BROTHER PT E500 Portable Label Printer, P-Touch EDGE Series, Single Color

I bought this labeling tool primarily for labeling cables and also to print barcodes. I love it. I can connect it to my laptop using the supplied USB cable and then design labels using the Brother P-Touch software, or I can use it as a handheld labelmaker and type in the labels on the device itself. The battery is long lasting. The laminated tape is high quality. And I love the look and feel of the hard carrying case it came in. What a great product!

Is simple and efficient. You can use in many different application and is easy of use. The labels are no so expensive.

Very nice label maker, beautiful case to keep all attachments. I love it

I use a PTE500 at home, and recently got the money people to get me one at work as well. The label printer is extremely versatile in a professional environment, providing almost every labeling, marking, and cabling function one could dream of. It has three power options -- plugged in (via USB-C Charger), rechargeable battery pack, or standard alkaline batteries. In addition to being a very good standalone labeler, the PTE500 doubles as an excellent printer, driven by a Windows software package that allows you to import tables and even 1-bit graphic logos. There is only one annoying negative in my opinion: local label making (when not on the computer) never quite offers or performs between-label cutting the way it should, i.e., make a label, cut it, make another label, cut it ... without requiring the user to press any additional buttons, and without wasting superfluous margin space. Strangely, it automatically cuts labels perfectly when connected to a computer as a printer. That one negative aside, I would heartily recommend this label printer for anyone in any environment, and especially for technology implementations such as cable labels, patch panels, outlet boxes, and even inventory barcodes.

So far, so good for our PT-E500. The unit is larger and heavier than first expected, but it works well and seems like it will be durable. The best attribute is that it's pretty user friendly. The included software is easy to learn and we have been able to load 100's sku's for use at customer locations. The extra strength adhesive laminated tape is very good also.

I got my brother PT E500 last March 28, 2015, straight from the box; I installed the lithium battery and the 6mm tape that came with it. I was able to make my first label the first time. It's very straight forward, just press the labeling style button you need and follow the on-screen-instruction, and you get the label you need. The text looks great! One thing I'm not so happy about is, every time you print the machine will first cutout 24mm length of blank tape, almost an inch is wasted. When connected to a PC using USB cable, the printer will continuously spill out blank tape, to stop you need to press off button, this may be a problem on the PT editors' software and driver. I'm hoping Brother will can come-up with software patch to solve this issue. Overall these brother printer works grate on job site.

Tried the PTE550W and found the chain/half-cut option very useful. Can this feature be enabled on the PTE500 please?

I can't help but notice every time how much tape it wastes simply by the way it is designed. I suppose that's one way how Brother makes their money but really it's quite over the board and labels are definitely not cheap. Other than that, I like its features and the build. Battery life has been good so far.