DYMO Rhino Rhino 5000 Label Printer-Single Unit, 1/Box (15517)

I bought one of these things last year, mostly to label audio equipment and cables around our community theater and for our band. So far, the labels I've produced with it are high quality and have lasted well. I did waste a lot of tape until I found out how to change type size; directions aren't always very clear. The rubber bumper that surrounds the unit is a pain to remove, though it certainly does protect it well. If only the labels weren't so expensive! I had a weird problem with mine today, but tech support found the answer quickly.

Bought this a couple of years ago when we started our structured wiring project at home. THought it would also come in handy in my technology business for labeling cables, wall jacks, etc, and it has. But, like a lot of stuff these days, it doesn't work to spec, and even when it does it's very limited in what it will produce.WHAT WORKS:Wrap style labels work very well. I've gone through almost 40 feet of label tape just labeling coax, UTP (Cat 5) and some 110v cables (Romex and individual 12 and 14 AWG). The nylon labels (and even the polyester labels) stick well on cable, and the text is crisp, readable and durable. Labels for flat surfaces also work well, but be careful what tape you use. The nylon tape (touted by Dymo as good for rough surfaces) doesn't stick to flat surfaces (rough or smooth) very well. The polyester tape is better--and cheaper--even if the surface has a slight texture.I actually like the rubber boot, even though it makes cartridge and battery changes a pain. Much of my work is on ladders and over concrete floors. It's reassuring to know that if I knock the labeler off of a 7' ladder onto concrete it stands a good chance of surviving the fall with the boot on. The labeler's plastic housing is slippery, so the boot gives a better grip. If you don't like the boot it's easy to just leave it behind.WHAT DOESN'T WORK:One job I'd intended this labeler for was to label our 48-port patch panel and a 16-port coax distribution panel. The labeler has the ability to produce a long label with text for each port as long as the ports are all the same distance apart (and a multiple of either 1/4" or 5mm). Oddly, though, the port labels must be serialized. That means if your first port is called LD2, the next port must be named some incremented form of the first, for example, LE2, LF2, LG2 and so on. Or LD3, LD4, LD5 and so on. If your ports are called LD2, PD1, PD2, SD3, SD4 and so on, there's no way to print a patch panel label with that text. The terminal block feature works the same way, by the way.I thought that I could use the fixed length label feature to print a series of 3/4" labels that (without using the cutter between labels) would produce the long patch panel label I wanted. The manual states that fixed-length labels can be printed as short as 1/2" (again, in multiples of 1/4" or 5mm), and the labeler accepts that setting. But even a blank label (with no text at all) comes out a minimum of 2" long. The shortest fixed-length label with only 1 character of text I could get to print was 3 1/2".As you can imagine, while working this out I went through a shocking amount of the obscenely expensive Rhino tape. What I finally came up with was to print a 2+" label for each 3/4" port and then trim it to size with scissors. In addition to all the wasted time, this more than doubles the cost of each label.Once you get used to the ABCD keyboard (instead of QWERTY) and lack of fonts or an extended symbol library (I don't use symbols anyway), the printer is very ergonomic, and its operation (other than noted above) is easy to figure out without the manual. The display is easy to read, especially with the backlight.Is it worth the price? If you do mostly cable wrap labels and individual flat surface labels, it's definitely worthwhile. As long as you don't depend on it for non-serialized panel labeling or production of fixed-length labels shorter than 3 1/2", it's probably worthwhile. But research the cost of Rhino cartridges before you buy. I figure the per-cable cost of labels is around 25c at the list price of cartridges (assuming you're labeling both ends).

The other reviewer is correct that the "boot" is totally useless - take it out of the box and just throw it away. You can't even modify it to make room for the door to open. He is also correct on the backwards brackets in the extra small font - to print them "correctly" you have to type them in backwards. He is slightly off on the switch for the label type - it does switch over to the different size tapes when you press it them in, in the manual it says "set the cassette switch for the size of the tape cassette that you are inserting. A notch in the cassette fits over the switch when the cassette is in the correct position." The cable wrap in vertical and horizontal works great. The handle on the side is a little hokey compared to my last Dymo labeler. It does include a little "cheat sheet" for different options though they could have just printed that on the back of the unit instead. The unit could use a larger collection of special characters - the group included is a little small and I would recommend checking to see if what you might want to print isn't listed. It can run off an AC adapter and has a plug for one but doesn't come with the power supply. It doesn't say in the manual if the power supply can also charge rechargeable or not. I do like the backlighting on the 2 line display and the letters are reasonably spaced out so that you don't press two buttons when you have gloves on.In general, I am happy with this label printer that I got for 90$ including shipping. I do electrical and low voltage so this unit is exactly what works for me.I did find something really interesting that doesn't seem to be documented anywhere in the manual or on the company website. You can put the much more common (as in Walmart common) D1 type labels in the same printer as well as the more expensive RhinoPro 18xxx style labels. It's obvious they designed it for this purpose and I'm surprised they don't tell you this in the manual.