Zebra ZE521

The ZE521 is the 6-inch engine in Zebra's ZE511/ZE521 pair, sharing the same all-metal, fan-less construction, the 4.3-inch colour touch screen and the Applicator Interface built into its standard USB 2.0, RS-232 Serial, 10/100 Ethernet, dual USB Host and Bluetooth 4.1 ports. It exists for labels wider than the ZE511's 4-inch maximum, at the cost of top speed: the ZE521 tops out at 14 ips (356 mm/s) at 203 dpi and 12 ips (305 mm/s) at 300 dpi, since the high-speed printhead and 600 dpi resolution option are ZE511-exclusive.

Media runs 76-180 mm wide, ribbon the same 76-180 mm on a 25.4 mm core, 600 m to a roll. Standard resolution is 203 dpi with 300 dpi as a factory option. The same socketed, quick-release printhead design lets the platen, pinch and peel rollers come out from the front in minutes without pulling the engine from the applicator it's mounted in, and the hinged cage swings open wide for the rest of the maintenance work.

A field-installable RFID kit is available for the 6-inch width too, but it's the premium version: the ZE521R uses Zebra's RE40 RFID module with adaptive encoding, rather than the standard kit. Print DNA software — Link-OS, Printer Profile Manager Enterprise and PrintSecure — plus ZPL/ZPL II and optional ZBI 2.0, all carry over from the ZE511.