Printers
From TraCS Florida
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Considering Printers for Use with TraCS
When considering the purchase of printers for use with TraCS in the field, it is important to consider the pros and cons of the various types of printers available. TraCS is compatible with any Windows printers; however, reviews of a few types we have knowledge of are presented below. To see what TraCS National has to say about printers, visit TraCS National Hardware.
Zebra Printers
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The Road Warrior (RW) printers are more rugged than regular printers. They are designed to better withstand dust and water, and are ideal for motorcycle officers. Prices are around $1000 each. For more information on this product, visit the Zebra Printing Solutions Web site. Click Here to download the driver for this printer to work with TraCS Florida. After the driver has been downloaded and appears on your desktop, please see our Training Video for installation instructions and to learn how to change your Zebra printer settings to work with TraCS Florida. There is a menu at the bottom. You may press "pause" or "rewind" at any point during the video, and you may also choose to turn the audio off.
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Thermal Printers
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Thermal printers, such as the Pentax PocketJet, are very small. They use special thermal paper, but do not require ink cartridges. Center console and even headrest printer mounts can be found for the Pentax PocketJet. These printers price at around $300. For more information on this product, visit the Pentax Pocketjet Web site. These printers can also be obtained through L-Tron.
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InkJets
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InkJet printers are becoming very common. They print fairly quickly and are quite compact. The drawbacks to these printers is the rate that ink cartridges must be replaced and that the ink is water soluble. These are in the $200 to $300 price range. For more information on inkjet printers, please visit the HP Web site.
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LaserJets
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Laser Jets, such as the HP P1005 and P1006, have become practical for use in squad cars and are very economical to maintain because they use so little toner. The toner is water resistant. The only drawbacks would be that they are slightly larger in size and they do require a slightly larger inverter due to wattage requirements at print time. They are comparatively inexpensive at under $200. For more information on this product, please visit the HP Web site.
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Impact Printers
 | Impact Printers, such as the Epson TM-U590, print using ribbon which is very economical. However, these printers are relatively expensive at around $500, and the most commonly used models are not large enough to print crash reports and are a bit bulky. These printers can print directly on citations and can also print drivers exchange of crash reports. For more information on this product, please visit the Epson Web site. |
Impact Printer Installation:
Click here to install the printer driver. Installation Instructions are below:
1. Run the APD210aE.exe and unzip to a location of your choice. Be sure to take note of the location.
2. After unzipping, browse to the folder and run the ADT210aE.exe
3. When you arrive at the "Select Module" dialog, scroll down and check the "EPSON TM-U590 Slip".
NOTE for USB: If you are using a parrallel to USB adapter, you should also check the "USB Driver" item, which is the second item at the very top of the list.
4. Complete the isntallation, and reboot your computer if you are prompted to.
5. After rebooting, go to Printers and Faxes, right click on the Epson printer, click Properties, and then the Ports tab. There should be a series of printer ports with a "Virtual..." description and a USB001 name. Check the box for the first one, and click Apply.
6. Make sure the printer is switched on, and attempt to print a document. The "Slip" light on the printer will blink if you do not have paper inserted. If it does not blink and does not print, you should double clickt he printer under Printer and Faxes, right click the print job, and click delete. Then repeat steps 5 and 6 for a different Virtual Port until you successfully print.
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