Thermal label printer - print quality expectations? Any Recommendations?

[angry-space-triangles]

Hello all,

I just bought a vretti 436B label printer and the print quality is a bit poor.  See below it looks "OK" as a photo but some of the text is too hard to read by eye.

Is this normal?  I was expecting a nice bold black print?

If not normal, can anyone recommend a readily available thermal printer?

Thanks!

[nutrafituk]

Hi there,

I guess this is a typical 4 x 6 inch format so to be fair, it is what it is. You will not squuze much more out of it die to the text size and resolution. Actually you should consider adjusting your left margin.

I cannot recommend any other solution as this is a standard format, the alternative as a non-thermal printer in my opinion.

Hope it helps.

[angry-space-triangles]

Thx for the margin point. Will look at that.

It's not the formal , its the print quality that i think is poor and that I'd like some input on - what do you think?

[4_bathrooms]

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@angry-space-triangles wrote:

Hello all,

I just bought a vretti 436B label printer and the print quality is a bit poor. 

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That's not a brand I'm familiar with but a quick Google found their website. That printer is only capable of printing at 203 DPI - that's pretty low and not really good enough for a 6x4 shipping label. Ideally you want a (direct) thermal printer capable of a minimum 300 DPI. Most Dymo, Zebra and Brother direct thermal printers are capable of 300 DPI or more.

[vinylscot]

A few years ago I bought a cheap thermal printer, pretty much a no-brand thing I found on a popular shopping site. It seemed to perform OK, but I was getting problems with QR codes and barcodes not printing clearly enough. I bit the bullet and spent a fair bit more on a Brother QL-1110NWB, and I've never had any bother since.

From the comment #4 above, it seems you may just need to go for something a little better.

[maturin.surprise]

The cheaper 203dpi printers are absolutely fine for front address labels, since the text is big and the QOR/barcodes come out perfect. Great if, like me, almost all your sales are UK-based and there's no need for a customs label.

But I never use them for small-text customs labels on the back for occasional international sales. I use my deskjet for CN22 labels instead and tape them on. It's not an issue really, since I already have a deskjet anyway for other stuff.

If I was a bigger business with a high volume of international sales, then I would go for an expensive higher dpi label printer for both purposes. But it's an unnecessary outlay of money for a smaller seller I think.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

If you are sending sufficient mail and are using a RM account, then why not simply get the discounted printer that they offer?

It may have changed since I got one, but I've had the Zebra GK420D now for several years and the print quality is better than the label you have shown.  

However, you shouldn't be seeing missing spaces etc on the letters as in the photo.  Though it is possible, that if your using cheap paper, that could be why.

[moldosgifts]

Clean the thermal face should improve the print quality a little won't get missing text if cleaned properly.

Use a proper print head cleaning wipe available from zebra.

[angry-space-triangles]

I've not been using the RM click-and-drop up until now... but because the ebay international labels dont format correctly for 6x4 printers, I've just set up a click and drop to give it a test.  Is this what you mean by RM account?  

I send something like 60-80 item per week... do you think its worth signing up for a business account,  and is this how you get their discounted label printer?

[rainbowtrax · Accepted solution]

@angry-space-triangles Even a 203dpi printer should give a better print quality than that - in my experience. We have a GPrinter GP-1324D which is only 203dpi and have never had a single issue with it. You can get them on ebay for around 60 quid. We've used it daily for foreigns with customs labels for around three years now and it hasn't given us a moment's trouble. Labels are all perfectly clear, QR and barcodes always scan fine and it prints straight and central, unlike your example. It takes generic 6"x4" rolls with an easy manual adjustment to position the roll which then stays in place for the whole roll without needing repeated repositioning.

I've just looked up the Vretti and it looks like it is very similar and has the same sort of feed as mine so you should at least be able to get it to print straighter than that but I don't know why your print quality is so poor.

[angry-space-triangles]

Thanks for this - this is what i suspected - the print quality should be better and not "gappy" 👍  I'll check out the GPrinter GP-1324D 

[angry-space-triangles]

@rainbowtrax I have ordered a GP-1324D

Can you tell me how I work out which 6x4 labels are compatible? Thanks!

[4_bathrooms]

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@rainbowtrax wrote:

@angry-space-triangles Even a 203dpi printer should give a better print quality than that - in my experience.

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This made me think. I have a Zebra GK420D that I previously used for printing address labels; this is a 203 DPI printer. About three years ago one of the couriers I use was struggling to scan the QR code of any address label that was printed on it (it was just the one courier's labels that were affected but I have since forgotten which courier). Anyway, I have another thermal printer - a Dymo LabelWriter 4XL - which is 300 DPI; at the time this was only used for printing price labels for the shelves. We tried an address label printed on the Dymo and it scanned no problem so put it down to the better resolution on the Dymo and switched the printer roles around.

As a test I have just printed a blank CN22 on the 203 DPI Zebra and it looks much better than the OP's printout (the slight blurriness is caused by my unsteady hand; the text isn't actually blurred on the printout):

   

Note the file I printed is a PDF file. PDF files (vector-based) are used for things like barcodes and address labels because it doesn't matter how much they are shrunk, enlarged etc. - any lines, shapes or text will always be crisp at any magnification. However, if the file the OP is printing is not a PDF but something raster-based (like a .jpg, .png, .bmp etc.) and an option like "scale to fit media" has been used it might explain why their printout looks so bad.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Assuming that by 60-80 items a week, you mean parcels.  Then most definitely yes, it's worth getting a Royal Mail Business account.  You will get cheaper postage than elsewhere.  You also get free collections and free labels assuming that your using tracked services.  And of course the discounted printer.

[rainbowtrax]

@angry-space-triangles Any 6"x4" labels on a roll rather than the flat concertina type should be compatible. I've only ever bought cheap, unbranded ones. I tend to buy a batch of 10-12 rolls at a time and go for whichever is the cheapest on either ebay or Amazon. All have been perfectly adequate in terms of quality.

[rainbowtrax]

@4_bathrooms Mine are pdf as well. I use RM C&D integrated with ebay which sends me the labels in pdf format. I have the printer setting on my laptop set on 6"x4" so it just prints them straight off.

[darth_baggins]

You don't need to be using tracked services to get free labels. You can get them with any business account.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

That's not what I meant.  You need the tracked services to get free COLLECTIONS!

Or sufficient throughput, which really quite high when not using tracked services.

The labels are just a bonus.

[bricklanebargains]

We also got our Zebra GK420d at a discounted price from Royal Mail about 6 years ago and it still works great.  

[angry-space-triangles]

An update on the quality issue here:

After contacting the Vretti seller on ebay, they got back to me with some help. I was put in contact with the manufactures support people at Vretti; after some testing it was found that an option needed to be ticked in the printer settings: "Enable enhancement for low resolutions". With a reduced print speed and increased print speed, this fixed the problem.

So anyone with a Vretti printer who has similar issues - look for this printer setting in the print preferences.

The Vretti support were very helpful.