# New Brother GTX?



## MauiCustomTshirt

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?


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## queenx4

I have been looking at this printer too and would be interested in a review.


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## BASE193

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.


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## ezlogos

Just received our new gtx install date is 10/9 have had and used a 541 and 381 for years. I will keep you guys posted but I'm super pumped about the new gtx


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## BASE193

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.


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## MauiCustomTshirt

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.


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## queenx4

Mine is being delivered Tuesday. I'm a total newbie so will appreciate all pointers.


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## ezlogos

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


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## rogerholien

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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## rogerholien

How is the ink usage on your prints? More or about same as older machine?


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## Promowizard

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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## DONVITO

ciao ragazzi amici di lavoro ,.. avete qualche novita' sul lavoro della macchina nuova gtx ? manutenzione , costi di stmpa , inchiostro, come procede ? la mia nuova stampante gtx è in arrivo


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## queenx4

DONVITO said:


> ciao ragazzi amici di lavoro ,.. avete qualche novita' sul lavoro della macchina nuova gtx ? manutenzione , costi di stmpa , inchiostro, come procede ? la mia nuova stampante gtx è in arrivo


Ciao. Meno manutenzione e stampa molto veloce.


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## DrivingZiggy

I'm hungry! Anybody got some pizza?


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## DONVITO

quando avrete piu' tempo sarebbe bello una risposta piu grande , sarei felice davvero , un saluto dalla sicilia , buon lavoro amici


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## ezlogos

1182 print in the first few weeks only complaint it its too fast, puts alot of white ink down i use white pause or sometimes the image bleeds. over all very happy this printer is awsome.


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## sb45

ezlogos said:


> 1182 print in the first few weeks only complaint it its too fast, puts alot of white ink down i use white pause or sometimes the image bleeds. over all very happy this printer is awsome.


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.


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## ezlogos

a had always used firebird pretreat with the 381. they are sending me a sample gallon for the gtx going to give it a try, any one else try it yet?


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## tusa

Is it a new pretreat specifically for GTX? Or their current Brother optimized one?


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## ABM

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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## Crack Cat

I received my GTX about a week ago now and the first thing I made sure to do was keep a detailed ink log. Obviously loading the machine eats a lot of ink but by the time both my white 700 cc ink cartridges were empty i had only used 524 cc's of white ink for both cartridges combined which seems pretty bad to since the cartridges have 1,400 cc's of ink combined. I understand there is going to be waste but my Brother rep told me it should be under 5%. Either my machine has issues or the GTX loads about 800 cc's of white ink into the lines when setting it up. Is anyone else seeing the same thing? Or can anyone explain what's going on with my machine?


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## ezlogos

don't know about the initial set up but every 24 shirt it dumps ink and maintenance solution like a pig.
keep us posted with you findings ive got a 200 pcs job this friday on black tees and will update you with the usage vs waste.


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## tusa

I don’t know how much ink is used to load the machine for the first time but it does use a lot because you’re filling all the lines which recirculates. Did you account for all the print tests that are done for the install? 

The first ink bag came with the machine free anyways so don’t feel so bad. You should try to measure how much ink is used with your next ink bag.


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## Crack Cat

I'm due to receive my ink order today so within a week I should be able to give you a better idea of my ink usage. What bugs me is that I asked my Brother rep several times what I should expect for white ink waste and I was told it was virtually nothing because the machine circulates the ink regularly. I had planned for the GTX to waste about 29% of every 1400 cc's of white ink but I have a feeling it will be closer to 45% which isn't great but I can work with that.

I will say in every other aspect the GTX is amazing from quality of print, maintenance requirements to the greatly reduced print times. I hope someone from Brother reads this and provides us with the basic information.


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## tusa

If the rep told you virtually nothing on ink waste, that’s complete bs. 

There’s waste and you still have to do maintenance with the GTX. But it’s a lot better than the previous GT-3. 

I’m too lazy to keep track of ink usage and waste, so I will wait to see what you find. Haha

One thing to consider is temp and humidity. I’ve been told that if it’s not within optimal range, the machine will do auto cleans more frequently.


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## Crack Cat

I contacted Brother and I'm told they'll have a response for me shortly. I'll let everyone know what I was told.


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## tusa

My guess is they will probably ask if you have latest firmware and then ask about temp/humidity. 

Good luck! Let us know if you find something else!


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## ezlogos

ok kinda big results ran 100 darks today ink usage was 5.55 cc per shirt. I started with brand new ink cartridges.
Converting by weight in grams we used 764.5 cc's of white ink, by calculations thats a waste factor of 34%
im in South Florida perfect temp and humidity for this machine.

yes it prints awesome but it drinks ink folks.


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## Crack Cat

ezlogos said:


> ok kinda big results ran 100 darks today ink usage was 5.55 cc per shirt. I started with brand new ink cartridges.
> Converting by weight in grams we used 764.5 cc's of white ink, by calculations thats a waste factor of 34%
> im in South Florida perfect temp and humidity for this machine.
> 
> yes it prints awesome but it drinks ink folks.


Were you using 700 cc ink cartridges? If so your wasting 45% of your white ink. Your results were damn close to mine.


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## Crack Cat

I used two bags of 700 cc white ink between Jan 21 to Feb 12 to completion. Sadly of the 1,400 cc's I used 766.9 cc's and wasted 633.1 cc's of white ink. Temperature and humidity are import but I was able to maintain my humidity at an average of 39 percent and temperature of 19 degrees. My white ink waste was just over 45% and I have a feeling this is pretty common. I personally think if your humidity and temperature are ideal and you print enough to complete 1,400 cc's in two weeks or less you can get that down to 35% white ink waste. If you are one of those companies that prints only a few shirts a day I have a feeling your ink waste is closer to 70% or more. This machine like the 381 has to be used regularly or it's not worth having. If you are printing less then me you really have to ask yourself if having this machine is worth it.

I guess there have been a couple of software updates and I'm hoping one of them stops the cleaning after every 20 prints as this pointlessly eats a lot of ink.


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## jtpipkin

Just going through these older posts and wondering what everyone's thoughts are some 6 months later...? I had bought into the DTG craze years ago and it was the happiest day of my life the day I sold it. I felt that, as amazing as the technology was at the time, it wasn't ready for a full time production shop trying to maximize margins. Of the friends in the business that had tried them as well, our complaints were all the same - ink usage and waste. I was excited to see this new machine come out, but reserved until I'd heard from actual users and not salespeople. Any input as to your thoughts and feeling about your purchase if you've been running it. Thanks - jp


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## feo

any print samples?


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## 13 Stitches

Hi,
Reading reviews and saw your post getting the GTX. I too have only had the GT541, and now we are having a clog that will cost probably $1,000 in parts, plus a tech-my husband is mechanical but changing the tubes appears to be a tech job . I am considering maybe I should upgrade but am 62 so do not want to take funds out of retirement when only have a few years left. I do not print a lot of dtg, contract silk screen but it is great to do orders of 100 on the 541-as you probably know. I saw alot of negative reviews about the Brothers newer models, and wondered what your experience was. I just recently talked to a guy who didn't want to replace his parts on GT541, so bought the GT361, but not using white ink, and he loves it. Out the door pricing was $12,500. 
I just wondered how you like it-believe it was 2017 post, so you probably have had lots of experience now. 
Thank you for your time!


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