I personally chose to go with brother. Neoflex however has a much better reputation and this forum is loaded with neoflex owners and there from what I have heard they have great customer service. If your budget allows tho I would consider the new brother gt3 series. Anajet from what I have read have had a lot of problems and people end up sending their machines in for " upgrades"

 

You should go for Brother GT-3 series. It's an awesome machine. Easy to use and easy to do mantainance.

 

Thanks for replying Looman but the Brother is the printer i like the least of the 3, mainly because the prints on black has more hand than Anajet and Neoflex also i think by not having a Rip leaves them behind IMHO. Not to mention the cost of their ink...

 

Hi Cedric,

I have not tried to operate Anajet or Neoflex myself, so I can't speak about the operation. But from what I get from the various threads, Anajet seems to be a machine with a lot of problem and poor support from the company. Neoflex seems to be very good, and the support/community is one of the best.

When we were looking for a DTG printer, we ruled out Anajet when we got the samples. So my experience is very opposite as yours. The only three that were in our interest were Brother, Neoflex and Kornit. We chose Brother because we needed a machine that is reliable and easy to operate, including maintenance.

Regarding the feeling of the print, I also like Brother better than Anajet. We print on pima cotton and the feel is just brilliant. See some of the pictures of a print we did on pima cotton (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/t220811.html).

But at the end, I think you are the one who knows best what you need for your business. We have chosen Brother GT-381 because it suits our business setup. Hope that my experience helps you a bit to make the right decision - good luck with your choice.

 

There is a Anajet in our area that we have subbed work to before we got or Neoflex. Imho as first a customer buying DTG shirts and reselling them and now a DTG printer the the quality off the Neoflex compared to what we used to have to settle for with the Anajet is night and day, I would go Neoflex all over again without hesitation.

 

Thanks Javi but i have samples from the Graffitee series and the prints don't match the quality of Anajet or Neoflex IMHO. I think having a rip gives you more control and power for the quality of your output. Also Brother's ink is twice that of Anajet or Neoflex and it just don't have that pop like the Dupont inks to me.

Thanks again for your reply

 

I too am also trying to decide on which to get. I will be going to the Indy show to look at all the machines offered. The Neo looks very good with great reviews, but slow in printing compared to the MP5 and Mod1. Now if there are few maintenance issues then the slower speed makes up for it. I know running 2 Tjet2's right now about delays (ink light reset errors) and major maintenance to keep the white ink flowing. It appears that the MP5 and Mod1 both run there black tees (white ink and then color) at about 3 min per and the Neo is about 6 min per. It really comes down to how many white underbase redo's and banding redo's, etc that will delay the completion. 10 shirts or 20 shirts per hour per machine.

 

Thanks Bill i also was considering a Mod1 but when i attended ISS Longbeach this past Jan. they were having issues and could not provide me with a sample. On top of that i had spoke with one of their sale reps who was suppose to send me a sample by mail prior to attending the show and i never received it. So Belquette is out of the equation for me.

 

Hi Cedric,
I tried to PM you, but the forum storage limits would not allow me to send you a message. I am sorry that you didn't get the samples. When we talked at ISS, I couldn't recall what had happened, but, it is unlike us to not follow through with sending a sample. My apologies. Also, just for clarification, it ended up that we were having power issues that affected our prototype Edge Pretreatment machine, and not the Mod1. We had a terrible time trying to get that sorted out. I understand your reasoning and frustration. If I can still send you a sample, please let me know. I will make sure that it goes out right away. If not, thank you anyway for your interest in BelQuette.

 

We have had a brother gt541 for 7 years. Love it. Graffitee couldnt compare to the neoflex in any way at iss long beach. Our neo will arrive in a couple of weeks.

Sent from my Desire HD using T-Shirt Forums

 

It's no secret that I am a big fan of Anajet printers. With the new mPower i series out it is in my opinion, the best on the market. The RIP that was already good just keeps getting better and better. I love the fact that Anajet never charges for software upgrades. I really like it that the printers are built in the United States and that when I call Anajet, I am talking to Anajet the Manufaturer, not a rep or a distributor.
I have made a lot of money with their printers and plan to make a lot more!

 

Thanks Mumzie i feel the same way. But i find it interesting that you have a older model Brother that you love and had for 7 years but yet switching to Neoflex, interesting indeed...

 

Thanks digiguy, do you have any experience with other DTG Brands in particular Neoflex or Brother

 

I have not used the current generation of brother printers. I have not been impressed by the finished product. I don't like the way a dark shirt off of a brother printer feels after its been pressed. They feel sticky. The Neoflex printer gives a good quality print but is very slow compared to the mPower.

 

NEOFLEX NEOFLEX NEOFLEX!!!!! #1 Quality,customer support and fantastic support from members on the forum. You won't be sorry. I would probably part with my first born before i would part with my Neo. LOL!
Cathie
NeoChick

 

Thanks Chuck all this info will help me so much. I know Anajet had major problems recently but since the upgrades things seem to be changing for the better. I had a chance to experience the upgraded model a week ago at the NGN in New Orleans and was really impressed with the speed and especially their RIP.

 

Thanks Cathie glad to hear you are happy with your Neoflex. I'm sure i will get either the Neoflex or the mP5i just would like to hear from more users of these 2 machines. Also if i decide to go Anajet the clock is ticking on the special i received which is $7000.00 off right now...

 

Cedric,
Remember with the NeoFlex you can also add the Solvent printer at a later time to expand your business. The solvent and Textile printers switch out in litterly 2 minutes. That is a big plus!
Cathie
NeoChick

 

We need to first qualify your endorsement of the Brother printer...are you printing on black t shirts with white ink as an underbase and highlight white? I could care less about white t shirt printing as it is very easy for any of these to print. I sell 95% color tees all with white on them...many red or pink that need 2 passes of white.

 

Thanks Bill for your reply but my choices has nothing to do with weather or not the printer breaks or not or i would not even be considering the Anajet with all the problems they have had but the fact that i've never seen nothing printed with the Mod1 and Belquette sales reps not following up on my request for sample prints

 

i have both an AnaJet and a NeoFlex, and the Neo is better HANDS DOWN in print quality, detail, durability and flexibility. i actually liked my AnaJet and it ran fine for over 3 years, but when i needed help from AnaJet, i received a continuous run-around. they wanted over $1,500 (not including me shipping my printer to them) to fix my problem. i ended up fixing the problem myself...for...$25. the customer support at All American is tops, the community support (NeoFamily) is unlike any i've seen, and the NeoRIP is the best in the industry. i'd rather print top quality prints than print fast. it's the quality that keeps my business growing, not the speed in which i print. i have yet to see a print that is better than from an Epson head with DuPont ink. Brother is a great company and they've made great printers (durability), but i still prefer the prints from the Epson/DuPont combo.

also, you can't really compare the print speed one-to-one. we load all 3 platens on our NeoFlex and it keeps printing while I unload and reload the platens. also i have a print area of about 17" wide by 42" long, with which i've easily printed rolls of fabric for a customer that later cut and sewed custom scarves. add to that the capability to print with solvent inks, and it's a no brainer. i could buy 2 NeoFlex printers for the cost of one mP10. now speed isn't such an issue.

 

Thanks for responding Sean, i agree with you about print quality i have not seen nothing yet that looks or feels better than a Neo print....

 

The neoflex does print greatly, however when we looked at what we do, Maintenence, ease of operation, Ect. This is why we went with brother. You have to decide on the machine that best works for your business and yea the neo you can get the solvent printer as well but for your business do you plan to expand to solvent printing or would it be a hobby. "Don't invest in something if it is gonna sit there. "- something a good friend told me when we looked into our new dtg.
Anyways hope everything works out for you

 

It's no secret I am a DTG brand lover. With 2 Viper's under my belt I love these machines and they hardly ever give me any issues. I do see 3 companies that have done excellent jobs on their machines and hear good things from customers. The Neoflex, DTG Viper, Mod-1 by Belquette. I haven't had a Neoflex customer that's had a bad machine or felt cheated and nor have I haven't had a Viper customer that I couldn't help to troubleshoot a problem and couldn't fix. To this date I haven't had anyone come to me telling me about an issue with a Mod-1. Anajet does have great printers and are very easy to work on. I haven't heard about the MP5i though, I'm guessing its the better version of the MP5? Some people had issues with the 5 and had to upgrade to the 10. I do hear great things about the MP10 though and that its a workhorse. The only complaint I see from customers is the ink cost
I think that Javi is correct, you should go with your business plan because if you buy a machine that doesn't circulate the white ink and you aren't printing a whole lot you may find yourself spending more money on clogged parts and ink than you are profiting. Brother ink costs are high but production time decreases because they are so fast so you can get a lot of shirts done but maybe limited to what color shirt you can print on. I have the Vipers because I just use them to test out each batch of pretreat and ink so that if there is a problem I would know right away. If I didn't have the Viper I know that I would be spending a lot of money on new parts. I still do maintain my printers well though and clean out daily.

 

I would go to a show and see all of them, also i made my travels to see a few machines in person, and brought my own art work and t shirts and they let me print on them. That is the best way to decide what you want, also go through the maintenance process with them. i have played with the viper , Melco, and Resolute DTG R-jet 5. I like the R-Jet 5 because of the White ink system, dont have to worry about your white ink settling , every 30 to 45 mins it circulates the white ink so there is no settling in the lines. But like i said you need to be able to go to these companies and play with their machines with your art work and t shirts, then you will know how well they print and what you like. Just my two cents.

 

Circulates means runs a clean (wasted ink) or closed loop back to supply?

 

When you are making a purchase of this size due diligence is always a good idea. Visiting the factory, seeing the printers being made, and meeting the sales and tech support staff will help you decide how committed the company you are looking at is to the DTG market. Any reputable company will not only print your graphics, they will let you watch, or even better let you print your graphic so you can see what it takes to operate their rip software and the printer. Ask a lot of questions about speed of print, ink cost, and expected maintenance. Have them walk you through ( not just talk about it) any daily, weekly or monthly owner required maintenance. If they are not willing to do these things I would walk away.

 

I would have to agree with that and if they say it will print 50 shirts an hour, I would not trust that sales rep. They are all the same speed but some you can better production out of some than others