Very advanced labeler that makes tough resistant labels

I had bought the Brother PT-1280 just a few days ago as an impulse purchase which I also reviewed. Once I got home I compared the specifications of different Brother labelers on their website. At first I was happy with my choice until I decided to have a look at the PT-2700's manual. In the manual I saw there are many more features to this machine than the quick specs let you believe and I decided it was worth the extra cost for the PT-2700.

Firstly the reasons I decided on the Brother TZ series labeler to beging with was that the TZ tapes are laminated and very tough and resistant, in addition, they are available in a very wide range of both sizes (from 9/64" or 3.5mm to 1" or 24mm for the PT-2700) and color combinations (black on white/clear/red/blue/yellow/green, white on black/clear/red/blue, gold on black, etc.).

The main features that made me want to upgrade is that all Brother labelers using TZ tapes cannot print the first inch of the labels as this is where the laminating process occurs. With the PT-1280's manual cutter it could only cut the label at the end, so even though there was no margin at the end of the labels (when configured to do so), there was a one inch margin at the start which had to be manually cut off with scissors after each label was printed. Since the PT-2700 has an auto cutter, when set to "Small margins", it will cut off the first inch for you as it prints, and then cut the label at the end, so there's no need to go find scissors each time. Some reviews complain of this wasted inch but it is inevitable due to the laminating process, I think it's a small price to pay for tough high quality labels that will outlast any other. If printing multiple labels, you can set it so that only the first label will have an inch cut off and the rest prints in series with no waste. You can also eliminate margins completely if you're willing to have to leave your last label printed in the machine until printing another.

Other features it has over the PT-1280 are:
-Ability to use up to 1" or 24mm tape VS. 1/2" or 12mm tape
-8 fonts (VS. 1)
-8 font sizes (VS. 3)
-Ability to set alignment (left, center, right, justify)
-Date/Time stamp option
-Can make and print bar codes
-Can be connected to a PC (but it does so much by itself I see no need for it, and I already have a Brother QL-550 on my PC, also reviewed a while ago, for cheaper non laminated shipping labels)
-Higher resolution display that can show a graphic preview of the labels before printing, including frames, etc.
-Ability to save 99 labels (VS. 3)
-Backlit display
-Included AC adapter (can also run on 8 AA batteries, my preferred use to avoid the wire)

The text editing options on this labeler are surprisingly advanced, you've almost got Microsoft Word on this thing! You can use different fonts and formats within the same labels (press Shift+Text to apply changes to only the current line or column rather than the entire label), can print up to 7 lines on 1" or 24 mm tape, can make up to 5 separate columns per label (you simply press Shift+Enter to start a new column, they call them "Blocks") and much more. Since it has a graphic display, you also see an on screen preview of fonts, frames, etc. when selecting them in the menus, on the PT-1280 to see the frames for example you had to refer to the user manual.

There are also many templates built in such as for binder spines, file folder tabs, name badges, CD case spines, etc. There are also block layouts which are templates with different line and column configurations, for example 1 large line of text with 2 small lines of text to the right (you can also get the same results manually by using new lines and columns when designing your label).

The preview function is much more advanced than on the PT-1280 due to the higher resolution screen, you can see a multi line graphic preview (including frames if you applied one) and can view the preview at 2 different zoom levels, this gives you a good idea of what the label will look like without having to print it (the resolution of the printer is much higher than the screen's resolution though so the preview is low quality, but enough to see if the formatting is ok). All labelers using the TZ tapes are able to tell the width of the tape installed due to a series of holes in the tape which is different for each tape width and sensors in the machine detect these holes. This allows it to preview how the label will look like on the tape size that's loaded in the machine and allows it to know if the label format and size will fit on the loaded tape size. If the text size is set to Auto, it still automatically scale the text to fit the tape's width.

Like the PT-1280, the PT-2700 also has a clear window to see the type of tape loaded and the tape itself also has a window to see how much of the roll remains, but on the PT-2700 the window is on top of the machine so you don't need to flip it upside down to see this.

I had read these labels were heat resistant, but didn't understand how that could be possible since they are thermal paper (the paper is heat sensitive and turns black when heated, the machine prints by heating different spots on it). I tried heating one and indeed it didn't change color. After looking at the tape again I saw that the heat sensitive layer gets peeled off back into the tape and only the color changed ink is then transferred to the label, so once they are printed they are no longer heat sensitive, very ingenious!

My only complaints are that the cutter blade is not replaceable (even the PT-1280's manual cutter was replaceable) and I think they could have made it smaller than it is. There seems to be a lot of wasted space making it longer, perhaps it's the auto cutter mechanism that requires this space.

I would highly recommend this labeler.