Question

Photo of Arran France

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Check-In Printer Zebra GK420d

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I'm looking at the cost of printers and the GK420d seems to be a fair bit cheaper than the GX420d and awfully similar. Considering the savings we'd make (a used GX is the cost of a new GK) the GK is awfully tempting but I don't want to run into any compatibilty problems considering the cost of purchase.

Has anyone tested using a GK? Is there any reason a GK shouldn't work?

Check-in
  • Photo of Jim Michael

    1

    The GK420d should work just fine. The only major differences between the "X" and "K" are print speed (the GX prints 1ips faster) and memory (you can add memory to the GX), which shouldn't be necessary unless you're doing something really crazy with graphics and special fonts. 

    That said, I haven't personally tested the GK420d with Rock yet, but we're using a mix of GK/GX with our current check-in system without issue and I can't imagine there being any issue with using the same in Rock... both printers handle the same dimensions of media and use the exact same printing language. 

    • Rock RMS

      Rock RMS

      When purchasing printers be sure to consider network printing capabilities. Some Zebra configurations don't have the network adapter included. This would limit you to USB printing which is possible only through the ROCK windows check-in client. This works, but be sure you understand the check-in client options. If you want check-in from iPad or from the Rock server you'll need the network adapter.

      • Arran France

        Arran France

        Thanks for the reminder. We're hopefully going to use Windows 8 tablets and then we should be hook them up via USB and share them over the network using homegroups. That said if I can find some reasonably priced models that have ethernet ports I'll recommend them for purchase just for the additional flexibility.

        • Jim Michael

          Jim Michael

          Very good point. I would only add that in some cases (like us, with mobile kiosks) we specifically choose USB-only models (cheaper) and make them networked via Airport Express units... the USB printers effectively become mobile wifi printers (which, are incredibly solid assuming you have good Enterprise WiFi.) Bottom line is that you have to know your environment and goals, and buy the appropriate model to meet those goals.

          • Kelley Langkamp

            Kelley Langkamp

            I have one of the GK420d that I bought for testing since our current system uses Dymo printers. I bought the one with ethernet. I had one issue with the icon labels but the developers worked through that with me. It's not in production yet but I'm happy enough to buy more of them when the time comes.

            • Jim Michael

              Jim Michael

              Frank: Oops... you're correct, I missed that! I think the GK only has the label "peel" option, not the cutter.