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Overall Rating

Very nice unit
This unit is great! It’s small, rechargeable, connects to the computer, has many useful formatting modes when you are using it away from the computer, and has an auto-cut function. It also has a chain printing mode that wastes very little tape. This mode selection is remembered until you change it again, no fiddling with settings each time.

The only (minor) complaint is that the charging dock does not have a USB port, so you have to manually plug it into your computer when you set it on the charger. And it’s a little pricey, but if you use any P-Touch unit more than occasionally, then the cost of the tape will quickly overwhelm the differences in price between this unit and less expensive ones. And this one is nicer.

Overall Rating

Compact handy labeler
I’ve owned a Brother PC- only labeler for a few years now, but I ended up not using it much after the initial play period. The problem is, if you have to sit down and fire up your PC and the software (no matter how intuitive and sexy), it’s just easier to use a pen, or nothing at all for that matter! After I read that Steve Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, concurred, I looked again for a more “ready when you are” tool. I highly recommend that you check out Brother’s website; they have a nifty comparison feature that you can customize per model and feature and produce a PDF at the end - great for your final decision process. For me, size and an auto cutter were the main features I was looking for, and that eventually lead me to this device, the little-reviewed 18R.

This particular unit is 2-3 times smaller in volume than all its brothers (non-intended pun here), thanks to its rechargeable battery. I was resisting this rechargeable business at first, because it implies frequent use (like a cell phone or laptop), but I warmed up to it. The price difference isn’t that great (~$20 compared to a slightly lesser unit, the price of 8 good rechargeable AAs actually), plus it turned out that the little beast can go up to six months of occasional use without recharging, which is very impressive in my book. The NiMh cell is custom and labeled “Brother 18R”; hopefully there will be replacements in a couple of years when it finally gives out. I especially like the fact that this unit stores extremely well in addition to it being small: unlike the desktop models which sit flat on your desk and awkwardly occupy a lot of space no matter where you place them, this one actually goes into your library like a book, or upright into a corner of your desk drawer or file folder.

The auto cutter lives up to its name, so much better than manual. It cuts off the tape lead so you don’t have to keep scissors around (you may find that funny, but re-cutting labels was standard procedure with my other labeler!). My favorite is the “chain mode”. Here, you essentially delay your latest print in favor of a more efficient use of tape material. For example, if you enter “January”, “February” and “March” and hit Print every time, the “March” label remains in the unit until you print something else or change your mind and hit the “scissors” button. This should address most people’s issues with the wasted tape; it’s as good as it gets with this system.

The device is very easy to use: while you type your text, it tells you how long your label is going to be. If you select borders, etc. the graphical display shows you the styles, and if you desire you can hit the preview button to get a WYSIWYG representation before printing. There are also a few “layouts” available, for example fixed-length (for your file folders), or two-line printing with different font sizes on each line (I find these particularly useful to label my Nalgene bottles with the content plus my name underneath). Unfortunately, the chain print mode (see above) doesn’t work with those handy layouts; it always cuts off about 1/2″ of empty tape. But I can live with it.

My minor gripe with this device is the low-contrast, non-backlit display (hey, since I’m running on rechargeables, I could justify the energy needs of a backlight). Also, the latch that closes the cassette department doesn’t seem solid to me: a tiny plastic thing, similar to the one that broke on my other labeler. While I’m whining, I’d also like 360 dpi resolution for that really industrial look, but those printers are currently much more expensive (or PC- only, which to me is now useless).

Still, this is the most useful, feature- rich, and compact labeler that I’ve ever used, so 4 stars are deserved. Hope it helped in your quest to label those sock drawers