Primera Introduces Full-Colour Label and Tag Printer

LX800 Color Label Printer prints high-quality bar codes as well as full-colour text, graphics and photos

PLYMOUTH, MN, USA — Primera Technology, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of specialty printing equipment, today announced its

LX800 Color Label Printer.  The LX800 is a new high-performance inkjet-based label and tag printer.  It prints full-colour labels and tags onto media as small as .75″ (19 mm) wide and .75″ (19 mm) long up to a maximum of 8.25″ (210 mm) wide and 24″ (610 mm) long.  Print resolution is the best in the industry at 4800 x 1200 dpi.

Targeted applications include primary product labels, box-end labels with photos or graphics, and a wide variety of other retail, office or industrial labels that can benefit from the use of on-demand, high-quality color printing.  Substrates can include matte-finish labels as well as semi-gloss and high-gloss materials.

The LX800 is easy to set-up and operate.  It comes equipped with printer drivers for Windows® 2000/XP and Mac OS X along with label design software called NiceLabel Free (DTM Edition), Primera Edition for Windows.  Virtually any other label design software may also be used with the printer.  Interface to the PC is by a high-speed USB 2.0 connection.

No More Pre-Printed Labels or High-Priced Thermal Color Printers

Until now, users who required color printing on their labels had two main choices: 

(1) pre-print their logos or other graphics onto blank labels and imprint them later with a monochrome thermal transfer printer, or (2) purchase a thermal transfer color printer that costs from Euro 15,000 to Euro 30,000 yet is limited to just 600 dpi print resolution.

With the LX800, any combination of text, graphics, logos, photos and more can be printed onto labels in full color in up to 4800 dpi.  This solves the problem of pre-printing and maintaining an inventory of multiple pre-printed blank label rolls.  All fonts installed on the PC may be utilized in label designs.  Print speed is variable depending upon label design; 1.5″ (38 mm) to 2″ (51 mm) per second is typical on a 6″x 4″ (152 mm x 102 mm) label with 25% coverage.

Low Price Yet High Quality Results

The LX800 is the most affordable full-colour label printer ever developed, said Mark D. Strobel, Primera Technology's Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  But despite its low price, it prints labels and tags with far better quality than high-end thermal printers costing literally thousands of dollars more.

Primera's LX800 sells for just Euro 2.151 (MSRP).  Everything a user needs to get started printing labels is included:  the printer, black and color ink cartridges, USB cable, AC adapter, NiceLabel Free (DTM Edition), Primera Edition label design software, operator's manual and a sample roll of high-gloss label stock.  All common bar codes are included in the NiceLabel ME software, including UPC, EAN, Code 39, Code 128 and 2D bar codes such as PDF417.

Inkjet compatible label and tag stocks are available in matte, semi-gloss and high-gloss papers as well as polypropylene and many other specialty materials.  Several of these materials are highly water-resistant when used with Primera's specially formulated dye- and pigment-based ink cartridges.  An additional benefit of inkjet versus thermal transfer is that bar codes cannot be scratched or smudged due to rough handling of boxes or containers.

Replacement ink cartridges cost from US$42.95 to US$49.95 each.  Although ink cartridge yield varies greatly depending upon ink coverage, cost per label is comparable to color thermal transfer printers when printing a label with approximately 25% ink coverage. 

The LX800 is available in late October 2004 in over 222 countries through Primera's Authorized Resellers and Distributors.