Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

**Written on 1/10/2012 (six month update)** I am happy to report the following review holds true after 6 months of daily use. I have not experienced anything disappointing and I am very happy with this product. I have not had a single malfunction or any "cutting errors" I speak of in the review using other machines. Near the end of the review I added a note on battery consumption which to my surprise has been very efficient. What began as an earnest attempt at following the "Get Things Done" plan ended up becoming a crash course in Label machines. I have purchased 4 different machines and returned 3 of them. The Brother PT2030 is my clear choice for a favorite between them and for a couple of very good reasons. Wanting to get things done I bought the first one from Walmart and it was the Dymo Letratag plus LT-100 (aprox. $18). I immediately knew it was a poor choice once I started using it because unlike this machine you need what seems like secret codes to add an icon or do anything fun to your label. This machine allows the user to scroll through more options than I thought were possible, it literally has most anything you can think of that you may need on a label. My second problem was the amount of use I got from 6 brand new Duracell AAA batteries, no more than 15 small labels before they were almost drained completely. Although the machine was cheap it would cost a fortune to use. The Brother has been running on the same brand batteries but AA instead and I have printed over 100 labels and there is no sign of slowing down (this model on amazon comes with a power adapter I got mine from staples and it did not). It was obvious I had to get rid of the first machine after I discovered those 2 problems plus a couple of others. After I returned #1 I went to Staples and bought #2 Brother Family Labeler (PT1090BK). It was a substantial improvement over the first although it still had the secret code thing going for it. Functionally it worked a lot more efficiently and the labels looked 100 times better. I was going to overlook the symbol thing because I convinced myself I wouldn't use them that much anyway but day 2 of owning it I started to get "cutting errors" I am not sure what was happening but the labels were coming out only printed with half the letters so I would print another copy and waste a ton of tape, the tape is not that inexpensive either. Between those 2 problems I decided I needed to trade it in. The third was worse than all of them so I will spare you the comparison. Finally I got the Brother PT-2030 which is the model that does not include the AC adapter (PT2030AD). I am really pleased with it and I have had it for well over a week and printed close to 200 labels. I can not think of one issue that really bothers me. A couple of the other reviews mention the viewer being a little hard to see and they are correct but you can see everything without much trouble it is just not extremely visable like jumping out of the window or something. One other reviewer thought the manual was hard to read and the machine was complicated as well and I have to disagree. There is a TON of different things you can do to the labels so the book is like 60 pages but it is very clear with good images to help. The machine itself doesn't require a class to use it or something, it is pretty self explanatory, you are limited to the buttons with which it is made so if you scroll through everything you will realize it is not that difficult. Knowing exactly where everything you may want is could be a challenge and that is what the book is for if you don't want to take the time to scroll yourself. ***I am entering this on 1/10/2012 The item I purchased did not come with the power cord and some people reading this may be looking to purchase the same one or may need to use batteries in the location they will be labeling. After 6 months of daily use I am very happy to report, I am still of my first batch of batteries. I use the machine enough to have gone through 7 cartridges of tape (that is a lot of labels, literally hundreds, maybe more than a 1000 I am not sure but a lot) and there is not sign of needing to add new batteries soon. To purchase a separate power cord is approximately $25 which is more than what I paid for the whole machine. So if you are in the same situation or will be using batteries for any reason, no need to fear, you go broke trying to label things. I am extremely satisfied after using a few other machines that really don't even come close to this one in terms of function, options, or quality of label. I think the handheld one is a little over priced just because of it's size and it is kind of cute so they have a market that will pay the money. Dollar for dollar this is your best option by far. This will work well for professional uses as well as more home related or personal uses. I would recommend this to anyone who asked for my opinion, you won't be sorry. I hope this review has helped you make a more informed decision on your purchase. If I missed anything you are curious about please leave a comment and I will do my best to answer your question or just leave a comment if you think I need to add something important that I have missed. My goal is to help consumers like myself make good buying decisions and save time and energy having to return bad goods and loosing money by buying junk products. ** I am adding this comment on March 31, 2012. I decided to try an aftermarket tape available on Amazon for this machine. To my surprise I think the tape is actually better than brand name tape. The company makes most of the same color tapes and sizes as brother and you can buy anywhere from 1 up to packs of 20 I believe, and they get way cheaper the more you buy. If you purchase 1 I think they are half price and get cheaper from there. You can read my reviews of the tape and this is a link to one of the products Sophia Global Compatible Label Tape Replacement for Brother TZ231 (2 Black on White) ***If you have read this far and are going to rate the review helpful or not I have a favor to ask. Because I find the review process invaluable as a consumer to shopping on line I want to be as helpful as possible. I would appreciate anyone who does not find this review helpful to leave a comment explaining what would have been more helpful. Is there information missing? Is the review to wordy? Do you hate the way I write? I am sure there are a million possible reason but I would really appreciate that. I will take all comments into consideration when I am writing reviews in the future. And to be clear I am not asking to omit voting it not helpful, I am simply trying to make reviews as effective as possible so consumers can make informed decisions. Thank you,