Review on Brady BMP21-PLUS Handheld Label Printer: Rubber Bumpers, Multi-Line Print, 6-40pt Font by Shane Picot

When I first bought this my intention was to use decent NiMH batteries. As shown it took 6 of these in a row which was not a problem. Been using it for a while and found that the battery doesn't seem to last for everything. Except that the "Battery Gauge" on the device only had 2 segments showing the charge level. So I looked into it further. I connected the device to a programmable power supply and got the following: Battery status: < 7.1V battery shows a flat battery 7.1V - 7.6V shows a nearly flat > 7.6V shows a full battery Power consumption: On ( without backlight) - 8.8mA on (backlight) - 24mA pressure - 380mA to 400mA off - 35uA knowing that the NiMH battery pack has about 50% charge left at about 1.2V, and when all 6 batteries are connected, that's about 7.2V. Once the device drops below 7.0V, it won't turn on. The backlight flashes once when you press the power button and that's all you get. This can be done to prevent the lithium ion battery from running out. Anyway, I thought I'd point that out. Also, here are some pros and cons of the device: Pros: * Reliable printing. I've looked at a few tapes and haven't had a problem with any of them.* The backlight is pleasantly bright. Everything is visible even in daylight * Different types of printing. Choose from landscape, portrait, wire wrap, patch panel, fuse panel and more.* Looks good and solid. For the price you definitely feel like you have a pretty good set* Easy left and right hand label cutting. May be small but some other devices only have cutting buttons on one side. In this case, you don't need to shuffle the block just to cut it. It may be small, but I found it a nice feature.* The cartridge mechanism is very convenient. The old cartridge is easy to remove and insert a new one. Disadvantages: * The price of cartridges is high. * Some caption modes have too many spaces around the edges even if you try to type very few or no spaces. .* Maximum label size 0.75 inch. Big enough for everything I need, but worth mentioning.* Battery life with NiMH. You might want to consider selecting a menu or something that toggles between the types of batteries you use so you can get more out of them.* Only 4 lines can be printed 4th line space that's just not being used now.* Lithium Ion battery and charger sold separately and also expensive. You also have to remove the lithium-ion battery from the device to charge it. I don't know how practical that is, but they say it is and it should be.* Very, very little battery drain when the device is off With a 30µA off current draw, you can worst case with 1mAh of battery drain per expected day. With a decent 1800mAh NiMH battery it should take some time for all series connected batteries to drop to the 7.0V mark, barring batteries that self-discharge faster than others.