The ULTIMATE Label Printer for Network Infrastructure - Brother PT-E550W

In this video we take a look at the label printer I've been using to label all of my home network and electrical components. The Brother PT-E550W is an extremely powerful label printer with many extremely useful features to produce accurately sized/spaced labels, labels that wrap around cables and labels including graphics/images.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:30 - What comes in the kit?
04:37 - Tour of the printer
12:35 - Mode: Standard Labels
13:20 - Automatic Cutter & Chain Printing
19:41 - Serialisation
21:42 - Mode: Faceplate Labels
22:48 - Mode: Cable Wrap
29:11 - Mode: Cable Flag
31:06 - Mode: Patch Panel (and Consumer Units!)
37:00 - Mobile App Demo
42:50 - Desktop App Demo
49:11 - Conclusion

*AFFILIATE LINKS NOTICE:*
Product links under this video marked “(Affiliate)” are affiliate links where I may receive a small commission on qualifying sales. Affiliate programs that I am a member of include, _but are not limited to:_ Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network and AliExpress Affiliates.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Purchasing through these affiliate links will not cost you any more money, however the commission earned significantly helps fund the production of videos on my channel.

[ryanmason]

Me - "who on earth is going to watch a label printing video for 50mins?"
*boils kettle and sits down*

[thejasonparker]

I now have label printer envy, which is something I never thought existed before watching this 😂

[pb_y]

Never thought I would watch 50mins of label printer

[JackStrips]

"I even labelled my label printer"... everyone knows it's label printer law to do this XD

Fellow 550W owner and lover of a labelled patch panel and cable, honestly the best label printer I've had in a long time! Highly recommended bit of kit. Also the amazon knockoff cartridges are decent too at a decent price

[karan_hiremath]

What I love about products like this is that you can tell some engineer at Brother just absolutely loves using labels and has created such an amazing product for doing so with such well thought out features that improve the quality of life

[labbiee]

You have given me the desire to buy a label printer and then label everything I own :D

[tookitogo]

18:24 FYI to owners of cheaper P-touch models: many have a version of this function, too, called “chain print”, which doesn’t cut the label after printing, but rather only when you print the next one. This eliminates the big off-cut on every label except the first one. You then just have to tell it to eject and cut the final label, just like shown here.

[adammiller]

Just wanted to let you know that you are the only YouTuber I have notifications turned on for. I watch LTT basically everyday and am always researching tech stuff, but I always learn something from yours. Every single one of your videos is something I've thought about or researched to apply to my own projects and work.

[supermrt]

I spent years trying to reduce the waste on every brother printer I ran into. You must have years of experience with this printer, thank you for your knowledge - very helpful vid.

[frederific]

Fellow E550W fan here! Managed to snag mine for £100 early 2020, and use it loads at home, work (telecoms) and volunteering (radiocomms).

The punchdown block option is for American-style 66/110 blocks, the vast majority of analogue telecoms in UK/EU is on Krone blocks, which have a strip for a paper designation strip, no label required.

There is an option for "infrastructure mode" WiFi in the menu, which lets you connect to a standard AP as a client rather than needing the WiFi Direct AP Mode

[garywoo]

I snapped one of these up for £20 on facebook marketplace a few years ago, with labels! It's one of my favourite purchases ever.

[JamesTenniswood]

I don't need it, but now I definitely want it! Nice video ❤

[jordesclark]

I've had one of these for years, very powerful and simple to use. I work in quarrying, very heavy industry and harsh environments. It's never skipped a beat! Rarely use the connectivity and phone app though, perfectly useful from the keypad!

[djp_video]

Take a look at some of the Epson LabelWorks printers. They do everything you demonstrated here, but some also have the ability to rewind the label before printing to virtually eliminate the wasted tape between labels (down to 1 mm). It cuts the per-label cost way down. I used the Brother label printers for years until I tried the Epson LW-PX700 and I've never looked back; the Brother solutions are quite archaic in comparison.

[mbirth]

I've got the brother CUBE Pro which is just the (portable and rechargeable battery-powered) printer without any inputs on the device itself. But via the mobile or desktop apps, it can do the same things.

If you want really fancy labels, get coloured ones on transparent background and use them on top of the normal ones to get multi-coloured labels.

[joshuajgaming]

I have the Brother P-Touch E300 (The cheaper, less feature rich version of the E550W) and absolutley love it. Its my go-to device for labeling anything. So easy and convineient to use!

[xantam]

We just bought that thing a week ago, at work. A plus is also that Brother labels are laminated. And I can bring it home with me, since I only got the small version, the E110.

[EddyCarroll]

Fantastic in-depth review! You answered every single question I had.

My last Brother printer cost me €25 in 2004 and is still going strong, but it might finally be time for an upgrade.

[JakeHillion]

I'm sold - thanks for the detailed review as always!

[djvincon]

I did some research. Here in the Netherlands there are two versions/kits: pt-e550WVP and the pt-e550WSP. The WSP seems to be the telco, networking kit and includes 4 tapes and when looking at the brother website has instruction videos for these type of applications. The WVP comes with 2 tapes included and is described for installers and industrial use. So the only difference is the tapes.

The WVP comes with: TZe-S651 (24mm Black/Yellow Strong Adhesive 8m), TZe-FX231 (12mm Black/White Flexible ID 8m)
The WSP comes with: 24 mm zwart op geel gelamineerd TZe-651 tape (8mtr), 24 mm zwart op wit gelamineerd TZe-251 tape (8mtr), 18 mm zwart op wit gelamineerd TZe-241 tape (8mtr), 12 mm zwart op wit flexi ID tape gelamineerd TZe-FX231 (8mtr)

So looking at that the WSP includes the two tapes from WVP (TZe-S651 and TZe-FX231) + two extra: TZe-251, TZe-241.

TZe-S651 - Weatherproof, chemical and sun resistant etc.
TZe-FX231 - Specialized for PVC, and other curved surfaces
TZe-251 is for example described as a perfect label for office or workspace labeling
The TZe-241 is described for Flashdrives, folders and kabels