Wow... I have a completely different experience I would like to share. I got my GT-381 around Aug. 2012 and have nothing but problems with the machine since. After the install and training the performance of the machine began to slowly go down hill by the first month. I had a lot of orders and was running the printer everyday but the quality of the prints began to suffer (printing on colored shirts were impossible). The tshirt designs would fade or crack within a week or two after the sale. By October I couldn't get anymore customers because the white ink print heads were just junk.
Printing on white tshirts wasn't so much better because after the first wash the whole image would fade as if the tshirt was already a year old.
In November 2012 had to pay (airfare and lodging) for the Brother distributor to send a tech to replace all 4 white print heads. Which Brother did not charge me for the print heads which was great since they cost $1,300 a piece. But things were definitely much better after that, December was a great month. The new print heads were great and my business started to pick up. Printing on white tshirts were still the same though, faded after the first wash...
But then again in January-February of 2013 I started experiencing clogged nozzles and inferior print quality again. I always performed the weekly cleaning and maintenance routines meticulously and could not understand what was going on. I was constantly on the phone with my Brother distributor trying to figure out what I was doing wrong... we ruled out humidity issues, dust or particle problems, pump issues, using different tshirt brands ( i used port and company) I lost so much money in 2013!
By September 2013 the yellow printhead wasn't shooting out any yellow anymore. Nonetheless, I trucked on and continued to print and do jobs so I could save up to buy an new printhead. By mid-October the Magenta printhead wasn't working as well. I ended up printing lousy 3-tone designs because I only had white colors, blue and black. It was so frustrating and stressful...
In November, the Brother Distributor took pity on me and flew over ( which I paid for again but was a shorter/cheaper flight) and he was able to replace the yellow and magenta printheads free of charge even though the one year warranty had expired. Thank you Brother-USA!! Apparently, what the Brother tech failed to inform me was that I should have replaced the dampers or filters that are located just above the printhead. He said there should have been notice on the LCD monitor for me to replace them. I swear there was no such notice... and he should have at least told me that could be an issue. I had no idea since this is the first DTG printer that I ever purchased and operated. oh well... live and learn right? wrong.
Even after replacing all the dampers the black printhead failed in February 2014. I was able to replace it by blowing $1,300 for a brand spanking new one! The Brother tech says that "sorry it really is an awesome printer but all your problems are really attributed to operator error" yeah? ok... right...
I've had this printer/business for 1yr. 8 months (my first shot at DTG printing, mind you) and I have spent as much money on maintenance supplies and ink costs that I could have bought another Brother GT-381 printer ( a little over 25k ) I have exactly done 8621 prints according to my printers records. And I am confident that I could have done double that amount if not for the lousy quality and the machine not working at certain times ( making me look like a terrific ***-clown in front of my customers) . I have lost so much money that it would be soo funny, if in fact, it were not happening to me
<deep inhalation> sorry for the rant... it's been a most stressful experience. There have recently been other internal problems that I experienced with the printer last March but I don't want to bore anyone.
oh and by the way, all four of the white print heads are beginning to fail again...
I am thinking of doing a new business, maybe just selling coconuts near the beach or something...