Star Micronics

Star specialises in point of sale printing. The TSP series covers countertop thermal receipt printers, the SM series covers portable and mobile printers for delivery and field use, and there are impact models for kitchen tickets where heat and grease would destroy a thermal receipt. Star is particularly well represented in tablet and cloud POS deployments, where specific models are certified by the software vendor.

This is where most Star ordering mistakes happen, because the same printer model is sold in several interface builds — USB, Ethernet, Bluetooth and Lightning among them — as separate part numbers. The interface is fixed at manufacture on most models. Check your POS platform's approved list for the exact interface, not just the model, since a cloud POS may certify the Ethernet build and not the Bluetooth one.

Star has long targeted tablet POS, and several models are built specifically for it. For Bluetooth pairing with Apple devices the printer must be MFi certified, and models without that certification will not connect regardless of specification. Ethernet-connected Star printers avoid the pairing question entirely and are often the more reliable choice for a fixed counter. Confirm the model appears on your POS app's supported hardware list before ordering.

Most countertop Star models include a drawer kick-out port, and the POS software sends the open command with the receipt. The cable must be wired for Star specifically, since the RJ11 and RJ12 connectors look identical between brands but the pin assignments differ. An Epson-wired cable will not reliably trigger a Star printer's drawer. Order the drawer cable matched to the printer brand rather than reusing whatever is on the counter.

Thermal models take standard thermal rolls, typically 80mm on countertop printers and 58mm on compact and mobile units. Impact models take plain bond paper and can handle multi-part carbon sets for kitchen copies, plus a ribbon cartridge as an ongoing consumable. Roll diameter is limited by the paper bay, so check the maximum your model accepts before standardising a supply across sites.

Star printers ship with a manufacturer warranty that varies by model line, with the printhead treated as a consumable rated in kilometres of paper rather than covered indefinitely. Print volume determines real-world life far more than age does. Ask us for the current warranty term on the specific model, and consider keeping a spare printer on site if a failure would stop a lane, since return-to-base repair takes a counter out of service.