Would love to hear from people who have used the HM1. Loved the sales pitch from Bob at Mesa Distributors but would love to hear feedback from the real users. How are the prints, how is the performance and how is their service as far as phone help on repairing them? Also, are they really as fast compared to the old version. That is the coolest thing for me. Also, it had a mock pricing thing on their price list showed this print for light garments would cost .30 cents for it and $3.50 for darks. Why so much different when only doing one underbase? Didn't make sense to me.
Thanks in advance.
print for light garments would cost .30 cents for it and $3.50 for darks. Why so much different when only doing one underbase? Didn't make sense to me.
When you print the color layer you are generally prinitng at half the resolution of the white layer and you fire all four jets for each "drop" of underbase, so the multiplier is normally 8-12 times for a dark print. The RIP Pro software calculates the exact nuimber of drops fired times the size of the droplet (in picoliters) and multiplies that times the cost per liter of the ink. I feel that it is pretty accurate. Many of our competitors only estimate ink useage by weight, that does not take into account any ink that doesn't make it to the garment (mist) as well as loss from evaporation. If you figure a 10x multiplier for your dark garments you are generally pretty close.
i have been extermely happy with my hm1. This machine is very capable, but it takes time and patience to get to hm1 to get quality prints, mostly when using a white layer. The problem i had was technical support seemed very ill-equipped to help me with many issues, and this left me with hours and hours of constant tinkering and tweaking until i finally got everything functioning to where i was ready to make prints and make sure i didn't waste money putting out a bad product. Altogether it took about 1- 1.5 months for me to get my whole operation together (mainly getting pre-treatment spray and cure times down) and getting rid of any binding issues. After this was out of the way, the HM1 has amazed both myself and clients eveytime i make prints that seem unimanigeable through screen printing.
i have been extermely happy with my hm1. This machine is very capable, but it takes time and patience to get to hm1 to get quality prints, mostly when using a white layer. The problem i had was technical support seemed very ill-equipped to help me with many issues, and this left me with hours and hours of constant tinkering and tweaking until i finally got everything functioning to where i was ready to make prints and make sure i didn't waste money putting out a bad product. Altogether it took about 1- 1.5 months for me to get my whole operation together (mainly getting pre-treatment spray and cure times down) and getting rid of any binding issues. After this was out of the way, the HM1 has amazed both myself and clients eveytime i make prints that seem unimanigeable through screen printing.
What is/was your background in DTG. That will help us know what kind of learning curve the rest of us can expect. Are you a new user of any DTG machine or......?
I have had my HM1 for almost 2 years and still love it When I bought my machine I had not ever used a Direct to garment printer before, but was very prepared for what I was getting into. I learned as much as possible before my purchase going to trade shows, researching forum, talking to others that owned them. That is the most important thing, be fully prepared and understand what it requires to print with them. This is a really great forum to learn about them as there is a ton of information here, several years worth
If I had to do it again today I can honestly say, that I would still make the same purchase as I did then. Of course now the hm1 is also upgraded with the ink circulation system, which I have heard is also an awesome addition, and maybe one day I will upgrade my machine. But I have not really had any problems and don't feel the need to fix something that isn't broke Out of all the printers out there, to me the HM1 has been the most stable.
Hey Don, Do you know how many HM1's have been made and sold at this point? I am thinking by now the numbers are pretty high. I also love rip software that came with my machine and I hear the new version has some super cool features as well. That is another thing I will probably upgrade to.
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Hey Don, Do you know how many HM1's have been made and sold at this point?
Our serial numbers are in the high 900 range right now, so I'm guessing we are getting close to 1000. Should we throw a party? Kiosks/K-2 are over double that amount.
[quote=sunnydayz;477758]I have had my HM1 for almost 2 years and still love it When I bought my machine I had not ever used a Direct to garment printer before, but was very prepared for what I was getting into. I learned as much as possible before my purchase going to trade shows, researching forum, talking to others that owned them. That is the most important thing, be fully prepared and understand what it requires to print with them. This is a really great forum to learn about them as there is a ton of information here, several years worth
If I had to do it again today I can honestly say, that I would still make the same purchase as I did then.
Do you still feel the HM1 is the best for the money?? Its been a couple of years since this post.
Last edited by JIMMYJ; July 11th, 2011 at 05:02 PM.
Reason: message was deleted
I have had my HM1 for almost 2 years and still love it When I bought my machine I had not ever used a Direct to garment printer before, but was very prepared for what I was getting into. I learned as much as possible before my purchase going to trade shows, researching forum, talking to others that owned them. That is the most important thing, be fully prepared and understand what it requires to print with them. This is a really great forum to learn about them as there is a ton of information here, several years worth
If I had to do it again today I can honestly say, that I would still make the same purchase as I did then. Of course now the hm1 is also upgraded with the ink circulation system, which I have heard is also an awesome addition, and maybe one day I will upgrade my machine. But I have not really had any problems and don't feel the need to fix something that isn't broke Out of all the printers out there, to me the HM1 has been the most stable.
Hey Don, Do you know how many HM1's have been made and sold at this point? I am thinking by now the numbers are pretty high. I also love rip software that came with my machine and I hear the new version has some super cool features as well. That is another thing I will probably upgrade to.
Sorry for screwing that last reply up. I'm just learning. Do you still feel the HM1 is the best for the money?? Its been a couple of years since this post.
Jimmyj
HM1 reviews 
When I bought my machine I had not ever used a Direct to garment printer before, but was very prepared for what I was getting into. I learned as much as possible before my purchase going to trade shows, researching forum, talking to others that owned them. That is the most important thing, be fully prepared and understand what it requires to print with them. This is a really great forum to learn about them as there is a ton of information here, several years worth 
Re: HM1 reviews 
