How To Choose The Appropriate Barcode Printer

The use of barcode labels or tags is a must for companies or organizations dealing with high volumes and where accuracy and efficiency are very important. A very important component of the barcode system is the barcode printer . Barcode printers can be the regular computer printers or special printers capable of producing the desired barcode labels.

If you are planning to acquire your first barcode system, choosing the appropriate barcode printer will be one of the important decisions that have to be made. A poorly printed barcode label will be useless because it will most likely be unreadable when scanned.

It is a must to check the barcode printer's compatibility with the whole system as well as its capability to support the barcode symbology. The availability of a wide variety of barcode printers makes it a must to really understand the kind of printing job required and what a particular printer can and cannot do. For a high-volume printing requirement, a regular computer printer may not keep up with the required impressions at a given time. Or, the barcode printing requirement not much, you only use the printer once a week.

Barcode printers are also available in a wide range of prices according to their sizes and capabilities. Barcodes printers are usually based on two of the commonly available technologies thermal direct printing and thermal transfer printing.

In direct thermal printers, there is no ribbon used. Heat is generated as the print head comes in direct contact with the specially treated paper also called thermal paper, resulting to a chemical reaction that turns the paper black and forms an image of the barcode.

In thermal transfer printers, the print head generates heat that causes the transfer of the ink from the ribbon to the paper or other printing surfaces by melting the waxy or resin coating on the ribbon. While direct thermal printers are typically less expensive and faster of the two thermal printers, the labels they print become yellowish over time or illegible upon exposure to direct sunlight, heat, or chemical vapors.

Thermal barcode printers produce barcodes that are of better quality than the barcodes produced by regular printers. And, the poorest-quality barcodes come from the dot-matrix printer. Laser printers can produce clear barcodes but it needs add-on applications and special fonts. Thermal barcode printers are capable of 203 DPI barcodes that any barcode scanner can easily read.

Majority of thermal barcode printers feature built-in PC connectivity through USB or serial cable. The memory of a thermal printer can range from 128 to 512 KB RAM. Among the well known thermal printer manufacturers are Sato, Zebra, Symbol, Datamax and Intermec.

Some industrial thermal printers are capable of functioning both as a direct thermal and thermal transfer printer. In selecting your barcode printer it is important to know the volume of work that is needed using the barcode printer. Is the printer for a small business or for a high-volume business? Maybe you should have a heavy-duty printer.