MakeID L1 Label Maker review – a lot of labeling in a little package

REVIEW – Our daughter is on the brink of transfer into her first house, and he or she’s a little bit of an organizer.  When she noticed the Marklife P11 label maker that I had reviewed for my spouse, she determined that she wanted one for herself; thus, I’m going to be making an attempt the L1 label maker from MakeID.  I plan to make use of it to label a bunch of spice jars for her, and I feel she’s going to use it additional to label her arts and crafts provides, her journals, and different issues.

What’s it?

The MakeID L1 Label Maker is a thermal label maker that connects to an app on my cellphone by way of Bluetooth.  It’s small, transportable, and handheld, and it really works with each steady and discreet (aka hole) label tape.  There are iOS and Android variations of the app, and the L1 comes with one roll of white tape.  MakeID is a Chinese language firm that “focuses on the event and manufacturing of label printers with operation, high quality, and contents.”

What’s within the field?

• MakeID L1 Label Maker
• USB-C to USB-A cable
• Person guide with 8 pages of English directions
• One roll of steady white label tape (0.63 inches x 13.1 ft)

{Hardware} specs

• Battery: Constructed-in lithium ion
• Labels: Waterproof, laminated, self-adhesive
• Colours: Beige, white, or inexperienced
• Weight: 6 ounces
• Measurement: 3.94 x 1.57 x 2.17 inches

Design and options

The MakeID L1 is astonishingly small, simply capable of match right into a shirt or jacket pocket.  It’s full of soppy, rounded edges and is dominated by a big, round button on high.  The entrance has one other spherical button, the facet a 3rd button subsequent to an LED, and the again has a USB-C port.

There’s a visual slit all the best way across the high, which is the place it opens to put in the tape.  The beige coloured label maker that I acquired is a relatively bland colour, but it surely additionally is available in white and inexperienced.  General, it’s a easy and sensible design.

Understand that there’s no option to change the rechargeable battery.  Devices just like the L1 are (unhappily) disposable.

Set up and setup

The L1 arrived in a really sturdy white field with a slip-off lid, and the contents inside have been very effectively protected.  The design nearly seems to be like the best way that Apple packaged iPhones just a few years again.  The L1 comes with one roll of tape, and MakeID thoughtfully two different rolls for me to check.

The very first thing I did was to learn by the guide, and at greatest I can say that it’s missing.  The English is commonly very poor, and necessary data (like tips on how to put together the tape contained in the L1 and tips on how to use the app) is lacking.  MakeID has a whole lot of work to do right here.  Fortunately, this isn’t a really difficult gadget, and I used to be capable of determine every thing out with some experimentation.

The small button on the entrance of the MakeID L1 Label Maker pops the highest, and inside I discovered the included roll of white label tape.  I pulled the tape out, eliminated the protecting cowl from it, after which reinserted it.  I prolonged it out to the little black line, per the directive printed on the within of the L1 after which closed the highest.

To activate the L1, I pressed and held the small button on the facet for 3 seconds.  Slightly inexperienced LED lit up, letting me know that it was able to be paired with the app.  To show it off, I held it for one more three seconds.

The MakeID L1 Label Maker arrived pre-charged, however when the interior Lithium-ion battery must be recharged, I can use the included cable and plug the USB-C finish into the again of the label maker and the USB-A finish right into a charging supply, like my SoundCore Wakey.  As most individuals are utilizing USB-C chargers lately, I want that MakeID had included a USB-C to USB-C cable as an alternative; at the least the included cable works fantastic.  Whereas charging, the LED was a yellow-orange colour; when completed, it turned inexperienced.

Making a label that I wish to print is totally carried out by MakeID’s free Life app, which I downloaded from Apple’s app retailer.  The developer asserts that no information is collected from this app, which is fabulous.  I gained’t purchase devices whose apps acquire information that they don’t want.

Efficiency

When the app first began, I needed to choose the proper mannequin.  After deciding on the L1, it was prepared to make use of, but it surely wasn’t related, as I might see by the crimson dot and the “not related” warning.  I made certain that Bluetooth was enabled on my iPhone and that the L1 was turned on.

After I pressed the “not related” warning, the app took me to the add machine web page, the place I might seek for a tool.  When my cellphone was close to, it sensed the MakeID L1 Label Maker and was capable of join with none issues; now it was able to print.  It’s handy that I can design and save labels, even when my cellphone just isn’t related to the L1, one thing that I did quite a bit as I used to be studying to make use of the software program.

The design of the app is simple and clear, which I admire.  It permits me to get proper to designing my labels.  Sadly, there aren’t any directions within the guide, and the directions web page within the app itself is only a copy of the guide.  Regardless of the clear design, I spent a whole lot of time making an attempt issues, deleting issues, and making an attempt issues once more.  I ultimately found out tips on how to use the software program, but it surely’s tremendous annoying to should undergo this course of, and it’ll discourage some folks from utilizing what’s an in any other case good product.  MakeID has a protracted option to go within the space of fine documentation.

Step one in making a label is to pick steady or hole.  I selected steady, as that is what’s included with the L1.  That takes me to the editor the place I can add a number of of the next:

• Templates are pre-defined labels that I can obtain from the web.
• Textual content is what I used greater than something, as this your complete level of creating a label for me.
• Stickers are small icons that may be added to the label.
• Footage are photographs taken from my Pictures app which might be transformed to low-res photographs and added to the label.
• Portray is used to attract my very own little footage and add them to the label.

I can sort in no matter textual content I need.  With a steady label, it’s tremendous cool how the app scales the label horizontally to be nevertheless lengthy my textual content is.  That is positively an enormous benefit that the L1 has over label makers that solely use labels of a set measurement: Typically I simply want an extended label with extra phrases and/or greater letters.  Within the textual content display I can even improve the font measurement, change the alignment, and add extra textual content.  There’s additionally an undo function, which is useful.  As soon as I acquired the dangle of it, including and modifying textual content was really fairly straightforward.

There are 25 classes of stickers, every class appears to have between 10 and 30 stickers.  For many classes, they will’t all be seen directly.  After I first acquired the app, the scroll bar was damaged, and I couldn’t scroll down and choose the stickers.  MakeID apparently fastened this bug, as in some unspecified time in the future within the evaluation course of all of the stickers turned obtainable for choice.  As soon as a sticker is chosen, it may be positioned on the label and resized.  Whereas it looks like there are a whole lot of stickers, I at all times appear to have hassle discovering ones that I wish to use; many are simply too esoteric for my tastes.  Oh, yeah, I additionally discovered a sticker with profanity; I can’t for the lifetime of me determine why MakeID would come with one thing like this of their product.

After I first put in the app, the templates function didn’t work.  The app would simply dangle.  Whereas testing the L1, evidently MakeID fastened this function as effectively, and now it really works fantastic.  There are about 30 labels that may be downloaded, however I doubt I’ll use this function a lot, as I wish to make my very own labels.

There’s an enormous distinction within the decision of my iPhone’s digicam and the MakeID L1 Label Maker’s printer, so the results of utilizing the images function was understandably underwhelming.  I don’t suppose I’ll use this a lot both.

The portray function was a bit exhausting to make use of with my finger, but it surely labored rather well after I examined the app on my iPad Professional and drew the images with my Apple Pencil.  These with an inventive aptitude will undoubtedly be a lot better capable of make the most of this function.

As soon as I’ve completed the label I can print it straight from the editor web page; I may even print out a number of copies of the identical label.  When the label maker finishes printing, I take advantage of the large button on high to chop the tape.

The Life app retains a document of labels that I save and print, in case I wish to modify a sticker later or print extra copies of it.  There are separate information for steady and discrete labels, and I can delete objects in my historical past if I not want them.

The primary label that I created turned out effectively!  The textual content just isn’t tremendous sharp and crisp—the MakeID L1 Label Maker just isn’t precisely a high-quality laser printer—but it surely’s nonetheless very readable.  The again of the label is break up down the center, which makes it very straightforward to take away.  The stickers are very adhesive, and I discovered that they caught nice on glass, metallic, and plastic alike.  The labels I created typically solely took a few seconds to print.

After getting that first label carried out, I set about making a bunch of labels for my daughter.  We’re giving her a set of spice jars for the brand new house, and so they all want labels.  Whereas engaged on this, I found a brand new setting.  Beneath machine administration, I can change the print density, which I upgraded from low to medium.  This noticeably improved the standard of the labels, although I assume it would additionally use extra ink.  The ensuing jars look fairly good.  As soon as I acquired in a rhythm, I might print and apply a brand new label about each two minutes, which isn’t too dangerous.

MakeID despatched me a few different rolls of tape, so I made a decision to strive these as effectively.  The primary was one other steady tape, one with a transparent background.  It labored identical to the opposite, and I put some labels on some jars of strawberry jam that my spouse made final 12 months.  This turned out good.

The second was a tape of discrete inexperienced labels.  After I chosen hole within the Life software program, it requested me to pick the scale of the labels, because the L1 helps two completely different sizes.  I appeared on the field, however the label on the field doesn’t really show the scale of the labels inside (see the ellipsis within the image above).  Ohhhhh, what irony!  A label making firm that may’t create labels for their very own merchandise!  That had me laughing for some time.  I lastly appeared on their Amazon web page, which advised me the proper measurement for these small inexperienced labels.  After I eliminated the clear tape and changed it with the discrete labels, I instantly bumped into an issue:  The place do I align the left fringe of the label?  Understand that the guide doesn’t present any assist right here.  (As some extent of distinction, the P11 label maker has a sensor and routinely scrolls the tape to unravel this drawback.)  Utilizing the identical edge as the continual tape didn’t work; that began it within the center.  By a strategy of trial and error, I lastly found out the place the label ought to begin, however getting it good is an imprecise course of at greatest.  Actually, I’m not likely a fan of the MakeID L1 Label Maker’s discrete label capabilities.

The ensuing labels look good, although as you may see I struggled to get them centered.

Further Options

The MakeID L1 Label Maker comes with just one roll of tape, so ultimately, my daughter might want to get extra.  MakeID sells substitute tapes, each steady and discrete, in varied colours and patterns.  Every 13-foot roll is at the moment $9 on Amazon.

What I like

• Small, transportable measurement
• Simple to connect with my iPhone by way of Bluetooth
• A number of choices for including textual content and graphics
• Clear app design

What I’d change

• Rewrite the guide and add directions for utilizing the app
• Add a capability to align discrete labels
• Correctly label tape bins

Closing ideas

The MakeID L1 Label Maker is a transportable thermal label maker.  The gadget itself is small and has a sensible design.  The software program with which the labels are created is clear and really usable.  The person guide is of poor high quality and lacks a whole lot of crucial data, so be ready for lots of trial and error.  In case you can determine issues out, the ensuing labels look and work nice.  In case you’re looking for a label maker that makes use of steady labels, I feel the L1 can be an awesome alternative.  In case you’re looking for one to make use of with discrete labels, I feel you must cross on the L1, as a result of its incapacity to routinely align them.  I feel my daughter goes to be tremendous proud of the continual labels, and I’m wanting ahead to visiting her new house as soon as she’s had an opportunity to label every thing.

Worth:  $36.99
The place to purchase: Amazon
Supply: The pattern for this evaluation was offered by MakeID.