Brother VC-500W Label Maker, Full Colour Labeller Photo
Brother VC-500W Label Maker, Full Colour Labeller Photo Printer, Wireless, Desktop, ZINK (Zero Ink) Technology, UK Plug
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| Weight: | 660 g |
| Size: | VC-500 W |
| Dimensions: | 4.45 x 4.57 x 3.78 cm; 660 Grams |
| Brand: | BROTHER |
| Model: | 5838004 |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Manufacture: | BROTHER |
| Dimensions: | 4.45 x 4.57 x 3.78 cm; 660 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | VC-500 W |
Pretty easy to use, the print quality is very good.
The included software is nothing special which let’s it down a bit but perseverence pays off.
Labels are quite expensive
Very and quick and easy to set up. You need to download a app on your phone which gives you all different features to help you design your bespoke labels
Product is great but the auto cutter takes too much from the design which is a problem if you are adding a border to the design. Otherwise it is a great addition to my small business when I just need the odd label printed
Print quality is fairly good but some colours are a little dull.
Not a problem for me printing simple labels where the exact colour is not needed.
Prints photos out quite well too and quite passible for small stickers
Paper is more expensive as it contains all the ink.
Generally happy with this printer.
I was hoping for a solution which would make it relatively cost-effective to print conference labels on demand (for example, for those people who should be there but whose badges have disappeared), fully branded. However, at today’s prices, this is unrealistic.
Verdict: good machine, but work out the total cost of the job you are doing first. You may find that the consumeables substantially outweigh the purchase price in the long term.
HEADLINES
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*The printer is small and cute (but there is a power brick and a long mains cable).
*It’s loud when it prints (only for a brief period)
The results are impressive —exceeded my expectations — lovely crisp text; (sometimes) good images; sometimes great colour.
* It prints edge-to-edge and looks magazine quality.
*You get a label roll in the box —it’s only 2.5 cm tall (so labels are short, but they can be wide)
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If you want to dive right in, i recommend that you do it in this order :
SETUP
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*Press the WiFi button on the printer until it turns white.
*Disconnect your laptop from your home WiFi network, and then connect to the WiFi network called “Brother VC-500W”.
*Then, on your laptop, open your web browser and type 192.168.0.1
*You then type in your WiFi login details (on Safari or Chrome) —select your network from the list, then enter the password into the box.
*Wait for the WiFi button on the label printer to turn solid blue.
MOBILE APP
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*Go the AppStore and search for “Brother Color Label Editor”
* Tap install and wait.
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iPhone App VIDEO
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*I’m using the iPhone app. I’ve made a short video to show the app (Brother Color Label Editor) running on my iPhone 7.
*I placed the red logo on the canvas by importing it from my iPhone “camera roll”.
* The interface is a little ugly (the buttons could be more elegant) — but it works!
* You can use pinch gestures to make things (images, text) smaller or bigger.
* My video also shows the list of fonts available.
FIRST LABELS
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* I printed a label with a colour photo (black man pointing at his forehead) and some text and it looked great — magazine quality!
* The labels are self adhesive
*But I then printed a label with a colour logo (the red YouTube logo) and some text, and the logo looked a LITTLE faded. I am being picky. The text looked fine and crisp.
*I guess it really depends on the source image — it will be a matter of trial and error.
I’ve attempted to attach some still photos to this review.
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MAC
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* I downloaded the P Touch software from the Brother website.
* I don’t like it very much, to be honest. I find the mobile apps much more convenient.
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WANT MORE?
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* I can do a video showing what actual printed labels look like.
* I’m planning on doing multiple little videos.
* However, I can only upload one video on to Amazon, so please go to my YouTube channel. [I’d appreciate if it you “subscribed” — YouTube will give me more tools if I one day reach 1000 subs.]
I encourage people to comment (on YouTube) with questions and requests.
It was relatively easy to set up and the IOS app is very intuitive to use. You can download additional clip art etc and use you own photos.
Set up took a couple of goes but I was up and running in 10 minutes.
I found my initial attempts a bit washed out compared to what I saw on screen, but that did improve a bit when I selected Vivid print in settings.
For colour thermal at this price the results are good, better if you just use it for designs rather than photos, a good 4 stars from me, decent results but the replacement cassettes are pretty expensive.