Repeat after me: "All label printers are alike." Now, go wash out your mouth with soap, because you just told one big fib!

Although most companies that manufacture label printers would have us believe that a "one-printer-does-all" approach is the most convenient way to go, the folks at Seiko Instruments USA, Inc. have decided to gear their printers toward what the consumer needs.

Seiko Label Printers

For example, the Seiko SLP410 ($99.95) is designed to print one-inch labels at a speed of eight seconds per label, the SLP 420 ($129.99) can print one- and two-inch labels at the same speed, and the SLP 430 ($189.99) is similar to the 420, but can print one label every three seconds.

All of these printers can SmartCapture text and graphics from any Windows or Macintosh application, import data in CSV or TXT format and auto-detect English, French, German, Italian, Spanish or Dutch.

Other features include:

• It will auto select postal bar codes for the U.S., U.K. or the Netherlands.
• You can design labels using multiple fonts and graphics.
• Shrink-to-fit ensures your addresses or other data will fit on the labels.
• Labels can be printed from almost any Windows or Macintosh program.
• It's a thermal printer, which means there's no ink to buy _ or to run out of.
• It's small _ only 6.5 inches high by 6.5 inches deep.
• There are 18 different labels to choose from that can be used for everything from addresses to Zip disks.

Dymo Turbo 400

If your budget is tight and you want a label printer that can do everything the Seiko 430 can, check out the Dymo Turbo 400 label printer ($149.95).

This baby can churn out 55 labels per minute and, depending on your needs or your budget, you can get a dual printer that can print two labels at the same time.

The difference here though is in design (they're bigger than the Seiko printers) and the Dymo labels are hard to find.

Check out www.siibusinessproducts.com and www.dymo.com for more information.

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