# Ricoh GXe 3300N Printe vs Epson 1400



## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

I just purchased a George Knight 16 v 20 with an automatic opening device. I now need to buy a printer. I wanted to know if some folks could give me their advice on which is the easiest and best printer to use... the Ricoh GXe 3300N Printer or Epson 1400 ? I have heard that the Ricoh is more expensive to buy ink for vs the Epson Inks that can be used with sublimation inks ? 
Thanks


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

I can only tell you my experience. First of all, I am an absolute newbie when it comes to sublimation. I researched, studied and vacillated back and forth between the Ricoh 3300 and the Epson systems. Realizing that I am new to this and trying to figure out the process I did not relish the idea of setting up CIS systems, using generic inks etc. I just wanted to get the simplest system I could find from a good distributor to do business with. I ended up with the Ricoh 3300 from Conde Systems. To date, I could not be happier with the output of printer using the Sawgrass inks that came with it. The sublimated product really blows me away. The service from Conde has been great also. 
I got the printer in, I unpacked it, hooked it up to the computer (Vista) and installed the driver and profile. David Gross at Conde had told me to call him when I got it hooked up and he would help me set up the driver and color management for Corel Draw. I did that and 15 minutes later I was printing. So far, after about 3 weeks, the output is great on both hard goods and Vapor garments. I cannot say if this is what I will stay with forever, if the business grows I will look at other things to conform to production requirements. At the moment though, I am a happy camper with it.


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## trophygametags (Apr 22, 2011)

How about the Epson WF1100? That printer should be comparable to the Ricoh 3300? I'm greener than grass myself, but have been reading this forum non-stop for a few weeks now... 

Mike


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## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

I looked at the 1100 at Staples and almost bought it as it is only 119.00 ... Does that printer need different ink or can you use it to print T Shirts right out of the box,?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> I just purchased a George Knight 16 v 20 with an automatic opening device. I now need to buy a printer. I wanted to know if some folks could give me their advice on which is the easiest and best printer to use... the Ricoh GXe 3300N Printer or Epson 1400 ? I have heard that the Ricoh is more expensive to buy ink for vs the Epson Inks that can be used with sublimation inks ?
> Thanks


3300N is small for Tshirts. Max size is legal.

The 1400 is 6 colors and you really only need 4. The 3300N is 4 colors. 

A better Epson than the 1400 for transfers of any kind is the WF1100. Both 1400 and WF1100 are 13 x 19. The WF1100 is cheaper.

The Ricoh GX7000 can do 13 x 19 if you get an accessory, otherwise 11 x 17 stock, the printer is about $1200 depending on where you get it. The WF1100 is usually on sale and as low as $129

Normally Ink "entry" prices are cheaper for the 3300N for prefilled carts, cheaper than buying 6 colors for the Epson. Assuming you buy Sawgrass Epson inks from the traditional retailers selling those.

Print costs are normally lower for the Ricoh models, most end users are reporting about $0.90 - $1.00 per page for the Ricoh, and Epsons can run about $1.30 a page for 4 color, 6 color will cost higher due to more heads to clean when you need that. Ink costs really depend on a lot of factors.

It is easy to find Artanium inks (Sawgrass) at about 1/2 off on Ebay. I have bought those and the inks are fresh and work as well as the ones most vendors sell at full price. So if I buy at full price my printing costs are higher than Ricoh, if I buy at half price my costs are lower than Ricoh.

Parties other than Sawgrass are now openly selling sub inks for Epson, there is some risk there regarding quality and/or support, but some here use those and are happy, these are really for more experienced users IMO. Others have had problems with cheaper inks.

The Sawgrass patent is expiring in about 3 years and inks prices for Epson will be a fraction of what they are now once that happens and good quality. Ricohs will likely be much slower for sub inks other than Sawgrass to hit the market due to lack of 3rd party support for Ricoh in the US, Epson has a huge installed base and cheaper printers for the aftermarket to provide inks and ink delivery systems.

Desktop Epson's can easily be used as a dual type heat transfer printer, either swap 2 different ink types cart sets back and forth or use a CIS and switch a single carts set with the ink other type you need at the time. 

You can do regular pigment ink jet transfer or sublimation. If you are doing a lot of both type printing then better to have 2 printers, or you may have space constraints and hard to justify 2 printers. 

You cannot do this switching back and forth with a Ricoh, the ink lines are long and would require an expensive ink purge. Epsons can be switched quickly and inexpensively on demand.

People that don't print often and leave their printer sit longer without using are probably better off with a Ricoh. But all ink jets require they be used a bit, most Ricoh users report they have fewer issues not printing much.

The larger Ricoh GX7000 has had some issues with the printer becoming dead and requiring repair, you can find some postings on that issue here, the smaller Ricoh's don't appear to have the problem, at least nothing posted here.

If you do events a Ricoh may be easier to transport than if you use a CIS with Epson, Ricoh's have larger carts than desktop Epsons do, so you would not be transporting a CIS with Ricoh, Ricohs are cart based. Epsons can be carts or CIS for bulk ink. But you can always have multiple sets of carts ready to go if you take an Epson on the road.

If your Epson goes down you can run to Staples or most electronic stores and get a replacement in an "emergency". Ricohs are not sold at local mass merchants. For the most part the only way to get a Ricoh is from a sublimation dealer, especially the larger one. Some "etailors" carry Ricohs online, but not many. Other than sublimation printers there is very little market for the Ricohs in the US. Epson has a huge market share.

Michael


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> I looked at the 1100 at Staples and almost bought it as it is only 119.00 ... Does that printer need different ink or can you use it to print T Shirts right out of the box,?


Sublimating you need to change inks. You can print regular tshirt transfers out of the box but Epsons OEM inks are more expensive than 3rd party.


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## trophygametags (Apr 22, 2011)

From what I've read, the 3300 is a great machine. The done side is if you do a lot of printing, the ink costs are terrible. Check out cobrainks dot com, they have much cheaper inks. If I were to buy a printer, I'd go with the ricoh.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

trophygametags said:


> From what I've read, the 3300 is a great machine. The done side is if you do a lot of printing, the ink costs are terrible. Check out cobrainks dot com, they have much cheaper inks. If I were to buy a printer, I'd go with the ricoh.


I would add that Cobra inks, sublimation and pigment heat transfer, are only for Epsons.

Ink costs for >42 inch Wide format Epsons are very cheap, even using Sawgrass inks. There are no wide format Ricohs for sublimation, only desktop models. But those are not entry level printers.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

trophygametags said:


> How about the Epson WF1100? That printer should be comparable to the Ricoh 3300? I'm greener than grass myself, but have been reading this forum non-stop for a few weeks now...
> 
> Mike


 
13 x 19 Epson WF1100 vs 8 1/2 x 14 Ricoh 3300. Not really comparable. 

The WF1100 is usually not as expensive as the 3300.


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## nappen (Dec 12, 2010)

I have used both Epson and Ricoh. I love me Ricohs-now have two. 
The one legitimate gripe is that it will only go 8.5 X14 which makes T-shirts a challenge for larger designs, but for small designs it is a great little printer.


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## bungy (Aug 24, 2006)

You need to know what you want to print.
I bought a Ricoh as I wont be using it everyday and didn't want to muck around with a CIS at this time.
Also, at this time, most of the stuff I want to print will be promo stuff, plaques, trophies, photo frames etc, not garments.

If I was looking at doing larger designs, larger than A4, then I would have looked at an A3 capapble printer and probably a CIS.
I may get one down the track, but for now the Ricoh is working out fine for me.

Cost perpage is around 95c - Ink + Paper


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Great post Mike. 
I would not consider the 3300 to be a T-shirt printing machine. However, for smaller designs on Vapor garments the results are beautiful. My primary use is for hard goods and that was what I had in mind when I purchased it. I think I am going to go with plastisol transfers for t-shirts and let the Ricoh be used for custom, upscale garments.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

LB said:


> Great post Mike.
> I would not consider the 3300 to be a T-shirt printing machine. However, for smaller designs on Vapor garments the results are beautiful. My primary use is for hard goods and that was what I had in mind when I purchased it. I think I am going to go with plastisol transfers for t-shirts and let the Ricoh be used for custom, upscale garments.


You can use smaller printers even for bigger designs on larger shirts, the only limitation is that any single solid element cannot be larger than 8 1/2 x 14. 

I use to put large text at the top of shirt using one transfer in landscape and then another transfer of a graphic in portrait, and then press both transfers at the same time. The total printed area was much larger than 8 1/2 x 14. 

Even an entire shirt could be printed with a smaller printer if one wanted, just the solid design areas are limited to legal size.

Unless you do 12 x 12 tiles or the bigger sub metals most hardgoods a legal size printer is sufficient. Until I got my WF1100 all my sublimation was done on the smaller Epsons and on laser.

Sure do love 13 x 19 capabilty though.


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## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

Seems that alot of people here really like the epson 1100 I really like the cost of the printer and the fact that I can use it right out of the box is great as I don't need to have a ton of prints done now actually just about 20 or so which I am guessing I can get by with the 1100 out of the box. So I guess if I don't want to buy the CIS ink system right away then what other inks can I use for the 1100 that aren't so costly for this printer ? Any response will be much appreciated. Thanks


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## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

I found ink at a pretty good price at ink grabber they are between 7 and 14 per cartridge any one ever use them?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> I found ink at a pretty good price at ink grabber they are between 7 and 14 per cartridge any one ever use them?


If you want to sublimate then you need sublimation inks and sublimation papers.

If you want to "print out of the box" you can use the Epson provided pigment inks with a ink jet transfer paper that has a clear polymer release like Jet Pro Soft Stretch (JPSS).

Michael


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Got a news letter from Conde this morning..the Ricoh 3300 is on sale for $400.00 with ink,paper and a USB cable. The bypass tray is also on sale for $50.00


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## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

mgparrish said:


> If you want to sublimate then you need sublimation inks and sublimation papers.
> 
> If you want to "print out of the box" you can use the Epson provided pigment inks with a ink jet transfer paper that has a clear polymer release like Jet Pro Soft Stretch (JPSS).
> 
> Michael


I talked with someone from Conde and they said that all I need to get is the right paper for the printer. Case Closed I told them the printer I wanted to use was the 1100 and they are sending me some samples to try out. You don't need sublimation inks or special inks that are different from the ink that epson supplies to print T-Shirts. I am guessing that she will send out Jet Pro Soft Stretch Paper then ?


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> I talked with someone from Conde and they said that all I need to get is the right paper for the printer. Case Closed I told them the printer I wanted to use was the 1100 and they are sending me some samples to try out. You don't need sublimation inks or special inks that are different from the ink that epson supplies to print T-Shirts. I am guessing that she will send out Jet Pro Soft Stretch Paper then ?


So you decided not to do sublimation after all huh? I thought that was what you were trying to decide which printer to do that with. What your getting is not a sublimation set up, that is just a transfer set up. Good luck with it.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> I talked with someone from Conde and they said that all I need to get is the right paper for the printer. Case Closed I told them the printer I wanted to use was the 1100 and they are sending me some samples to try out. You don't need sublimation inks or special inks that are different from the ink that epson supplies to print T-Shirts. I am guessing that she will send out Jet Pro Soft Stretch Paper then ?


I think you are confused about "heat transfer". The forum topic you posted in is "Dye Sublimation". 

What kind of "heat transfer" do you wish to do?

Pigment heat transfer or sublimation heat transfer?

They are not the same thing. You can use the WF1100 for both, you need to understand the differences.


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## PrivateLabelTees (Feb 22, 2011)

What is the difference ? Sorry I'm new to this... I want to print out designs for T-Shirts . What is the difference between... Pigment heat transfer or sublimation heat transfer? Is there a difference between the quality of them?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> What is the difference ? Sorry I'm new to this... I want to print out designs for T-Shirts . What is the difference between... Pigment heat transfer or sublimation heat transfer? Is there a difference between the quality of them?


Start at this thread first ....

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/dye-sublimation/t23691.html#post140487

read all the links to other threads in the post.

If you do pigment transfer printing a clear polymer will be in the background of the unprinted areas in your design. 

_"Clear polymer" does not always mean it is invisible, especially on light colored shirts._ 

You either need to print a solid shape design and trim the boundaries, or have a 'cutter" remove the background. You cannot do coffee mugs or other hard good items with pigments as you can with sublimation. 

With sublimation only the dye transfers and no polymer from the transfer paper, this means no "window" effect from the polymer that is transfered onto the shirt. 

Sublimation you need shirts that have a very high polyester %, unlike pigments. So I do both pigments and sublimation both and understand the trade-offs involved. 

Michael


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Long story short: A pigment ink transfer basically sits on top of the shirt. Sublimation process turns the ink (dye) to a gas upon being subjected to high heat and pressure and it is infused into the fiber of the polyester garment. Sublimation requires special ink and printers that can disperse it. Pigmented inks are common to several printer brands, I think Epson is probably foremost. As Mike stated, the print is made on transfer paper with a polymer (plastic) layer. It is released from the paper with heat and pressure process and sticks to the garment. Pigmented inks are resistant to moisture and can stand many washes. Sublimation printing is pretty much permanent and is more durable than pigmented ink transfers. 
Both processes work best with white and light colored garments.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

PrivateLabelTees said:


> What is the difference ? Sorry I'm new to this... I want to print out designs for T-Shirts . What is the difference between... Pigment heat transfer or sublimation heat transfer? Is there a difference between the quality of them?


Also, sublimation results in zero "hand" on Tshirts. Nada none.

Pigment transfers leave some hand, but after washing if you use a good paper it is virtually gone, or not enough remaining to be a problem.


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Yes, as Mike said. I am sure there are other good transfer papers, but I have had outstanding success with Jet Pro Soft Stretch (JPSS). It is amazing as to the lack of hand. I,however, print them with a Canon ipF8000 wide format printer with Inkjetcarts pigmented ink. (the OEM ink is called Lucia and it costs a arm and leg and a chunk out of your butt)


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## lynn0759 (Nov 23, 2016)

nappen said:


> I have used both Epson and Ricoh. I love me Ricohs-now have two.
> The one legitimate gripe is that it will only go 8.5 X14 which makes T-shirts a challenge for larger designs, but for small designs it is a great little printer.


Cant you print two separate images to make one larger one? I mean if it has a picture next to text or text over a picture, couldn't you use two printed images to make a larger one on a tee shirt? It is the gassed ink that is transferred, right?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

lynn0759 said:


> Cant you print two separate images to make one larger one? I mean if it has a picture next to text or text over a picture, couldn't you use two printed images to make a larger one on a tee shirt? It is the gassed ink that is transferred, right?


You could, but you may have issues if your first transferred image is still under the heat-press while you are applying your 2nd transfer. The heat will cause the ink of the first image to turn back into a gas and you may encounter fading.

This is an old post. There are newer, cheaper printers capable of printing 13x19 and larger transfers. Like the Epson 7110.


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