DYMO LabelWriter 5XL

I had a Dymo Label Maker 450 Twin Turbo installed on my iMac. Lately it has been going a little nuts. When I would ask it to print a label it would put out five labels. Font size would be wrong, something internal was going on. Yeah, the postage printing was a nice thing to have, when Dymo did it. But since the forced switch to Endicia, it’s more of a pain than a convivence. If your running a business that would be one thing, but mine was for personal use and my account balance is almost zero.So in researching the Dymo 550 Label Maker, I read a lot of good, “but…;” “doesn’t install on Mac”, and some down right horror stories. So I waited until I had enough of fighting my old label maker and order this model. I must tell, following the directions, installation was a breeze. When I turned it on and went to install the printer on my iMac, I found it was already listed. Printed like a champ. The only downside is you need to purchase their labels specifically for this printer, which I find no more than an inconvenience than anything else. I didn't need tech support.Bottom line, great little printer.

Not potentially the worst. Not among the worst. Not probably the worst. THE WORST ELECTRONIC PRODUCT I HAVE EVER USED. I don't print all that many labels, but I have had to spend, conservatively, on average a half hour on the phone with Dymo each time I tried to print one. The software (Dymo Connect) is awful: It is utterly unintuitive (example: to get to an address already in the program, you first have to click on "add," and it goes downhill from there with multiple steps that are far from obvious). It is "buggy," in the exact words of one of the tech reps I had to contact to do something simple. Why doesn't Dymo fix it? Example: The program insists on super-imposing Dymo's mailing address on the ones I want to print, and there seems not to be a way to get the program not to do that. Does Dymo believe that we are pen pals? Etc etc etc. Finally, I tried to print a label a few days ago; the system simply would not work. I called Dymo tech support, again, to find out how to get it to work, and after a full hour --- yes, a full hour --- on the phone with the tech guy, who took over my computer with TeamViewer so that he could see what the problem was, he couldn't get it to work. I asked to speak with a supervisor; "he might get back to you in a few days." That was the final straw: I demanded a full refund for the label printer and for the Dymo labels that I purchased because the Dymo lable printer will not work with any non-Dymo lables, itself an infuriating condition. They now say that the refund will be approved, but I'll believe it when I see it. DO NOT BUY THIS LABEL PRINTER. And I would be deeply suspicious, frankly, of any Dymo product. BZ

I previously had a Dymo label writer that finally conked out, so I decided to upgrade to the Dymo LabelWriter 550. Before purchasing, I saw a lot of negative reviews about the software being difficult to install and the setup process being frustrating. Honestly, I was a bit concerned.That said, I’m generally not great at setting up devices, yet I found this to be an absolute breeze. I followed the instructions, making sure to install the software completely before connecting the printer, as emphasized in the manual. Perhaps this is where others ran into issues, but for me, the setup was simple and straightforward.The printer itself works perfectly—clean, sharp labels every time. Some may find it frustrating that it requires Dymo-branded labels, but I don’t see that as a major downside. I bought a pack of 700 labels for $21, which will likely last me a lifetime.Overall, I highly recommend the Dymo LabelWriter 550. If you follow the setup instructions carefully, you should have no problems, and you’ll end up with a fantastic label printer that works seamlessly.

I bought this printer because my old Dymo LabelWriter stopped working. I figured I'd get the same brand since I still had lots of labels left over. Well, after struggling to install the new printer, I got it to work thanks to a call to support. At least they have human support, that earns them the one star review. That allowed me to test print a few labels that came with the printer. Then I decided to try a different Dymo brand label form my old stock. That's when things went south. The new printers won't recognize old Dymo brand labels because they have an RF ID tag that authenticates the labels but also keeps count of the labels you print. So all my old labels are garbage now. Also since the printer keeps count of the labels printed, when the count reaches zero no more labels will be printed from that roll.So I put the new Dymo labels back in the printer since all my other Dymo labels are incompatible. The printer now refused to recognize the labels that came with the printer. I turned the printer off and on, I disconnected it and reconnected it. I howled at the moon and made animal sacrifices. I even sold my soul to the devil. But alas, the printer refuses to recognize the labels it came with, the very same labels I first used to test it. I can only assume that the printer is offended that I dared to soil its pristine internal mechanism with my old, out of fashion, low tech labels.So I returned it. This is way too much trouble to print labels. I'll find another printer that doesn't force me to buy more expensive proprietary labels that are the functionally the same as generic ones. Or I'll even write them by hand because I rather spend the rest of my life writing labels by hand than try to troubleshoot this cursed piece of technology. Also I really resent being forced to buy proprietary labels. It's not like Dymo labels are specially made or better, they are just damn labels.Don't waste your money on this garbage.

I was able to print barcode labels with it. It took some fiddling to get it working at all. I ran a self test and a form feed, and then it started recognizing the labels were loaded. Print quality appears to be very good.