ZEBRA Label Printers

        ZEBRA Technologies has been around for decades now, focusing mostly on the manufacturing and production of printing and scanning equipment and today we will go through their lineup and various models.

        Firstly, we distinguish models between mobile, desktop and industrial. Mobile printers are portable in size, limited in printing width and can be used either indoors or also outdoors depending on the model. Popular models include ZQ300, ZQ500 and ZQ600 Plus series varying in physical size, printing size, durability and available interfaces, such as wireless, bluetooth etc.

        Moving forward to the desktop and industrial models, the main differentiating factor is their daily allowed volume output that in essence is what draws them mostly apart.  Desktop models, such as ZD200 , ZD400 and ZD600 series limit their daily output to no more than 1000 labels per day with popular models being ZD220-budget, mid ground models ZD421 and ZD411 with their difference being their printing width size(ZD421-4inch, ZD411-2inch) and ZD621 and ZD611 as the high end with touch monitor design.

            Desktop printers are used in a variety of applications, such as small warehouses, retail shops, government agencies, healthcare facilities and so on and certain models can also be either direct thermal, using only thermal labels whereas others take also thermal transfer labels with the assistance of a ribbon. The main difference between direct thermal labels and thermal transfer labels is their shelf life, with the foremost being short of up to 6 months, whereas the latter can go for years without fading out.

            The industrial models on the other hand are capable of printing thousands of labels on a daily basis, with most ranging between 2-5000 labels/daily and the highest ones such as ZT621 can even go beyond 10.000+, as their internal components are more rigid, mechanical and capable to withstand this kind of output on a daily basis.

            Industrial models start with ZT111 that is budget friendly, to the very popular mid range ZT231, predecessor of ZT230 and then climbing to the widely accepted, ZEBRA ZT411 that many industrial warehouses are using as their daily driver. These models can work 24/7 to provide labeling to even the most demanding environments, reaching speeds of up to 14 ips or 356mm per second and satisfy factories, production lines,  shipping companies and other major industries.