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*I am writing about my experience at the most recent ISS Nashville 2014 show to give my opinion and to give back to the forums. T-shirtforums has been a huge help for me. It has helped me learn about DTG and the user experience of the machines. Some of the best information I received came from other forum members going to the shows that I could not attend and telling their experience. So I am posting my experience hoping to educate others just as I have from others on this forum.
I did not go to the show looking at DTG machines. I went looking at pretreatment machines, but a embroider shop (and friend of mine) went and he was interested in some of the newer DTG machines. So I took a file that I have printed before. It was a great file to test. As it has tons of elements to look at when test printing. Example: out of gamut colors like green and purple, small lines, gradients that fade into shirts, and red (a color I personally have issues with). Before we went I ran the file using my DTG printer (an Anajet Sprint) and took it to compare prints.
Now to the machines, I did not test all the printers just the newer machines that my friend was interested in and what time would allow. The ones that I have pictures are BelQuette Mod-1, Brother gt381, the new Epson F2000, and my Sprint sample. I will have to say that the print from BelQuette cannot be compared since the white ink was not agitated before we printed the shirt thus not giving the best results. I looked at print time, color management, registration, and knowledge base of the sales staff. So lets get into it.
Print Time
I did not actually clock the machines with a watch but I was keeping up with how long it felt they took. And to be honest, none of them felt that they were faster than the others or my sprint for that matter. All the machines took about 3 minutes to print the shirt. I was surprised that the brother did not perform faster than the others since it was printing the white and color in one pass. So I got to call it a tie for print time.
Color Management
This is an interesting one. We are going to have to break this one down by printer. Again, it is hard to compare the Mod-1 since we did not get a good white underlay. However, the color values were close to my sprint just not as bright because of the underbase issue. The Mod-1 uses BelQuette own rip software and I found that it had the best shading values within the white. It also did not produce the grey fade below the Reaper which was strange.
The Brother colors were also close to my sprint as far a value goes but all of the colors had a dullness. The Brother was the only printer not using Rip software and it shows. Not only were the colors dull but it put a hard white edge on the fade of the Reaper.
The Epson colors values were the furthest away from the other printers. Personally, I like the purples and red that the Epson produced. They were more vibrant that all the other printers. The green was not as bright as my sprint though. I found this strange since the Purples produced a better gamut but the green not as much. This could be attributed to the Rip software Equipmentzone was using the run the Epson.
The winner in the color category has to be the Epson. The loser was the Brother. Even the Mod-1 with a bad underbase had better color than the brother. My sprint came really close to beating them all but the vibrant reds and purples of the Epson helped edge it ahead.
Registration
Registration was an issue with all of the printers at the show. This does not surprise me since all the demo units have to travel and set up so close to show times. The Mod-1 was giving a double stroke near the bottom of the print. The Brother's underbase was lower than the color. The Epson's underbase was slightly off from the color pass as well. Winner was my Sprint. Loser was the Brother. Not only was the brother's registration the furthest off it put white down on parts of the print that no other printer laid down.
Knowledge base of the sales staff
This will be the most opinionated part of my experience. I spent the most time talking with Jerid at BelQuette. I am a little biased because I would of bought a Mod-1 years ago if I had enough money to buy new equipment. I would of even bought a used one if I could of found one. He was very knowledgeable about DTG, the Mod-1 and the Epson which they sell too.
At the Brother booth I got mixed feelings. The sales guy was arrogant and brash. He did provide some useful information on the brother, but also made that crazy statement that "Epson was going to stop selling the printheads that other DTG users use". This show how much he knows about Epson or how many printers use the DX5 printheads, including Epson products.
I was at the Equipmentzone booth when testing the Epson. They guys knew what they were doing since the Epson had the best print of the show they just could not convey the message. When I asked how good the longevity of the inks last from the Epson the sales guy turned and showed me the back of his shirt and told me that it was printed two years ago. I asked how he had a two year old shirt when the Epson has not existed two years ago. He did not have a answer. Winner of this category would be BelQuette. Even though I did not test on their Epson Jerid gave me the most information on it and knew the most about Direct to Garment printing in general.
My Final Evaluations
The Epson. Pros: It had the best print of the show. The price is right in the middle of most DTG machines. This is the only printer I would recommend to people brand new DTG and are not that tech savvy. Easy maintenance. Cons: Expensive proprietary ink that is not market tested. Epson's 1st DTG machine which leaves the question "what part will break 6 months down the road".
The Brother. Pros: Has a great company track record for durable machines. Made for high production. Coming out with a pretreat paper which could speed up production time. Cons: Needs a rip to fix color and registration issues. Higher price point than most DTG machines.
The Mod-1. Pros: Lower price point than the other printers. Good knowledgeable support staff. Cheaper inks than Epson and Brother. Cons: Smaller print area than the other printers.
I know that this is a long post and if I missed anything please let me know. If I did not go deep enough about something feel free to ask any questions and I will best answer them from my experience.
I did not go to the show looking at DTG machines. I went looking at pretreatment machines, but a embroider shop (and friend of mine) went and he was interested in some of the newer DTG machines. So I took a file that I have printed before. It was a great file to test. As it has tons of elements to look at when test printing. Example: out of gamut colors like green and purple, small lines, gradients that fade into shirts, and red (a color I personally have issues with). Before we went I ran the file using my DTG printer (an Anajet Sprint) and took it to compare prints.
Now to the machines, I did not test all the printers just the newer machines that my friend was interested in and what time would allow. The ones that I have pictures are BelQuette Mod-1, Brother gt381, the new Epson F2000, and my Sprint sample. I will have to say that the print from BelQuette cannot be compared since the white ink was not agitated before we printed the shirt thus not giving the best results. I looked at print time, color management, registration, and knowledge base of the sales staff. So lets get into it.
Print Time
I did not actually clock the machines with a watch but I was keeping up with how long it felt they took. And to be honest, none of them felt that they were faster than the others or my sprint for that matter. All the machines took about 3 minutes to print the shirt. I was surprised that the brother did not perform faster than the others since it was printing the white and color in one pass. So I got to call it a tie for print time.
Color Management
This is an interesting one. We are going to have to break this one down by printer. Again, it is hard to compare the Mod-1 since we did not get a good white underlay. However, the color values were close to my sprint just not as bright because of the underbase issue. The Mod-1 uses BelQuette own rip software and I found that it had the best shading values within the white. It also did not produce the grey fade below the Reaper which was strange.
The Brother colors were also close to my sprint as far a value goes but all of the colors had a dullness. The Brother was the only printer not using Rip software and it shows. Not only were the colors dull but it put a hard white edge on the fade of the Reaper.
The Epson colors values were the furthest away from the other printers. Personally, I like the purples and red that the Epson produced. They were more vibrant that all the other printers. The green was not as bright as my sprint though. I found this strange since the Purples produced a better gamut but the green not as much. This could be attributed to the Rip software Equipmentzone was using the run the Epson.
The winner in the color category has to be the Epson. The loser was the Brother. Even the Mod-1 with a bad underbase had better color than the brother. My sprint came really close to beating them all but the vibrant reds and purples of the Epson helped edge it ahead.
Registration
Registration was an issue with all of the printers at the show. This does not surprise me since all the demo units have to travel and set up so close to show times. The Mod-1 was giving a double stroke near the bottom of the print. The Brother's underbase was lower than the color. The Epson's underbase was slightly off from the color pass as well. Winner was my Sprint. Loser was the Brother. Not only was the brother's registration the furthest off it put white down on parts of the print that no other printer laid down.
Knowledge base of the sales staff
This will be the most opinionated part of my experience. I spent the most time talking with Jerid at BelQuette. I am a little biased because I would of bought a Mod-1 years ago if I had enough money to buy new equipment. I would of even bought a used one if I could of found one. He was very knowledgeable about DTG, the Mod-1 and the Epson which they sell too.
At the Brother booth I got mixed feelings. The sales guy was arrogant and brash. He did provide some useful information on the brother, but also made that crazy statement that "Epson was going to stop selling the printheads that other DTG users use". This show how much he knows about Epson or how many printers use the DX5 printheads, including Epson products.
I was at the Equipmentzone booth when testing the Epson. They guys knew what they were doing since the Epson had the best print of the show they just could not convey the message. When I asked how good the longevity of the inks last from the Epson the sales guy turned and showed me the back of his shirt and told me that it was printed two years ago. I asked how he had a two year old shirt when the Epson has not existed two years ago. He did not have a answer. Winner of this category would be BelQuette. Even though I did not test on their Epson Jerid gave me the most information on it and knew the most about Direct to Garment printing in general.
My Final Evaluations
The Epson. Pros: It had the best print of the show. The price is right in the middle of most DTG machines. This is the only printer I would recommend to people brand new DTG and are not that tech savvy. Easy maintenance. Cons: Expensive proprietary ink that is not market tested. Epson's 1st DTG machine which leaves the question "what part will break 6 months down the road".
The Brother. Pros: Has a great company track record for durable machines. Made for high production. Coming out with a pretreat paper which could speed up production time. Cons: Needs a rip to fix color and registration issues. Higher price point than most DTG machines.
The Mod-1. Pros: Lower price point than the other printers. Good knowledgeable support staff. Cheaper inks than Epson and Brother. Cons: Smaller print area than the other printers.
I know that this is a long post and if I missed anything please let me know. If I did not go deep enough about something feel free to ask any questions and I will best answer them from my experience.
