In a message dated 8/24/2005 9:42:36 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jshields@indy.net writes: I'm experimenting with the Brother 2600 label printer, which can use laminated tapes (types "TZ") in various widths, mainly 1" or 1/2", with white or clear backgrounds. It is pretty good for making a half dozen to a couple dozen labels of the exact same thing. Beyond a dozen or two, there is no easy way to make labels. I'm using lots of these outdoors now; I'll let you know in about 5 years how well they are holding up. I used the Brother labeler for about a year, but it galls me to type one character at a time on a keyboard too small to use touch-typing. I will admit that those Brother labels are still intact after 7 years in the garden. Use the clear ones rather than the white ones so they're less obtrusive. Also, if you position them not facing the sun they'll last longer. I've used plastic stakes from the big suppliers--they get brittle after a couple years and break. Perhaps the references to vinyl are to something else. I still like the vinyl venetian blind slats, but yes, they do heave up. But I find the metal ones do too. I will stick with my zinc-plate on wire legs type of labels that I purchase from Eon Industries. I can take my database of cultivar names, do a mail merge, and print 30 to a page of Avery clear address labels that I burnish onto the zinc plates and be done before you've finished 10 Brother labels! And they last just as long. Bill Lee