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I am really excited about this new machine that Brother put out. Just as I am excited about every new printer that comes out. I know they have been purchased, but has anyone received their's yet? How do you like it?
New Brother GTX?
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I went and saw the GTX demonstrated at one of the demos that they have been having across the U.S.
My first impression of this machine is that it truly is the next generation of DTG machine at its price point.
The most important thing that I can confirm about the machine is the speed. But not only speed of print, but speed of ink curing.
It is apparent that you can easily print over 30 full sized prints on Black t-shirts in an hour. (more than that, but safe to say that you could easily do this). On a sample full color print, that was roughly 12" x 12". The print time on a black shirt was about 1:20. It lays down white and then the color.
What is also very impressive is that, at the demonstration that I was at, was that the cure time was 35 seconds. Single press. No hover etc. Image looked GREAT!
Cost of ink on that print was about $2.
So here is the thing with the Brother. They use their own print heads. They do have years of experience with them. They have their own formulation of ink so that they have matched the ink to the print heads for best performance.
They "suggest" the use of their pre-treat. $170 per gallon, but it is concentrate so they suggest cutting it 50% with Water. That makes it $85 per gallon. I am sure that people will be testing the other pre-treat brands out there with it soon.
So, the biggest upside is the speed! Far faster than most out there in its class. Although the New Belquette machine is supposed to be just about as fast, but I haven't actually seen it run yet.
The inks are more expensive than the standard inks out there that run on most other machines. Inks (both white and CMYK) all cost the same. .38¢ per cc. Lower that the "now older" brother machines out there. Yes, I was told that it is special ink just for the GT-X.
I asked quite a lot about maintenance. The sales guy was very informative and knew a lot about past machines, so was knowledgable about all of the maintenance concerns and he went over the processes with me there. Bottom line is this.
Probably about 5-10 minutes a day. (probably less when you get familiar with it).
Monthly maintenance Cost: It seems like if you print 5-20 shirts a week, you will end up spending probably $6-$8 per week in cleaning costs. This would be a great breakthrough. Actually, the more shirts you print, the less that you will be spending on cleaning costs as the heads want to keep printing. So this is another HUGE benefit if it plays out to be true.
The guy who was showing me the demo said that they have actually been running the machine at many of the large commercial on-line printers since Early 2017 getting feedback and seeing how it will do in a production environment. They say that they are very excited and confident about how the machine is doing under production environments.
And brother does have quite a long history in with their printers, so they do know the issues.
Overall, I think that you must at least figure out why you DON'T want this machine, before you buy some other machine.
Let's say that you are questioning between the Epson and the Brother. The Brother does cost $22,500. Epson roughly $14,000-$15,000. But on just machine costs, the brother is still the better value do to its speed.
Other machines out there run less expensive inks, so it may come down to ink cost comparisons. So you will have to test same print on different machines to get a better feeling of that.
My first impression of this machine is that it truly is the next generation of DTG machine at its price point.
The most important thing that I can confirm about the machine is the speed. But not only speed of print, but speed of ink curing.
It is apparent that you can easily print over 30 full sized prints on Black t-shirts in an hour. (more than that, but safe to say that you could easily do this). On a sample full color print, that was roughly 12" x 12". The print time on a black shirt was about 1:20. It lays down white and then the color.
What is also very impressive is that, at the demonstration that I was at, was that the cure time was 35 seconds. Single press. No hover etc. Image looked GREAT!
Cost of ink on that print was about $2.
So here is the thing with the Brother. They use their own print heads. They do have years of experience with them. They have their own formulation of ink so that they have matched the ink to the print heads for best performance.
They "suggest" the use of their pre-treat. $170 per gallon, but it is concentrate so they suggest cutting it 50% with Water. That makes it $85 per gallon. I am sure that people will be testing the other pre-treat brands out there with it soon.
So, the biggest upside is the speed! Far faster than most out there in its class. Although the New Belquette machine is supposed to be just about as fast, but I haven't actually seen it run yet.
The inks are more expensive than the standard inks out there that run on most other machines. Inks (both white and CMYK) all cost the same. .38¢ per cc. Lower that the "now older" brother machines out there. Yes, I was told that it is special ink just for the GT-X.
I asked quite a lot about maintenance. The sales guy was very informative and knew a lot about past machines, so was knowledgable about all of the maintenance concerns and he went over the processes with me there. Bottom line is this.
Probably about 5-10 minutes a day. (probably less when you get familiar with it).
Monthly maintenance Cost: It seems like if you print 5-20 shirts a week, you will end up spending probably $6-$8 per week in cleaning costs. This would be a great breakthrough. Actually, the more shirts you print, the less that you will be spending on cleaning costs as the heads want to keep printing. So this is another HUGE benefit if it plays out to be true.
The guy who was showing me the demo said that they have actually been running the machine at many of the large commercial on-line printers since Early 2017 getting feedback and seeing how it will do in a production environment. They say that they are very excited and confident about how the machine is doing under production environments.
And brother does have quite a long history in with their printers, so they do know the issues.
Overall, I think that you must at least figure out why you DON'T want this machine, before you buy some other machine.
Let's say that you are questioning between the Epson and the Brother. The Brother does cost $22,500. Epson roughly $14,000-$15,000. But on just machine costs, the brother is still the better value do to its speed.
Other machines out there run less expensive inks, so it may come down to ink cost comparisons. So you will have to test same print on different machines to get a better feeling of that.
EZLogos, Congratulations on your new purchase. Yes, can't wait to hear of your experiences.
Also, do you use, or have you looked into the use of the CadLink rip software with this new machine. They claim even FASTER printing, higher quality and less ink usage than the standard Brother print driver. Although I have been in touch with them, I still haven't received and same-same comparison rip and print of the same image on the same shirt, with the stats of the print time, ink usage and quality (obviously subjective) comparisons. Would be great to hear of that.
Also, do you use, or have you looked into the use of the CadLink rip software with this new machine. They claim even FASTER printing, higher quality and less ink usage than the standard Brother print driver. Although I have been in touch with them, I still haven't received and same-same comparison rip and print of the same image on the same shirt, with the stats of the print time, ink usage and quality (obviously subjective) comparisons. Would be great to hear of that.
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136 Posts
Our GTX's are being delivered Oct. 16th. I will definitely be looking into CadLink. But honestly, its hard to imagine these machines printing any faster.
Viper XPT-1000 is in and gtx all working great. the printer far exceeded my expectations they are really getting it right. after working with the 541 then the 381 this gtx is in a class of its own. Keep in mind its only day 3 but so far im blown away 1.5 min darks vs 5-7 mins just awsome and the print quality in the standard setting is almost to high. meaning when i wanted a really bold print using the 381 we always had to max out the ink setting to achive a great print but now WOW.
will update you guys as time passes any info good bad or indifferent
will update you guys as time passes any info good bad or indifferent
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169 Posts
Great article, thanks for sharing. Looking at getting one in the Spring. It would be my first DTG printer. Now is there a reason there is no RIP Software with the Brother?
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169 Posts
How is the ink usage on your prints? More or about same as older machine?
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We just got ours.. training was last week. Now we need to start playing with it more. We are going to show it off to our customers on Friday. This is a big upgrade for us as we have only had the 541.
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Ciao. Meno manutenzione e stampa molto veloce.
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I'm hungry! Anybody got some pizza? 
Sounds like an awesome machine. Have you been able to nail down cost per print, say, for a 12" x 16" graphic with about 70% coverage? I'm especially interested in white ink usage and cost. Thanks.
Now that all you GTX users are 1-2 months into using the machine does it still meet all of Brothers claims and your expectations? Are the prints still faster, cheaper, and superior to other machines? Is the maintenance on the GTX as minimal and cost-effective as Brother sales reps have claimed?
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