-2243 for Brother printers. These exceptionally long labels, extending up to 100 feet, enable you to set and cut them to your desired length effortlessly.

The Brother P-Touch software stands out as the most user-friendly printing software available in the market. It incorporates an auto-select feature that proves highly convenient. When you insert Brother labels with the cartridge into the printer, the Brother P-touch software can recognize the cartridge mark and automatically choose the label size. This eliminates the need for manual selection from a multitude of sizes.

However, this convenience comes with a drawback in terms of flexibility. Brother's printer lacks flexibility, as it doesn't allow the setup of a custom label size beyond the existing options in Brother P-touch. For instance, attempting to print a 3” x 8” label with a Brother printer is not feasible because this particular label size is not part of Brother's available label sizes.