FastBack P31 Powis Printer Spine Printer

Powis Parker makes a number of innovative products including the Fastback P31 PowisPrinter. This is a device that can print customized spines for all the documents you produce with a Fastback binding machine. Here's a look at its strengths and weaknesses so you can decide if this product is right for you.

Strengths:

• The PowisPrinter makes it easy to create customized spines for all of your bound documents. All you really need to do to operate this device is turn it on, type out the text you want on your spine, and then print it out.

• This device can produce results very quickly. You can type your text right into the machine with the included keyboard. It only takes about 20 seconds to print out a spine, so it's a great machine to use when you need to make spines for a lot of books.

• When used on its own, the PowisPrinter can produce a number of terrific fonts. Some of the ones it can print include Palatino, Zapf Chancery, and Bodoni. It can also print the ever-popular Times font. However, if you hook this printer up to your computer, you can print any font you want.

• The type can range in size from 8 to 84 points so your text can be as large or as small as you want. Your text can be printed in a number of different metallic colors and can be vertical, horizontal, and stacked.

• You can use this machine to print spines for documents of a number of different sizes. Some of those sizes are 8.5", 14", and A5.

• This printer isn't very big so you'll be able to find room for it on your work surface. Its dimensions are 14" (width) x 12" (height) x 9.25 (depth), so it's actually a bit smaller than a typical ink-jet printer.

Weaknesses:

• The PowisPrinter's largest weakness is that it's not really compatible with Macs. There's no support for OS X, so you really need a PC to use this device. (You can use a USB cord to hook this printer up to your computer. Various versions of Windows are compatible with this device including XP.)

• This little machine can only print spines. If you want to make your own customized covers, you need to use the Fastback FoilFast printer.

• The PowisPrinter doesn't have a particularly good warranty. It only lasts for 6 months which is baffling because this is a pretty expensive device.

The Fastback P31 PowisPrinter is a good machine, especially for users of other FastBack products. This device makes it easy to create customized spines for your documents. It can print a number of great fonts, it works with different sizes of spines, and it's not too big so it won't take over your desk. However, it's really disappointing that this device can't be used with Macs. (Perhaps there will be a driver for Mac use in the future.) The warranty could be better too. Nonetheless, if you want to print your own spines for your documents, the PowisPrinter is definitely worth some consideration.