Epson LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer (C51CB70010)

Product Details

Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 2.2 inches ; 14.1 ounces

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.

ASIN: B005J7Y6GS

Item model number: C51CB70010

Batteries: 6 AA batteries required.

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer
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WHY BUY?
Take Ordinary to Extraordinary
Meet the EPSON LabelWorks LW-400, a powerful new label maker that turns organizing into an art. Featuring a backlit display, it helps you make labels anywhere, anytime. Choose from a huge range of symbols, frames, fonts, barcodes and tapes in a variety of styles, sizes and colors. The LW-400 is both easy to use and efficient (dramatically smaller margins mean up to 60% less label waste). The LW-400 is an office powerhouse. With amazing versatility and a large, built-in memory, it stores up to 50 files, so you can save those commonly used labels. Use it for barcodes, A/V and computer wiring and just about anything else. Or, use it around the house. In any case, the LW-400 will transform how you organize and give you a new outlet for your imagination.
WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING:
"The Epson LabelWorks LW-400 is truly a very useful little gadget with tons of features and options that would be great for home or office use." ~TestFreaks Blog, (January 20, 2012)
DO MORE…
AMAZING VARIETYThe LW-400 offers 14 fonts, 10 styles, 300+ built-in symbols, over 75 frames, bar codes, glow-in-the-dark, flourescent and reflective options. With so many choices for creative expression, you’ll finally have labels that catch up to your imagination.
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ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Backlit display — type and print labels in challenging lighting conditions
Amazing variety — 14 fonts, 10 styles, 300+ built-in symbols, over 75 frames, barcodes and more
Less waste — smaller lead margin compared to other brands, for up to 60% less lead margin waste
Large built-in memory — store up to 50 files
Fits up to four lines of text — up to 18 mm (0.7") wide tape
Specialty print modes — a variety of flag, tab and wrap style labels
Easy to use — automatically printed with a split back for easy and fast peeling
Asset tagging — easily print barcodes for products and merchandise
Whisper quiet — prints labels without distracting those around you
Supports seven languages — set to the language of your choice
Specialty labels — double-sided tab tapes, glow-in-the-dark and reflective tapes, fluorescent colors, decorative tapes for scrapbooking and more
Packaging Specifications (W x D x H) — Dimensions: 7.7" x 3.1" x 7.8" and Weight 1.53 lb.

LabelWorks SeriesTake ordinary to extraordinary with LabelWorks label printers, they make it easy to create customized labels for files, storage bins, household items, clothing, scrapbooking and more. With a wide range of fonts, styles, frames and specialty modes, these easy-to-use products offer amazing versatility. And, they ensure less waste with smaller margins compared to other brands.
Take Ordinary to Extraordinary. Meet the Epson Labelworks LW-400, a powerful new label maker that turns organizing into an art. Featuring a backlit display, it helps you make labels anywhere, anytime. Choose from a huge range of symbols, frames, fonts, barcodes and tapes in a variety of styles, sizes and colors. The LW-400 is efficient. Dramatically smaller margins mean up to 62% less label waste). The LW-400 is an office powerhouse. With amazing versatility and a large built-in memory, it stores up to 50 files, so as to prevent extra work for you. Use it for barcodes, A/V and computer wiring and just about anything else. Or, use it around the house. In any case the LW-400 will transform how you organize and give you a new outlet for your imagination.

Technical Details

Backlit display - type and print labels in challenging lighting conditions

Amazing variety - 14 fonts, 10 styles, 300+ built-in symbols, over 75 frames, bar codes and more

Less waste - smaller margins compared to other brands for up to 62% less waste

Large built-in memory - store up to 50 files

Specialty print models and labels

Customer Reviews

Since I bought my first Brother label maker many years ago, I have been a big fan of label makers. They make organizing paper at home and at the office quick and convenient. I also used a label maker to label the drawers on my toolbox. You may use a label maker to label light switches and other miscellaneous controls and devices. I have even used a label maker to label boxes. Yes, I still have a Brother label maker and I still use it. I was glad to have the opportunity to review a different brand for comparison and to see how much label makers have evolved since I bought my last one, half a decade ago.
The Good Stuff:
This label maker has many interesting features. It has an array of symbols and frames (boxes and borders) that is beyond stunning. If there are labels you use often, you can save up to fifty of them. You may change the space between letters, go vertical, and even print them with a mirror image.
This label maker also prints bar codes. While you may think bar codes are only for work, inexpensive bar code readers can help you with a home inventory, or categorizing collections. This device will print index label tabs for files, which I plan to use, cable labels or flags, as some people call them, and wrapped labels. The array of features seems to be phenomenal and well beyond the features I have had available in the past.
Epson provided samples of some of the many tapes they plan to offer. Be advised that the label maker only comes with one sample tape, 12 mm black on white. Epson will also be offering colored tape, tape in different widths, glow-in-the-dark tape, and even iron-on tape that you might use for uniform nametags.
One of the big selling points with this label maker is that it uses relatively small margins on either end, meaning waste is relatively minimal. I consider this feature a big plus because the tape is expensive.
The display is cool. It has a backlight that a user may switch on or off. The backlight contrast is adjustable as well.
The label maker has options for multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and German.
The back of the label maker has a location for a loop you may use to attach the label maker to your belt or place it around your neck. Epson is supposed to be offering an AC adapter if you want to avoid the expense of the six AA batteries it takes to power the label maker.
The Down Sides:
This label maker has all sorts of cool features that give it advantages over the three Brother label makers I have used. Unfortunately, there are a couple of few downsides as well.
The biggest downside is choosing the font size. On the Brother label makers, choosing the font is as easy as pushing a couple of buttons on the front panel and selecting until you have the size you want. The Epson requires you to hit a button and choose number of lines. Once you choose number of lines, then you need to choose a font size. I experimented a little to figure out how to do a couple of things. For example, you can print a small or large font on the top or bottom of a label, but you need to make the other line blank. I kept printing labels while trying various combinations to figure out how to accomplish that format. Therefore, if you want a small label near the top of a label, select two lines, hit enter, then select that you want a small font as the first line and hit enter again. When you enter the label, hit enter to create the second line and print. If you forget the second line, you get large font in the middle of the label.
I was surprised that this label maker does not seem to have a feature to let you position lines left, right or middle. The fancier Brother label makers let you do all three, and I tend to use the centering feature with multiple lines. While unnecessary, I think it looks better.
I tried looking for tape cartridge refills on Epson's web site and on Amazon, without success. Epson needs to make the refills widely available. The tape does seem to be available in Europe. The current price seems somewhat comparable to Brother label maker tape. With the smaller borders, that should mean less waste, making the Epson tape effectively cheaper.
What do you buy?
This label maker offers many features over comparable Brother label makers. While getting the font size correct required a bit of playing around, I think I have that down. I like less waste, and the smaller margin does that. If I need wider margins, either I can set label length through the tools button or I can add spaces. The only problem I have right now is getting my hands on more tape cartridges.
I think the Epson LW-400 is a winner and offers enough features over comparable Brother label makers that this label maker is going to be my new default label maker from now on.
Enjoy!

Ok, I am going to focus on one area here that has been under-referenced by the other reviews. Those reviews, by the way, are excellent, and provide a thorough review of the product and its capabilities.
The label cartridges for this unit are way too pricey. At $17-21 per cartridge, they are roughly double the cost of refills for other label makers, and represent 50% of the cost of the unit itself! It appears to be a continuation of the HP/Epson scam of selling you an inkjet printer at a loss, and making it back on the printer cartridges over time.
The unit itself is nice, easy, and pleasant to use; as I said, other "most helpful" reviews will cover the unit's abilities in ways I need not echo. But as an ongoing cost, the price of the label cartridges is a sore spot. Also note that the unit ships with a "sample" label cartridge that contains a 4 meter tape - less than half of what the normal cartridge carries. C'mon Epson, if you're going to rip me off on cartridges for the life of my machine, how about a full measure to get me started!
If the price per cartridge drops below $12 each, my review goes up to 5 stars.
Also, note that RetailMeNot has promo codes for discounts on Epson cartridges from the Epson website that makes them cheaper than Amazon.