Thermal Receipt Printers
Thermal Receipt Printers are used in Retail, Medical, Transport and Hospitality industries at the Point of Sale ( POS ) to speed up the printing of tax receipts.
The main categories of Thermal Receipt Printers are Kiosk Receipt Printers, Desktop Receipt Printers and Mobile Receipt Printers.
Desktop Receipt Printers have an RJ port that allows cash drawers to connect and kick open upon sale, and are available in 2 inch, 3 inch and 4 inch models, with 3 inch being the model most popular and widely used in Australia.
Mobile printers can be worn on the hip, and are mostly used for tabel service or for ticketing at events, and are also great for use at markets and trade shows. Most Mobile Printers connect via Bluetooth to the Windows or iPad or Android device, and use smaller thermal rolls.
Popular 3 inch models: The Star Micronics TSP100 / TSP143 Printer range are compatible with many iPad, Mac and PC Point of Sale (POS) and Point of Purchase (POP) applications in Australia and New Zealand. The TSP143III-U can be connected to an iPad via the Lightning Cable, and be used with Vend POS, as an example, taking away the need to connect via Bluetooth or Network, and is ideal for pop up stores or markets where there is no network connectivity.
Popular 4 inch model: The STAR Micronics TSP800ii Series Thermal 4 inch wide receipt printers are available in various models with USB, Serial, Parallel and Ethernet / LAN interfaces. The TSP800II is also know as the TSP847II, and can print from 3 inch paper up to 4 inch thermal receipts.
The Star Micronics mC-Print2 is a 2-inch printer (58mm width) and the mC-Print3 is 3-inch printer (80mm width). Stylish with a compact design, and equipped with multiple interfaces . The SDK development kit allows you to control a scanner and a customer display through the printer from the host. The mC-Print3 has a paper saving function to minimise the top margin of receipts and a splash-proof / insect-proof design for kitchen use. The Star Micronics mC-Print3 models available are the MCP31LB (with Bluetooth) or MCP31L (without Bluetooth).
The Epson T82II POS Printer was replaced in 2019 by the TM-T82III and TM-T82IIIL, and is available in a variety of interfaces and is also backwards compatible with the Epson TM-T82II. For a detailed explanaion of the differences bwteen the TM-T82III and TM-T82IIIL, please rerfer to this article