Epson LabelWorks: Portable Label Printer Review

EPSON has launched a new range of portable label printers for home and office.


Key Features of the Epson LabelWorks LW-300/400/900P

· Handheld stationery label printers
Ideal for homes, small offices home offices (SOHO) and small and media businesses (SMB), the Epson LabelWorks LW-300 and Epson LabelWorks LW-400 print labels ranging from 9mm – 18mm. This means precise labeling of smaller household items, schooling and stationery items to files and documents!

· PC connected stationery label printer
The higher-end Epson LabelWorks LW-900P prints labels ranging from 9mm – 36mm, making it ideal for vertical industries like logistics, manufacturing, building management. Equipped with the ability to connect to a PC or Mac, consumers can now personalize and create larger labels for branding purposes.

· Additional Features for all three label printers
With over 30 different types of media to choose from, the LabelWorks printers allow consumers to express their creativity with attractive patterns, vibrant colours and varied applications like iron-on, glow-in-the-dark and cable wrap. Additionally, equipped with up to 14 font types, 457 symbols and 89 frames, the LabelWorks printers are designed for high customisability and unique labels prints. Reduced tape margins also means dramatically smaller leader margins for more savings; giving users a perfectly sized label for any application. Barcode printing, using the Epson LabelWorks LW-400 and Epson LabelWorks LW-900P, is also made possible for tracking inventories for business settings.


Thanks to Epson's PR who passed me all 3 units, I am able to share with you how each of them differs to meet your needs.

LW-300

Photo Credits: EPSON

This affordable label printer is powered by 6 AAA batteries. The LCD screen only shows one line of text and does not have any backlight. The thickest cartridge tape width it supports is 12mm.

LW-400

This label printer is about S$20 more expensive than the basic unit, but you get a 2-line LCD display with backlight, great for indoor use. You can use tape width up to 18mm, and supports a little more print options, like barcode printing, 4-line printing. I definitely prefer this over the LW-300, unless you are really on a tight budget.

Instead of using batteries, you may choose to power with AC adapter which is included in the package.


LW-900P

This top-of-the-line printer requires connection to the computer to use, and prints up to 36mm tape width. Using the included Label Editor software, you can create all kinds of label layouts, even importing your own images. The printable fonts are limited only by your computer, so with this model, I am able to print non-Latin characters like Chinese. It also comes with a trimmer to round the label corners. Retailing at S$299, the LW-900P is only for the adventurous who needs the versatility of label printing through the computer. There is no battery option, so you have to plug to AC power. There is also no on/off switch: the printer turns on automatically when the computer is on.

User Friendliness
For the LW-300/400, it takes a while to understand how the product works without manual. There are several dedicated buttons to change the settings, like font, size, frames. To commit the change, you have to press the "Enter" button. When selecting font, the display does not show the actual font design. You have to refer to the manual for font samples.

For the LW-900P, the Label Editor is not the most user friendly. I find it easier to pick a preset template and edit to my requirements, rather than create from scratch. I recommend you spend a bit of time to familiarise with the software in order to maximise the printing versatility of the LW-900P.


Label Varieties
Each cartridge comes with the label and thermal ink, so there is no need to buy separately. There are dozens of designs for various needs. The review unit comes with a white label with grey ink, white on black ink, silver on black ink. There are even iron-ons, glow-in-the-dark, other pastel colour backgrounds. The best part is that you can easily swap the cartridges around.

Durability
EPSON claims they are chemical, scratch, temperature and water resistant. I personally tried tearing the labels with my hands, scratching the printouts, and even stuck the label to a water bottle, and the labels withstood the abuses.


My Favourite...
is the LW-400. Portable and great value, with large LCD screen and backlight that lets you use in any lighting situation. And my family agrees with me.

Epson MG-850HD Projector with iPhone Dock

Within weeks after the EPSON blogger's event, I received the MG-850HD projector for review. And this might well be the first projector you would buy for your home.

Preview Impressions
Plug your Apple product - iPhone, iPad, iPod - onto this projector and do presentations, browse photos and watch videos! It has 2x10W speakers that pumps out decent sound for a projector. It can do keystone adjustment up to 30-degrees in all directions, so it means you can project on the screen at an angle and the output will still look in proportion. It has a light ambient sensor that also auto white balance, so you get both colour and brightness compensation. It runs on 3LCD technology which promises more faithful colour reproduction and no colour break-up (also known as "rainbow effect"). It supports multiple connectors like VGA, HDMI, Component video, Mic-In, even USB port for multimedia slideshow display. It has a built-in handle for easy of carry. It weights 3.9kg, the fan runs at only 35dB. It starts up at just 6 seconds.

And this world's first HD projector for Apple mobile devices retails at just S$1299.

Hands-on Experience

The projector is carefully designed with a clean outlook. The speakers at the back of the projector is slanted with speaker grooves. The usual AV connectors are all hidden behind removable casings, so if you were to use the projector exclusively as a standalone dock without any external device connections, the projector would look presentable. There is also a spring handle for you to transport the projector. It might seem redundant - who would carry a projector around without a bag - but the handle would be useful if you move the projector around the house.

The moment I slid out the iPhone Dock and inserted the iPhone, the projector displays a multimedia menu to let you navigate, using the projector's remote, into various folders of music and videos that are stored in your iPhone. When you choose the "Photos + More" option, iPhone apps that support display-out will be projected through the MG-850HD. It is possible to use the projector's remote to control the playback.

iPods and iPads are also supported.

Due to iOS limitations on the type of apps that can be displayed on external devices, this dock might not seem as useful. The projector's 10W stereo speakers sound adequately loud but certainly does not offer audiophile quality. In fact, the audio experience is marred by the unpleasant noise-reduction audio engine, which cuts off very soft passages like classical music. If you play pop music or movies, it should sound fine. Also, you can playback your iPhone songs without turning on the projector lamp, thereby saving electricity and heat generated from the machine.

Putting the iPhone dock capability aside, the projector performs well, though it might not be the choice of home theatre buffs because the native resolution is only 1280x800. Colours appear accurate with the 3LCD technology. Inside the menu, you can finetune the image brightness, contrast, tint, sharpness, colour tone. There are preset Colour Modes, Sound Modes to help you get the desired effects quickly.

Keystone adjustment lets me project at an angle with no image distortion!

Summary Thoughts
The EPSON MG-850HD is a multi-purpose high quality projector that offers many connectivity options. With the iPhone dock option, you might be able to convince your spouse to get one for your home. Instead of a permanent mount, you could set this up on an ad-hoc basis, like what I did during my review. When not using as a projector, you can use it like a normal iPhone dock to pump out your favourite hit tunes.