Ideal Rough Rider Printer

Here are a few items most reviews do not mention, and I'll post it here. You can find other reviews off the Internet or at epinions.

Portable printers are not meant to compete against laserprinters or ink jets. They are made to provide printouts under non-office conditions, i.e., field use, and except for applications used in extreme heat --- like deserts, a thermal printer is reliable, needs little maintenance and consumes few resources.

Thermal printouts are used all the time as TRANSITORY computer output on paper, such as ATMs, gas station receipts etc., to give users a copy of output. I've used 2 thermal printers since 1984, and these printers have outlived their CPUs. Kept under room temperature, thermal printouts last, but KEY TO PALMTOP USE is to print a proper report on a PC based printer once hotsynced at your basestation.

The IR performance is key to this printer's success. If this printer is indeed an Alps Inc., engine, then it is well pedigreed and reliable.

I use the A6 printer as general output on a boat or a plane from a Palm or any IrDA computer, often in transit to remote locations, exposed to high humidity and at times beaming to the printer, enclosed within a ziplock bag. The IR signal penetrates the bag nicely, and allows printing in a water resistant container. Thermal paper doesn't run when wet, and when cold laminated, allows one to take printouts diving ... were water temps rarely exceed 90F.

Competing ink jet printers, while capable of A4 size sheets, can have comparably illegible fonts, higher cost, weight, maintenance and print horribly under humid conditions. A4 paper is inconvenient to carry.

The Sipix is very similar to a thermal printer engine released by Alps in 1998:

http://www.alps.co.jp/press/new1998/f0325b-e.htm

A full spec sheet is available:

http://www4.alps.co.jp/pdf2002/pdf_e/printer/ptmbs60.pdf

It has a rated life of 50 million print impressions and paper advance mechanism life of 20km. That's roughly 17,000 prints or 72,000 sheets advanced of A4 paper. Using A6 paper, that's substantially more sheets.

Roll paper is superior to single sheets. Printouts rarely use the full length of a single A6 sheet, thus the unprinted area is wasted. In long printouts, type will span several pages, and sheet paper will be wasted on unprinted margins.

What is wrong with the Sipix is the cost, its not worth $150 retail. They can sell much more if the printer were roughly $80 retail, and thermal printers in 1984 cost $50.
The Sipix thicker thermal paper maybe less prone to curl, but it still does, and its not suitable for rolls. When used, paper from rolls are torn off at various lengths. The Sipix paper is too strong and does not tear cleanly. Sipix brand paper is too expensive, even if heavily discounted to $5 a packet of 6 8-foot rolls. You can buy bulk A6 wide thermal paper over 76 feet long per roll, thinner grade, $35 for 25 rolls, and simply cut 8' lengths for convenience. That's about 15c US per 8' roll.

http://www.paperrollsplus.com/paper_rolls_section1.htm

For what this is designed to do, the Sipix, or Alps A6 is a clear winner.