Brother P-touch, PT1230PC, PC-Connectable Label Maker, No Software Needed, Four Different Label Widths, Compact Design, White

I purchased this just to label a few things around the house. I must say, once I got this working I have been having a blast with it.To start with I will describe the problems I ran in to. After installing 6 AAA batteries (or a 7-9v DC power supply) and then plugging it into my Windows 10 64bit PC with the supplied USB cable, a Window explorer popup showed an executable to run (simple edit/printing software for the device). I then double clicked the executable which launched their software, however when I typed information in to the label box and clicked print it ejected about two inches of label with nothing on it. I double checked everything and tried again with the same results. At this point I Googled “PT-1230PC downloads” and found a link to support.brother.com which had drivers and the full Editor software. I installed the drivers which I believe corrected the problem however after the driver install, the Window explorer popup showing an executable no longer worked. Because I could no longer run their simple program from the popup I installed the “FREE” full version from there web download which worked and printed perfectly.So, now that their drivers and full software application is loaded and working perfectly I have been able to play with it a bit. By default, the full program opens in a tab called “Express”. This tab gives all the basic features you need to print a label however if you’re a power user, switching to the “Professional” tab gives a lot more options. Some of these options include Word Art, Bar codes, easier access to layouts, and much more.Long story short, in my case I had to load their drivers and full software program located on their web site. I have had a lot of fun printing labels and for the price I am really enjoying this handy label maker. I have used hand held label makers in the past which are very time consuming – I would buy this over one of them any day.

I really like my label maker. This Brother PC-Connectable Label Maker(PT-1230PC) is really easy to use. I am guilty of using products before I look at the directions. Yes, I am one of those. This product was designed with people like me in mind. I loved the fact that I could put in tape and batteries, connect the USB to my computer, click on the one icon that was in color, type and then print out really nice labels before I even pulled directions out of the box. I can easily adjust how much blank tape is at the end of the label, but I am disappointed that it wastes so much tape at the leading edge of each label. Maybe that is covered in the directions, but it hasn't come to that, yet. I am just too busy labeling things.

The printer is nice, compact, works fine, but has a major problem with power. You either have to use batteries, or external AC adapter. Device does not powers from USB. And the problem with external AC adapter is that it uses reversed pins and 7.5V voltage, which may be not easily obtainable at cheap side. I found that power adapter for certain Panasonic DECT phones works fine with this printer, and can be obtained for much cheaper, than the original Brother AC adapter.

I got this label printer in a Lightning Deal for a fraction of the current price so the price was right.I installed the drivers, connected the printer, Windows said it was installing the device and everything completed successfully. The problem is that the software comes on a flash drive built into the printer. Even after the drivers were installed the drive wasn't showing up and the power light kept flashing. Brother recommends doing a firmware upgrade in this situation, but since the drive wasn't showing up the update wouldn't install.I tried downloading the full version of the software from Brother's web site. It installed okay and knew the printer was there, but nothing would print and the power light just kept flashing.Out of options I decided to return it. I wanted to exchange it, but thanks to the Lightning Deal it wasn't in stock from Amazon any more. At least Amazon made it very easy to return.Overall it is a decent looking machine and I wish it worked. A power adapter is strongly recommended. Luckily I had a spare 9v adapter laying around so I didn't have to buy one.

I have bought 2 of these units and love them. I've seen a few people complain that they could not register to download the software from Brother's site. That's because they didn't open the unit and find the serial number under where the label cart. goes. I was able to download the extra software and it runs fine with the unit. Even the included software is pretty nice. One thing I love is that there is no install needed for the basic software. The printer acts as a flash drive with the application embedded. SO it's easy to take it w/ you and connect to any windows (XP or newer) machine and start printing. I got my units for ~20 each and I couldn't be happier. You will need 6 AAA batteries, but that not a big deal.