Zebra ZD420 VS GX420 Thermal Label Printers

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All of these printers are fine thermal label printers. Either one of them would have come in handy when I was shipping items on eBay. I am happy with my Zebra ZD420 however I have seen several of these printers in production environments over the years. They are for the most part the same printer with some important differences.

The Zebra ZD420 / ZD421 are both direct thermal printers and thermal printers. You can opt for ribbon operation or just direct thermal printing which doesn't require a ribbon or cartridges. The direct thermal ONLY printers are substantially smaller. My ZD420 has a large slot for the ribbon cartridge.

The ZD420 requires a USB connection to operate. Using it over a network requires an external print server where as the GX420d has a built in print server. It has an RJ-45 ETHERNET LAN port. The GD420d has a serial port and a USB port.

The GX420d and the GK420d look identical except for the ports on the back. These line of printers have more of a 90s look compared to there ZD counterparts. The GX420d has a USB port and a LAN port while the GK420d has a USB port and a serial port.

Both printers offer the same quality in printing, atleast in my experience with 4" by 6" standard labels. I have seen the electronic guts hanging out of these printers and they are still in operation out there. These printers can handle small labels all the way up to 4" by 6" labels.

The ZD420 printers have more buttons which offer calibration and darkness settings.