Label Maker

You might ask why a label maker is one of the first things I am reviewing. I know it might sound silly but a label maker (this one in particular) is one of those things that you never knew you needed.

I have a vague recollection of a label maker I had as a kid. It was one of the embossing kinds where you had to turn a dial and squeeze a trigger to press letters into plastic. It makes labels like these:

If your experience with label makers ends here, then you need to dust off your copy of Aladdin because there is a whole new world I am going to show you.

via GIPHY

Useful label makers are a breeze to use and extremely functional. The label maker I recommend is the Epson LW-400 (there is a link at the bottom of this page) and it is nothing like my childhood toy. This thing can print on a variety of tape colors and widths, it can print vertically or as flags or as cable wraps. There are a ton of built in icons, fonts, and sizes. I have not needed a label that this bad boy can’t make. 

I have labeled everything from plastic storage bins to metal external hard drives to my child’s sippy cups that go through the dishwasher. The labels that come out of this thing are very legible, they adhere to a huge variety of surface types, and counterintuitively, the labels also come off very easily and cleanly when you want them to. 

Buy this thing and you will not regret it. Give it as a gift and be a hero.