I highly recommend the Brother P-touch. I considered the Casio machien that works similarly, but decided against it bcs the tapes aren't as easy to find. You can find the P-touch tapes tons of places.

The labels stick through the dishwasher and freezer (and, I read once in Real Simple, in the oven up to 450 or 500 degrees! though I haven't tried it). They go on smooth and stick really well--no corners flipping up, etc. Yet, they peel off well when you need them to.

The labels are clean and easy to read, you can print in a few different sizes, and you can buy many colors of tape. You can even get fabric tape the irons on (haven't tried mine yet).

The batteries last quite a long time in it. Its only drawback is that the tape is kind of expensive; there's a way to keep the machine from leaving so much blank at the end of every piece, though--if you get that far and can't figure it out, drop me an e-mail and I'll walk you through it.

Brother changes the model numbers of its labelers every now and then, so it's hard for me to recommend a specific model right now--they're all good, equal quality (and they all use the same tape, which it easy to find), We have several P-touch labelers at work, purchased as wildly varying times and with different capabilities, and they all worked exactly the same--quite well.

it's just that some machines do more than others (more fonts, maybe, or printing on two or three lines).

So just look at the features you think you're willing to pay for.

Then, round up just one notch. I've found that I've usually wished that I had that one higher feature (of whatever it is I bought), and that I'd have been willing, in retrospect, to pay for it.

The two features I wish I'd splurged for are:
-the ability to print two lines
-having two different FONTS--there are 6 or 8 different type styles on every machine but that just takes the basic sans serif font and enlarges it, stretches it, or squeezes it. A machine at work has a sans serif font AND a serif font, so you can get a slightly more old-fashioned, fancier look w/ the serifs.

I would get the 1950 (65 or so) or the 1960--both are less than $100, and I could splurge on the thing (and would, now that I'm used to having one around).

Here is a link that might be useful: Brother's Advisor site to help you pick a model

I bought the Brother 2600 (ptouch) about 17 months ago. I just loved it. It did great labels that were waterproof, different fonts and sizes. I stored address labels and my Christmas list in it. I had many uses for it, but it was not heavily used by any means. A downside is that to have the variety of labels I wanted, it was an investment of over $100. In November, after doing four labels for my Christmas list it just stopped working. We tried all of the suggestions, but it needs servicing. Servicing is $98 an hour plus parts. So I either have to pay it, or buy another one and reward the company, or buy another model and waste my label investment. It sucks because I really loved that labeller.

I have the Brother P-touch 65. It is small, inexpensive and works well for me. I have had it about 3 months I think. I agree with all the advantages that talley sue has listed.

Superbee

I think they make a good product and I got a lemon. It sucks though.

nobody's mentioned the Dymo Letratag. Cheaply priced, big on features, can print up to 2 lines of text. Has several different types of tapes available: plastic, fabric, paper, and metal. My husband purchased ours to use for his work, he services vending machines and needed to be able to put labels inside of the machines. All of his labels are sticking well, even in the refrigerated machines, yet they are easy to remove when he needs to. I believe he spent just under 30 dollars for the unit at Walmart, but i've seen them online for less. The biggest investment once you purchase one will be the rolls of labels because you will want to label everything in sight! The only thing i can say that the labels did not stick well to are dog and cat fur. (yes, in my labelling frenzy, i even labelled our pets! lol) in my defense, as to not sound like a nutjob, my daughter is learning to read and i thought if i labelled everything it would be educational for her!

thank you so much, everyone, for the helpful information. I'm going to run out to Staples this weekend to pick up my P-touch! Thank you talley_sue for your offer to help explain how to decrease the margins at the end of the tape (to save tape). I'll try to figure it out but will contact you if I have trouble with it.

thanks again for all the help,
Jen

Update..I am happy to say that Brother first offered to pay for parts for my labeller if I paid for labour. As of today, they have decided to replace my labeller with a brandnew one..and I am very grateful to them!

Oh, I should point out that I had accepted their offer to pay for parts if I paid for labour. I don't know why they changed their minds, but I was happily surprised they did.

jiggreen, about making labels to help your daughter learn to read...what a great idea for learning vocabulary in a foreign language--my friend used to write the foreign words on Post-It notes and stick them on everything...a labeller might work better and would probably be cheaper per word :)