Multiple Zebra GX420d printers. Which one?

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Multiple Zebra GX420d printers. Which one?

Ben Blood posted 9 Years Ago

After doing some research, it appears there are four different versions of the Zebra GX420d. You choose one of the four options for connectivity type: parallel, ethernet, bluetooth 2.0, or 802.11 g/b (wifi). Would these all be supported? And if we want a minimal / roaming kiosk solution (iPad and printer only), would the 802.11 g/b model (zebra gx42-202712-000) be our best option? Is anyone else using this printer model?

I saw another thread about using an Apple Airport Express for this solution, but seems more complex.

Any thoughts, advice, experience would be greatly appreciated! I've been hitting a lot of walls with the project :( Just want to have this up and running. Thanks guys.

-Be

Jim Michael · Answer 1 · 2015-07-30T15:08-07:00

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Jim Michael replied 9 Years Ago

All of these printers talk ZPL, so will work fine as far as Rock is concerned. Obviously if the printer is fixed in place, Ethernet is your best and most reliable option. As far as wifi goes... while I haven't actually used a Zebra wifi model, I would steer clear of these. The fact that they are still 802.11*b/g* tells us just how ancient they are, with Zebra doing nothing to bring them into modern wifi. In fact, 802.11b/g devices are so "slow" (airtime-hogging wise, not necessarily data-transfer wise) that many enterprise admins (like me) have configured their wifi to disable the old 802.11b/g protocols and lower data rates, to keep their modern wifi happy. While these printers will probably work on modern wifi, they likely won't perform great and won't be good wifi citizens.

That said, I'm probably the guy who wrote about the Airport Express units and how well they've worked for us. Yes, they are a little more work to set up, but not much, and then you can buy cheaper USB-only printers which pretty much makes up for the cost of the Airport. In our experience over the last 5 years they have been extrememly reliable.

Oh, one more thing... we also tried to take Ethernet printers and use ethernet-wifi bridges to make such printers wireless, but it failed miserably. We tried at least 4 different bridges and each one had the exact same issue... after several minutes, the printer would "fall off" of the bridge table and be disconnected. This is because printers are oddball devices that don't *generate* enough outbound traffic to keep the bridge realizing they are there, so it kills their connection. They pretty much only *receive* data, and that's the problem. In the end the airport units were they best way (by far) we found to make Zebra printers wireless.

Edit Answer

All of these printers talk ZPL, so will work fine as far as Rock is concerned. Obviously if the printer is fixed in place, Ethernet is your best and most reliable option. As far as wifi goes... while I haven't actually used a Zebra wifi model, I would steer clear of these. The fact that they are still 802.11*b/g* tells us just how ancient they are, with Zebra doing nothing to bring them into modern wifi. In fact, 802.11b/g devices are so "slow" (airtime-hogging wise, not necessarily data-transfer wise) that many enterprise admins (like me) have configured their wifi to disable the old 802.11b/g protocols and lower data rates, to keep their modern wifi happy. While these printers will probably work on modern wifi, they likely won't perform great and won't be good wifi citizens.

That said, I'm probably the guy who wrote about the Airport Express units and how well they've worked for us. Yes, they are a little more work to set up, but not much, and then you can buy cheaper USB-only printers which pretty much makes up for the cost of the Airport. In our experience over the last 5 years they have been extrememly reliable.

Oh, one more thing... we also tried to take Ethernet printers and use ethernet-wifi bridges to make such printers wireless, but it failed miserably. We tried at least 4 different bridges and each one had the exact same issue... after several minutes, the printer would "fall off" of the bridge table and be disconnected. This is because printers are oddball devices that don't *generate* enough outbound traffic to keep the bridge realizing they are there, so it kills their connection. They pretty much only *receive* data, and that's the problem. In the end the airport units were they best way (by far) we found to make Zebra printers wireless.

All of these printers talk ZPL, so will work fine as far as Rock is concerned. Obviously if the printer is fixed in place, Ethernet is your best and most reliable option. As far as wifi goes... while I haven't actually used a Zebra wifi model, I would steer clear of these. The fact that they are still 802.11*b/g* tells us just how ancient they are, with Zebra doing nothing to bring them into modern wifi. In fact, 802.11b/g devices are so "slow" (airtime-hogging wise, not necessarily data-transfer wise) that many enterprise admins (like me) have configured their wifi to disable the old 802.11b/g protocols and lower data rates, to keep their modern wifi happy. While these printers will probably work on modern wifi, they likely won't perform great and won't be good wifi citizens.

That said, I'm probably the guy who wrote about the Airport Express units and how well they've worked for us. Yes, they are a little more work to set up, but not much, and then you can buy cheaper USB-only printers which pretty much makes up for the cost of the Airport. In our experience over the last 5 years they have been extrememly reliable.

Oh, one more thing... we also tried to take Ethernet printers and use ethernet-wifi bridges to make such printers wireless, but it failed miserably. We tried at least 4 different bridges and each one had the exact same issue... after several minutes, the printer would "fall off" of the bridge table and be disconnected. This is because printers are oddball devices that don't *generate* enough outbound traffic to keep the bridge realizing they are there, so it kills their connection. They pretty much only *receive* data, and that's the problem. In the end the airport units were they best way (by far) we found to make Zebra printers wireless.

<p>All of these printers talk ZPL, so will work fine as far as Rock is concerned. Obviously if the printer is fixed in place, Ethernet is your best and most reliable option. As far as wifi goes... while I haven't actually used a Zebra wifi model, I would steer clear of these. The fact that they are still 802.11*b/g* tells us just how ancient they are, with Zebra doing nothing to bring them into modern wifi. In fact, 802.11b/g devices are so "slow" (airtime-hogging wise, not necessarily data-transfer wise) that many enterprise admins (like me) have configured their wifi to disable the old 802.11b/g protocols and lower data rates, to keep their modern wifi happy. While these printers will probably work on modern wifi, they likely won't perform great and won't be good wifi citizens.</p>

<p>That said, I'm probably the guy who wrote about the Airport Express units and how well they've worked for us. Yes, they are a little more work to set up, but not much, and then you can buy cheaper USB-only printers which pretty much makes up for the cost of the Airport. In our experience over the last 5 years they have been extrememly reliable.</p>

<p>Oh, one more thing... we also tried to take Ethernet printers and use ethernet-wifi bridges to make such printers wireless, but it failed miserably. We tried at least 4 different bridges and each one had the exact same issue... after several minutes, the printer would "fall off" of the bridge table and be disconnected. This is because printers are oddball devices that don't *generate* enough outbound traffic to keep the bridge realizing they are there, so it kills their connection. They pretty much only *receive* data, and that's the problem. In the end the airport units were they best way (by far) we found to make Zebra printers wireless.</p>

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Ben Blood · Answer 2 · 2015-07-31T10:25-07:00

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Ben Blood replied 9 Years Ago

Jim, it sounds like you have a lot of experience with this, so I am trusting your recommendation for the Airport Express. I appriciate you input, as well as the background and details you provided. Thank you so much! ... off to order an Aiport Express...

Jim Michael

9 years ago

Yeah, it took us months of testing to get a combo that works on our current solution... so the big caveat is that I haven't even played with check-in on Rock, yet... but all of this discussion is networking-level stuff and it shouldn't matter what app is using those networked devices.

Another caveat is that all of our gear uses the prior generation Airports (the first ones that were dual band and look like a Macbook power supply). We have zero experience with the current generation but I'd be surprised if they are not just as viable as the older units.

Jon Edmiston · Answer 3 · 2015-08-02T07:50-07:00

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Jon Edmiston replied 9 Years Ago

Either the Ethernet or wi-fi should work. Of those we have only tested the Ethernet. I can't imagine there would be an issue with the wi-fi thought. You can use USB also with the windows checkin client.

Ben Blood · Answer 4 · 2015-08-21T17:14-07:00

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Ben Blood replied 9 Years Ago

We were able to successfully check-in and print from iPad (Rock app) > Apple Airport Expres > (via USB) Zebra printer. Thanks!

Edited to add that we have a AirPort Express for each printer station, connected to a main AirPort Express acting as a base station.

Jim Michael

9 years ago

Awesome! Does it perform well, with no significant delay between labels? (That's one of the side effects we saw early on with other usb-wifi print servers). Was hoping that Rock labels don't have this issue because they are not being sent as separate SSRS jobs, but as built-in printer labels.

Ben Blood · Answer 5 · 2015-09-02T11:06-07:00

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Ben Blood replied 9 Years Ago

Jim, there was almost no delay between pressing 'Print' and the labels printing. Maybe 0.25-0.5 second?

Sam Lee · Answer 6 · 2017-07-24T08:17-07:00

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Sam Lee replied 7 Years Ago

Hi there,

We are looking to get into using rock check ins and wondered if the wifi version would be reliable vs the airport express option? Is there even any difference or will it be the same? If so, the non wifi version is a lot cheaper. But my other thought is if I'm going to use the airport express option can't I just go even cheaper by buying the GK420d instead of the GX?

Nathan Parikh

7 years ago

Hey Sam, we've been using the WiFi version of the printers for almost 2 years now and have had no issues. I'd recommend it!
Jim Michael

7 years ago

I would not recommend the Wifi version of the GX, as I mentioned above, it is ancient 802.11b/g 2.4Ghz-only technology (WHY they haven't updated these to better wifi options is a mystery), and any decent wifi system should have those old protocols disabled these days. One option that wasn't available 2yr ago when this thread started is the Zebra ZD500 model... it has dual-band 802.11n wifi and works great on modern networks. However, it's pricey! Finally, to answer your question... yes, if you're going with a usb-only printer the GK will work fine vs the more expensive GX. You're giving up 1 inch per second print speed, though. Regarding using an Airport Express... they still work fine, but again (since the 2 years that have gone by since this thread started) , Apple has gotten out of the router business, so I'm not sure Airport is a long term solution... though if you found some new ones today they should last you at least 4-5yr.

Sam Lee · Answer 7 · 2017-07-24T09:41-07:00

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Sam Lee replied 7 Years Ago

Thanks for the quick response!

A few more questions.

1) how fast does one GX420d print? Would it be enough to have 2 clients printing to this one printer? We are not a big church so about 70 kids on a Sunday.

2) I noticed that the airport express has a usb printing option and a LAN port. Can I hook up two printers to one airport one via usb and the other via LAN and both printers would be on the network?

I will most likely go for the GX420d LAN option and hardwire in with an airport express when I want it to be mobile.

Edit Answer

<p>Thanks for the quick response! &nbsp;</p><p>A few more questions. &nbsp;</p><p>1) how fast does one GX420d print? &nbsp;Would it be enough to have 2 clients printing to this one printer? &nbsp;We are not a big church so about 70 kids on a Sunday. &nbsp;</p><p>2) I noticed that the airport express has a usb printing option and a LAN port. &nbsp;Can I hook up two printers to one airport one via usb and the other via LAN and both printers would be on the network? &nbsp;</p><p>I will most likely go for the GX420d LAN option and hardwire in with an airport express when I want it to be mobile. &nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

<p>Thanks for the quick response! &nbsp;</p><p>A few more questions. &nbsp;</p><p>1) how fast does one GX420d print? &nbsp;Would it be enough to have 2 clients printing to this one printer? &nbsp;We are not a big church so about 70 kids on a Sunday. &nbsp;</p><p>2) I noticed that the airport express has a usb printing option and a LAN port. &nbsp;Can I hook up two printers to one airport one via usb and the other via LAN and both printers would be on the network? &nbsp;</p><p>I will most likely go for the GX420d LAN option and hardwire in with an airport express when I want it to be mobile. &nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

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Jim Michael

7 years ago
1. I believe the GK420d prints at 5ips vs. the GX 6ips. It should be plenty fast for your needs. That said, I think only the GX has the cutter option... which you probably want, unless you like jammed printers ;-) 2. No, you can't use the airport to make two printers wireless. Technically, you probably could, with a usb hub, but Rock doesn't let you specify the print port and assumed 9100, so only one printer can have that port per IP address.

Paul Tedder · Answer 8 · 2017-07-25T06:54-07:00

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Paul Tedder replied 7 Years Ago

Let me contribute from my experience. We have used the ethernet based GX420d model for many years now. They served us well in Arena and are serving us well now in Rock. There are multiple flavors of the GX420d so be sure to get the ethernet model WITH cutter. From personal experience, I would never buy a printer without a cutter for Check in. Did i say Never?! Yes! I did!

After building labels for Arena, I am so thrilled with how this is being handled in Rock. While I started with the Zebra's Label builder tool, I have moved on now to doing a lot of the design directly in ZPL - including the handling of when to cut, when not to cut a label. ... Had to throw that in.

Regarding wireless, I would recommend that you consider moving up to the Zebra ZD500 model - it does wireless N and while we have not gone live with a ZD500 in production, it comes highly recommended to us from a sister church who says that is all that they are buying moving forward.

The reason why we don't have it in production? It's because I was not careful to watch the DPI on the ZD 500 models we purchased. If you're using the GX420d (a 203 dpi printer) you need to make sure you get the ZD500 model that is also 203 dpi. Otherwise you will be designing duplicate labels, ones to use on your 203 dpi printers and others to use on your 300 dpi printers.... a truly massive headache and logistical nightmare. If you haven't invested in printers yet, I would start with the 300 dpi models, but we have no concerns with staying with 203 dpi for the foreseeable future.

Oh, one more thing. While we have not tried the two kiosks printing to one label printer yet, I don't think that would be a problem for the printer to handle. Unless you're generating 5-6 labels per person, it should be able to handle the work load from two kiosks. In my opinion, It is at least worth a try before dropping close to a grand on another printer.

Edit Answer

Let me contribute from my experience. &nbsp;We have used the ethernet based GX420d model for many years now. &nbsp;They served us well in Arena and are serving us well now in Rock. There are multiple flavors of the GX420d so be sure to get the ethernet model WITH cutter. &nbsp;From personal experience, &nbsp;I would never buy a printer without a cutter for Check in. &nbsp;Did i say Never?! &nbsp;Yes! &nbsp;I did! After building labels for Arena, I am so thrilled with how this is being handled in Rock. &nbsp;While I started with the Zebra's Label builder tool, I have moved on now to doing a lot of the design directly in ZPL - including the handling of when to cut, when not to cut a label. &nbsp;... Had to throw that in. Regarding wireless, I would recommend that you consider moving up to the Zebra ZD500 model - it does wireless N and while we have not gone live with a ZD500 in production, it comes highly recommended to us from a sister church who says that is all that they are buying moving forward.The reason why we don't have it in production? &nbsp;It's because I was not careful to watch the DPI on the ZD 500 models we purchased. &nbsp;If you're using the GX420d (a 203 dpi printer) you need to make sure you get the ZD500 model that is also 203 dpi. &nbsp;Otherwise you will be designing duplicate labels, ones to use on your 203 dpi printers and others to use on your 300 dpi printers.... a truly massive headache and logistical nightmare. &nbsp;If you haven't invested in printers yet, I would start with the 300 dpi models, but we have no concerns with staying with 203 dpi for the foreseeable future.Oh, one more thing. &nbsp;While we have not tried the two kiosks printing to one label printer yet, I don't think that would be a problem for the printer to handle. &nbsp;Unless you're generating 5-6 labels per person, it should be able to handle the work load from two kiosks. &nbsp;In my opinion, It is at least worth a try before dropping close to a grand on another printer.

<p>Let me contribute from my experience. &nbsp;We have used the ethernet based GX420d model for many years now. &nbsp;They served us well in Arena and are serving us well now in Rock. There are multiple flavors of the GX420d so be sure to get the ethernet model WITH cutter. &nbsp;From personal experience, &nbsp;I would never buy a printer without a cutter for Check in. &nbsp;Did i say Never?! &nbsp;Yes! &nbsp;I did!</p><p><br></p><p>After building labels for Arena, I am so thrilled with how this is being handled in Rock. &nbsp;While I started with the Zebra's Label builder tool, I have moved on now to doing a lot of the design directly in ZPL - including the handling of when to cut, when not to cut a label. &nbsp;... Had to throw that in.</p><p><br></p><p>Regarding wireless, I would recommend that you consider moving up to the Zebra ZD500 model - it does wireless N and while we have not gone live with a ZD500 in production, it comes highly recommended to us from a sister church who says that is all that they are buying moving forward.</p><p>The reason why we don't have it in production? &nbsp;It's because I was not careful to watch the DPI on the ZD 500 models we purchased. &nbsp;If you're using the GX420d (a 203 dpi printer) you need to make sure you get the ZD500 model that is also 203 dpi. &nbsp;Otherwise you will be designing duplicate labels, ones to use on your 203 dpi printers and others to use on your 300 dpi printers.... a truly massive headache and logistical nightmare. &nbsp;If you haven't invested in printers yet, I would start with the 300 dpi models, but we have no concerns with staying with 203 dpi for the foreseeable future.</p><p>Oh, one more thing. &nbsp;While we have not tried the two kiosks printing to one label printer yet, I don't think that would be a problem for the printer to handle. &nbsp;Unless you're generating 5-6 labels per person, it should be able to handle the work load from two kiosks. &nbsp;In my opinion, It is at least worth a try before dropping close to a grand on another printer.</p>

<p>Let me contribute from my experience. &nbsp;We have used the ethernet based GX420d model for many years now. &nbsp;They served us well in Arena and are serving us well now in Rock. There are multiple flavors of the GX420d so be sure to get the ethernet model WITH cutter. &nbsp;From personal experience, &nbsp;I would never buy a printer without a cutter for Check in. &nbsp;Did i say Never?! &nbsp;Yes! &nbsp;I did!</p><p><br></p><p>After building labels for Arena, I am so thrilled with how this is being handled in Rock. &nbsp;While I started with the Zebra's Label builder tool, I have moved on now to doing a lot of the design directly in ZPL - including the handling of when to cut, when not to cut a label. &nbsp;... Had to throw that in.</p><p><br></p><p>Regarding wireless, I would recommend that you consider moving up to the Zebra ZD500 model - it does wireless N and while we have not gone live with a ZD500 in production, it comes highly recommended to us from a sister church who says that is all that they are buying moving forward.</p><p>The reason why we don't have it in production? &nbsp;It's because I was not careful to watch the DPI on the ZD 500 models we purchased. &nbsp;If you're using the GX420d (a 203 dpi printer) you need to make sure you get the ZD500 model that is also 203 dpi. &nbsp;Otherwise you will be designing duplicate labels, ones to use on your 203 dpi printers and others to use on your 300 dpi printers.... a truly massive headache and logistical nightmare. &nbsp;If you haven't invested in printers yet, I would start with the 300 dpi models, but we have no concerns with staying with 203 dpi for the foreseeable future.</p><p>Oh, one more thing. &nbsp;While we have not tried the two kiosks printing to one label printer yet, I don't think that would be a problem for the printer to handle. &nbsp;Unless you're generating 5-6 labels per person, it should be able to handle the work load from two kiosks. &nbsp;In my opinion, It is at least worth a try before dropping close to a grand on another printer.</p>

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Multiple Zebra GX420d printers. Which one?

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