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In this guide
The DYMO LetraTag 100H is a handheld thermal label maker for the house: an alphabetical keyboard, a small preview screen, and labels up to a half-inch wide. On 2026-09-25, Staples sold the silver version (model 2174561) at a $24.99 promotional price against a $36.99 comp value, with delivery available; DYMO's own site lists the product but sells nothing directly.
The machine is the first cost, not the last. Genuine half-inch LT tape ran from $9.99 for two paper rolls sold together to $15.39 for a single plastic cassette at the retailers checked, and the four AA batteries come separately. Two step-ups sit above it: DYMO's Bluetooth LetraTag 200B and Brother's QWERTY PT-D220.
Our verdict
Buy the silver 100H at Staples' $24.99 promotional price for occasional home labels; skip it for heavy typing or laminated tapes — Brother's QWERTY PT-D220 at $44.99 covers both.
- A good fit for
- Households labeling bins, folders and shelves in occasional batches, who want to keep the machine under $25 and print short half-inch labels.
- We would skip it if
- Anyone typing long labels often (the keyboard runs ABC, not QWERTY), needing laminated or wider-than-half-inch tape, or wanting to compose labels from a phone.
Reasons to consider it
- $24.99 at Staples against a $36.99 comp value — $10 under DYMO's LetraTag 200B and $20 under Brother's PT-D220 at the prices checked
- Direct thermal printing needs no ink or toner; running costs are tape and four AA batteries
- One-year limited warranty from DYMO, and a white paper label cassette comes with it
The compromises
- The alphabetical keyboard slows entry of long labels; Brother's $44.99 PT-D220 uses full QWERTY
- Genuine plastic LT tape costs $9.49 to $15.39 per 13-foot cassette at regular prices; paper tape is about $5 a roll in a two-pack
- Prints at most half-inch-wide labels on paper, plastic or textile tapes — no laminated finish in the LT line
What we have not verified: No published figures cover print quality, battery life or long-term durability. Staples displayed no end date for the $24.99 promotional price at check time, and the yield of the bundled paper cassette is not stated.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
LetraTag 100H
Staples' $24.99 promotional price (2026-09-25) on the silver 2174561 undercuts DYMO's 200B by $10 and Brother's PT-D220 by $20; direct thermal printing means no ink, and the bundled paper cassette starts you off.
Before you buy: The ABC keyboard slows long labels; genuine 13-foot refills run about $5 a roll for paper and $9.49 to $15.39 for plastic; no laminated tape exists; four AA batteries are not included.
Price checked September 25, 2026. Retailer prices can change.The price picture: $24.99 is a silver-only promo
Staples lists the silver 100H (item 705722, model 2174561) at $24.99, marked down 32% from a $36.99 comp value, with a limit of ten units at the promotional price and delivery offered; no end date appeared on the page when checked on 2026-09-25. Quill sells the same silver model in stock at $35.09. DYMO's own product page offers only a Where to Buy button.
Color moves the price more than any feature does. The blue 100H (model 2174534) listed at $53.49 at Staples and $62.19 at Quill on the same day — the identical machine in a different shell. Silver is the value color, and the photo and every price in this article belong to it.
Half-inch labels, no ink
The 100H prints by direct thermal, so there is no ink or toner to buy. It takes half-inch (12mm) LetraTag cassettes in paper, clear, opaque plastic and textile finishes, and DYMO's guide lists five font sizes, six font styles, and underline and box borders, with date stamping, two-line printing and an on-screen preview of the effects.
The half-inch ceiling defines the job. A 12mm tape carries one or two lines of small text: drawer bins, file tabs, shelf edges, jars. Laminated tape is not part of the LT line; the TZe tapes Brother's PT-D220 takes are laminated.
The ABC keyboard is the real tax
The keys run in alphabetical order, as the product photography shows. For a label like PENS or WINTER COATS the layout barely matters. For a pantry overhaul with dozens of multi-word labels, every letter has to be found in alphabetical rows rather than where a typist expects it.
Brother's PT-D220 fixes exactly this. At $44.99 in stock at brother-usa.com, it has a full QWERTY keyboard with 14 fonts, 11 styles, 99 frames and over 600 symbols, on laminated TZe tapes up to the same half inch. The $20 difference buys the QWERTY layout and the laminated tape.
Tape and batteries are the real budget
DYMO's genuine 91331 white plastic cassette (½ inch by 13 feet) cost $15.39 at Quill and $9.49 regular ($6.99 on promotion) at Staples when checked. Staples also sold DYMO's 10697 paper tape, two 13-foot rolls to a box, at $9.99 regular ($6.99 on promotion), about $5 a roll. Against the $24.99 promotional machine, one plastic refill at those regular prices is 38 to 62 percent of the hardware, and a paper roll about a fifth.
Four AA alkaline batteries are not included; the manual specifies 6V DC power and an automatic shutoff after two minutes of inactivity, which keeps a drawer-stored unit from draining itself. A Duracell AA four-pack listed at $5.25 on the same Staples page, which also offered the 100H with batteries as a $30.24 package, so day-one cost is near $30 rather than $25.
The manual's instruction to 'use only DYMO-branded LT label cassettes' sits in its General Safety Precautions section. Amazon lists third-party 91331-compatible cassettes, many in multi-packs, so read that line as warranty and safety language, not a hardware lock.
The siblings and the step-ups
DYMO's own upgrade is the LetraTag 200B, listed at Staples at $34.99 (regular $44.89) in black: the same label family with Bluetooth, so text is composed on a phone instead of the ABC pad. Phone-heavy labeling favors it.
Brother's PT-D220 at $44.99 keeps the half-inch width but adds QWERTY and laminated tapes. Both cost more than the silver 100H at its promotional price: $10 more for the 200B, $20 more for the PT-D220.
When to skip it
Skip the 100H when labels must survive a garage, a garden or a greasy shelf: its tape finishes are paper, plastic and textile, none laminated, where Brother's TZe tapes are. Skip it when labels need to exceed the half-inch ceiling, and when the job involves long text every week, where the ABC layout turns a project into a chore.
Also skip any deal on the blue shell expecting the same price: at check time the blue 2174534 ran $53.49 at Staples and $62.19 at Quill, more than double the silver promo.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- DYMO: LetraTag 100H product page, silver (Item #2174561) (opens in a new tab)
- DYMO: LetraTag 100H user guide (en-US, ©2025) (opens in a new tab)
- Staples: DYMO LetraTag LT-100H silver listing (item 705722, model 2174561) (opens in a new tab)
- Quill: DYMO LetraTag LT-100H silver listing (mpn 901-2174561) (opens in a new tab)
- Quill: DYMO LetraTag 91331 label tape, 1/2" x 13 ft, black on white (opens in a new tab)
- Staples: DYMO LetraTag 10697 paper label tape, 1/2" x 13', black on white, 2-pack (item 492757) (opens in a new tab)
- Brother: PT-D220 home and office label maker product page (opens in a new tab)
- Amazon: search results for DYMO LetraTag 91331 compatible tape (opens in a new tab)
