Thermal transfer printing has been around for several years. When it comes to printing basic shipping labels or product identification labels, a wax ribbon will do the trick. The consumer can get overwhelmed with the selection of thermal transfer wax ribbons the market has to offer. Printer manufacturers sell their ribbons and sometimes tell the customer that they will not guarantee the life of their print heads if they don't use their ribbons and labels. To me, this is like Toyota saying that they won't warranty your vehicle if you don't purchase tires from Toyota. The customer has a right to choice and should not be "golden handcuffed" into purchasing ribbons from the manufacturer.

         Having tested several thermal transfer ribbons on the market and read all the advertising jargon like static eliminating back coat, prolonged print head life, superior printing, etc, I feel that Iimak makes an exceptional wax ribbon called the GP725. The GP725 ribbon has great printing characteristics combined with a lower print head temperature setting. Not having to crank the heat up on your printer's head is key to longer print head life. The GP725 wax ribbon also comes with a patented, built in head cleaner. The head cleaner is built into the leader of the ribbon.

         Iimak has made it easy for operators to keep their print heads clean without having to perform an additional step of stopping to clean their printers head. This head cleaner has now been included with all of Iimak's ribbon formulations.

         Brad Hole is the President of Eversio Technologies http://www.eversio.com a distributor of barcode hardware, software, labels and ribbons for the Automated Data Collection Market. Eversio has been an industry leader for over 10 years in helping companies find the right product for their application.