Discussion: Thermal Printer recommendations for splits

Does anyone have a recommendation for a thermal printer or POS printer that we can use for printing splits? We need a printer to work with our new sport-ident equipment. We didn't get the school kit that comes with it's own printer.

Any we should avoid?

At the 2009 COCs and WCOCs, we used an Epson TM-T88IV, which worked great. This is a high-speed receipt printer with a built-in paper cutter. The splits printing was all but instantaneous.

Our printer is powered by an AC adapter. There was a very similar printer (perhaps a different version of the same model--I don't remember) that was USB-powered, but we decided not to get it. Although we didn't hear anything bad about the USB-powered printer, we didn't want to take the chance that our laptops' USB ports wouldn't provide enough power.

There is now a newer version of this printer, the Epson TM-T88V, which is supposed to be even faster and more reliable.

Not a printer recommendation, but another suggestion - Mike Minium's crew at the Flying Pig printed onto a roll of label paper (sticky on one side). It was a very nice touch to be able to stick it onto your map afterwards.

TM-T88IV - very easy to use - it takes care of itself . No jams ; no problems when wind blows etc. Easy to set up. Very fast. (within 1 second of download completion).

I concur with all of the above - the Epson is a very nice product. It is what I purchased last year.

Also, the splits printed on labels is very cool, and I evaluated purchasing that system before settling on the Epson. I determined that the consumables were just too pricey to justify, and I am not one to skimp on things in general.

OCIN has a Brother USB (don't know model) for the A-Meet. The sticky-back paper is well-received, but a bit expensive (perhaps $80 for 3-days of 300 people).

For our local meets we use a donated Epson TM-T88II, which is much slower than the IV or V, but works. When we first got it, our techies read the data plate, which said 24V, 3 Amps (which is huge power), and then spec'd out a set of 2, 17A-Hr lead-acid batteries (which they had several of), and a 24V power supply from a nurse's PA station (with like a 15 pound transformer---for when we have AC power). I was sick and tired of lugging the batteries everywhere, so I got an ammeter and actually measured the current, which was like 50mA on standby and 0.7 Amp when printing. So I found an old wall-wart power supply with 24V, 1.5Amps, which weighs less than a pound. (It was 99 cents at the Valley Thrift Store.)

What did you guys pay for an Epson TM-T88IV or V? I've been looking on ebay, and these things were crazy expensive---usually $150 or more. I haven't looked in 6 months, though.

I made up a little splits print layout that uses less paper than the standard SI format. If anyone would like to try it, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

DVOA has 2 Star Micronics TSP700II printers that are very similar to the Epson TM-88V and they have worked very well for us. I believe both the Epson and Star can print labels as mentioned above, but as vmeyer points out, that can get expensive fast. I bought a half case of higher quality thermal paper (supposed to last longer before fading out) and it seems like its going to last for many years--MUCH cheaper and easier than buying ink and paper for an inkjet. Thermal is definitely the way to go.

What did you guys pay for an Epson TM-T88IV or V?

We paid about $350 (CDN) for our new TM-T88IV in May 2009. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the price has dropped much since then.

we paid about $300 for our TM-88IV . The thermal paper is very cheap and we no longer have to buy expensive ink cartridges and 8.5 x 11 paper for our cheap (initial purchase price) inkjet printer. The lack of "babysitting" required of the printer and paper makes it so much easier on volunteers at meets .

Sticky labels tend to make the paper feed not so reliable so we avoid them and stay with the basic thermal splits print out.

thanks everyone..now it is time to go shopping for the best deal on an Epson TM-88IV or TM-88V. Saw a V today with serial and USB for under $350.

Can somebody (cedarcreek or others) send me a layout for splits print for the Epson TM-88IV and some basic instructions on how to import it to OE2003? Appreciate it very much....

Ravi, sending a Layout your way.
Valerie

@rnareppa: I just sent it.

@Valerie, @cedarcreek
Thank you. I was able to customize your layouts for our club. Valerie had the SI card# field and cedarcreek had the compact layout. Can share if anybody wants. I wanted to mention that to get double prints during download, go to printer settings and set "Copies = 2" and "Source = Page[Feed, Cut]". This will print 2 copies per download and will cut the paper in-between so you can hand one to the runner and staple the other to the results tape.

This is dual color and capable of logos. Anybody played with that? Thanks!

This is dual color and capable of logos. Anybody played with that?

The dual color requires different paper, and it is a bit more expensive.
http://www.pospaper.com/thermal-318-230-redblack-5...

I am liking the colored thermal paper, which I hadn't seen before:
http://www.pospaper.com/thermalpaperrolls.html#3

Too bad I have a gazillion rolls of regular paper to go through first.

I don't believe the Layout Manager accepts graphics fields at this time.

The Epson TM-T88 series has the ability to print a BMP file (I believe) at the beginning of each print (i.e., "receipt"). I'm not sure if it does only pure black and white or if can do grayscale. It requires some program from the Epson support site. I know the SI folks who did the COCs at Fundy (2008?) used it. I haven't had the time to work on figuring it out. If someone knows how, I'd love to hear about it.

I was walking through an electronics surplus store 2 weeks ago and found a TM-88IV with cables and power supply for $35. I snatched it up, but haven't tested it yet---gotta download the drivers. (time time time blah blah blah)

$35? Lucky you...paid $350 online....and bought a ton of paper too....
Driver download: http://www.posguys.com/12_12/Epson-TM-T88IV_694/
You will get the logo utility with this install too.

Thanks to Valerie, got the logo to work too....
Steps:
Create a monochrome logo that you want to use
Follow instructions at http://www.amigopos.com/help/html/index.html?print... to upload logo to your printer.
Go to "Printer (Epson) -> Printing Preferences" and "Document Settings" tab, select "Start of Page:" and choose "logo registered in the printer"
That should do it.