Exploring Brother Labels 02: Pros v. Cons - Betckey Labels

Introduction

 

In the last blog, we discussed Brother direct thermal labels in general. When focusing on a specific segment of direct thermal labels aimed at consumers rather than businesses, Brother Industries, Ltd. (Japanese: ブラザー工業株式会社) emerges as one of the key players. Founded in 1908, this multinational electrical equipment and electronics company offers one of the most well-known direct thermal label brands for consumers and small business owners who use desktop printers at a consumer level.

In this blog, we will delve into why Brother direct thermal labels are popular, examining both their advantages and disadvantages.

See Also: Exploring Brother Labels 01: Easy, Easy And Easy - Betckey Labels

Pros

 

The pros of Brother direct thermal labels are simple yet significant: they are incredibly easy to use. Based on our tests comparing all major brands in the market, they offer unparalleled convenience. If you use Brother labels, you won’t have to manually separate a series of labels one by one, you won’t need to manually input the label size repeatedly, and you can easily find a wide range of label materials, including paper, colored, black/red on white, matte clear, glossy clear, and white clear.

Auto-cut Printer - No Need to Manually Separate Labels

For large volume label users like warehouse staff, small retail business owners, or event designers, you often have a large number of labels that need to be applied. Sometimes, you have to separate labels and distribute them to different team members.

Unlike labels from other brands that require manual separation, even with perforations, Brother thermal printers with their unique auto-cut function can cut every single label for you. All you need to do is choose "Cut Every" in your Brother P-Touch print app's "Roll Setting" section.

When you don't need to separate labels, simply choose "Cut at end," and your Brother printer will only cut the last label for one printing task instead of cutting every label.

This unique "Auto-cut" function of Brother thermal printers helps you separate labels automatically instead of manually.

Auto-select Cartridge - No Need to Manually Select Label Size

Another unique feature of Brother labels is the cartridge. Labels compatible with Brother QL printers must be attached to a cartridge, which allows Brother printers to identify and auto-select the right label size directly. For example, the printer may stop at a label size of 2.4" x 4" when the user has just finished printing 22.4" x 4"labels. However, if the user then places another size, such as 4" x 6"", with a cartridge into the Brother QL printer, the printer will automatically identify and change the printing label size to 4" x 6".

Imagine you have many different sizes of labels to print, such as 4" x 6" shipping labels, 0.9" x 0.9" QR code labels, 1" diameter round labels, and more. The Brother printer will automatically switch to your desired label size within the print app immediately after you place the new size label into the Brother printer. You won't need to manually click and enter the specific label size every time.

This unique "Auto-select" cartridge feature of Brother thermal printers helps you switch label sizes automatically instead of manually.

Top-notch Print App - Brother P-Touch

Another great feature for Brother labels is that Brother’s print app Brother P-touch is top- notch print app. Brother P-touch have abundant design resource including printing template, design element like label frame. For user new to direct thermal label, they can easily use those template, pattern and element to design different label content in a very short time.

Versatility - Different Types of Labels

Brother labels line are very versatile. You are able to select and customize labels among different sizes, materials, colors and types. 

Size:

Brother labels offer almost all regular types of labels including, but not limited to: small address labels, standard address labels, large shipping labels, round labels, square labels, barcode labels, name badge labels, file folder labels, and large multipurpose labels.

And Brother unique continuous labels like DK-2223 (4” x 100’) labels can help you to customize labels as you wish such as 4” x 8” labels. Once you placed the 4” x 100’ labels into the printer, you are free to design, print, and cut all length labels as long as length shorter or equal to 100 feet. This is the unique feature that we didn’t find on all other major brands in the market.  

Material:

Brother labels also offer film labels instead of just paper labels. When you want your labels to be water-resistant, oil-resistant, and scratch-resistant, Brother also offer file labels like DK-2211, DK-2212 and DK-2113.

Color:

Brother Labels DK-2251 are labels that can print black or red color on white labels. This print black and red on white feature is unique among all major brands in the market and it is one of the most popular way to print warning labels like No Smoking.

What’s more, printing black and red on white is not the only way to show a highlight or alert message. Printing black on yellow labels is another option, such as DK-4605 (2.4" x 100’).

Trade-off

 

Nothing is free because you get what you pay for.Brother labels offer convenience at a high level, but they come with trade-offs as well.

Brother labels are more expensive than major brand because of more production cost due to cartridge and more shipping fee due to more volume and weight considering each brother label set need 1 roll + 1 cartridge.

 

Conclusion

 

With its auto-cut function printer and auto-select function labels, top-notch print app various slection of labels, Brother is one of the best brands that provide convenience to its users.

However, the trade-offs is the price due to more production cost and shipping fee.