Casio EZ-Label Printer KL-60: For Those Who Make Lots of Labels

I recently got a Casio EZ-Label Printer KL-60. This label printer is a nice little unit that, once you get it operating, is much faster than the old hand operated label printers where you have to dial in one letter at a time, press to imprint it, and then go back to dial the next letter.

The Casio EZ-Label Printer has a lot of good points. You can use 12mm, 9mm/ or 6mm tape in it. This is a definite plus for the unit, as my old manual label printer only used one size. Not only can the Casio use different widths of tape; it can also be programmed to print different letter sizes, and up to 2 lines on one label. And a feature I especially like is that all three of the tape widths come in a variety of colors.

One feature I probably won't ever use, but that might appeal to others out there is that the Casio EZ-Label Printer can write in characters for 14 different languages.

The compact keyboard measures about 2 ½ x 4 ½ inches, but the keys are arranged in standard QWERTY fashion so you can find the keys you are looking for quickly. A row of keys above the number keys across the top are the menu keys and provide for operations like, off and on, size change, delete, print, etc.

The roll of tape included with the machine was a clear tape that I had a little trouble peeling apart after printing until I got the hang of it. Being clear, only the letters, not the tape showed when I finally mounted my label. I liked that, because I used it on a manila folder where it showed up well. The letters wouldn't have been visible if I had placed my label on a dark cabinet or dark-colored folder, so make your choices of tape color wisely, according to where the final product will be mounted.

The unit operates on 6 AA batteries which, so far, have never had to be replaced in my particular machine.

Those are the good things I like about the Casio EZ-Label Printer KL-60. There was one thing I didn't like, but might have been able to avoid if I had been able to watch a demonstration ahead of time.

The directions that came with the machine were not the easiest directions for me to understand. I think part of this stems from the fact that there were so many of them. I am a person who likes to have things boiled down to a simple 1, 2, and 3, but the Casio direction sheet was as big as a newspaper and printed on both sides. Everything was important information, but by the time you finished reading the first column, you almost had to start over again because you had already forgotten what they told you to do first. If you are good at following involved directions, then this might not cause a problem for you at all.

I did have a bit of trouble learning to load the tape, but once I got the idea, it was actually pretty easy.

That's about it for my impression of the Casio EZ-Label Printer KL-60. It is certainly a lot easier to type in your data, press a button, and watch the finished labels roll out than it is to crank them out one letter at a time on a manual label maker, so, if you make a lot of labels, spending about thirty dollars for the Casio isn't a bad deal at all.