# Easy T Printer Review, after almost one year.



## joedough (Jun 15, 2013)

I have read several reviews here about the Easy T Printer and wanted to provide our experience with the printer. We have been using the Easy T Printer Deluxe for about a year now. I must point out that we use it exclusively with the CMYK only setup. So no white ink for us. We print approximately 40 to 60+ shirts a day. And we do use this machine every day.

In order to analyze this printer fairly the most important premise is the price point. At $5,495.00 (current price) this printer is so far below the 30K, 20K and even the 10K price point of other machines with a similar format and based on the epson engine, that yes certain features that are available in other machines are not available in this one. 

I will rate each category to provide a level of satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10. Obviously this is our personal experience and though these are mostly facts some opinion is sprinkled in there.

The transaction: I found that dealing with Andy was very straightforward. He is a no nonsense guy who I felt was very honest with his answers to my questions. He did not try to sell me the machine as something other than exactly what it was. The whole thing was simple and everything happened in the time frame and the way I was promised. Score: 10 

Delivery: I was very concerned with this as I had read a few reviews that mentioned shipping damage. From experience I know that usually is due to poor packaging. The printer arrived in a wood crate and it was very well packed. Once I opened it much to my relief the printer was in perfect condition. It was a little bit of work to uncrate it and I would recommend that a second person be used to make the work a little easier. Score: 9

Setup: I had read complaints about the instructions and manual. I have to partially agree with those comments. There are very little instructions and they are not thorough (maybe now they have improved that) However the printer is very easy to set up and really requires just a few steps. Many of the steps are intuitive if you are familiar with new computer peripherals. We were print ready within a couple of hours. Score: 8

Software: I must point out here that the software is supplied by a separate vendor and it is not a product that Andy makes. I am not a huge fan of the software because I would like to see more control over the printing parameters and registration aids. But because it is so simple it really makes it easier to use. Score: 8

First Print: Setting up the first print requires a lot of time and trial and error. We had to run many, many tests with different ink settings and speeds and other parameters in the software. Once the ink settings are set, getting the correct distance from the print surface to the printer head is key. You want to be as far away as possible without getting a soft edge on the print. For us it’s about 3/16” Though a little frustrating this part is just something that one must work through. Score: 7

The Machine: The machine is esthetically attractive and well put together. We feel is it plenty sturdy. I know there have negative comments about the plastic exterior. I would say when was the last time that you bought a computer printer that was not plastic? But any of the critical parts are metal and well engineered. The base is a tubular steel frame that provides a very true and stable skeleton for the other printer parts. We have no issues with the build quality. Score: 10

Daily Usage: Once setup this machine is very easy to use and a workhorse. Loading it and printing is very quick. We change designs constantly and make a lot of one-ofs and this machine allows us to keep a good rhythm. Even with the constant use I see little deterioration to the machine, just esthetically, some scratches and some ink stains. Score:10

User Troubleshooting: We have had many of the issues that I see complaints about here and I have to say all have been user error or needed maintenance. The strange blinking lights, were due to a heavy usage time and the encoder strip needed to be cleaned sooner than expected. The platen being pushed out unexpectedly, that was due to a protruding box behind the printer that was causing the platen to move forward slightly. All of our issues have been simple fixes and none have prevented us from maintaining our production on schedule. A better manual would help shed some light on some of these issues. Score: 8.5

Support: We have only needed support twice and both times our questions were answered immediately and satisfactorily. Score: 10

Overall (mostly opinion): This machine is an incredible value. For us it was paid off very fast and we feel we certainly made the correct decision. The simple to use no frills approach to the design of this machine achieves a perfect balance between cost and function. For us and for our needs this machine fit the bill perfectly. It prints every day and does so virtually trouble free. Would I recommend it? Yes without hesitation, with the caveat that you have to take some responsibility for learning the system, commit to working through the learning curve (true about any new machine) Learn the required maintenance and understand that this machine does not have all the bells and whistles as the 20K machine might, it just does exactly what it is supposed to do. And at around 6K and completely paid for (in our case), it keeps us in the black! Score: 9.5


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Awesome review!

I have the Easy T Deluxe and it has been generally amazing. Paid it off in about 3 or 4 months, including cost of supplies.

Paid for a second machine (XL) and hoping to run them side by side since we have the volume to handle 2.

Would love to try a higher end printer with a more customized firmware like the RJet5 or Neoflex, but the price point isn't in our budget. We are in a poor area of Chicago and our customers seek what the Easy T can do very well.

Seems the only people who come here are those with problems, but I wonder how many dozens of customers are too busy making money to hang out here and talk up what I'd a solid machine. But, it isn't click and print, that's for sure.

Did you stick to CIS or are you cartridge based?

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## joedough (Jun 15, 2013)

Thanks Brian, we are using the CIS with bagged ink. It works well for us.

Do you already have the XL? We are interested in getting one too so if you have any input I would certainly appreciate it.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Nope, not yet -- I just paid for it under a month ago, and Andy had mentioned that he's working on getting the ink delivery system (cartridge based, but a LARGE cartridge) working properly.

We're hungry for a second DTG but I'm happy to wait a bit to get it right. Today I had to run the Deluxe and my print-and-cut solvent printer at the same time to keep up. We offer our retail customers a discount of $2 per garment if they allow us to "either/or" DTG or print-and-cut depending on how busy we are, and most of them accept it.

But with 2 DTGs and the print and cut going at the same time, I think we could beat 100 shirts per hour with 2 guys and 3 heat presses. That's $4000 a day profit potential if we drink a lot of coffee and don't screw anything up.


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## abmcdan (Sep 14, 2007)

Brian,

FYI Joe is running the Belquette bag system with dampers.

We ship our printers with cartridges and recommend the Belquette system if anyone wishes to use bulk.


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## joedough (Jun 15, 2013)

Wow Brian, sounds like you are busy, congratulations. 100 shirts an hour... you'll need flawless synchronization in your technique. Let me know if you are able to do that.

And yes, as Andy pointed out we use the Belquette bagged system. We are very happy with it, and most importantly our customers are happy with it. Kevin has also been very helpful.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Belquette dropped the ball with us -- contacted them twice about their bulk ink for Easy T, both times they said they'd get back to me and didn't.

I use their bottled ink with cartridges, but wish I knew they had a dampers based CIS. Live and learn.

And we recently did a solid 45 shirts in an hour with our deluxe. Dual CMYK, 1 pass, speed mode (perfect nozzle check). One guy loading, one guy unloading. Two platens, two heat presses. Same day rush job, we made a nice profit.

I'm excited about the XL for the 80ml cartridges and larger platen. On a busy day, the refill pauses are my own "issue" and we try to work around it by offering slight discounts for more color balanced art. With 80ml cartridge capacity, I think I could do a 4 hour run without pausing. A few days like that would pay off the XL.

Next step is a long conveyor dryer with a long dwell time. Could run 3-4 DTGs easily against that. I hate heat pressing, what a dull way to make money.

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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

Just remember that XL based on epson 3880 will be a lot slower than a3 model.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Speed isn't as much of an issue for us as we originally had thought.

When we first got into DTG, we wanted to figure out a budget on getting the fastest printer possible. Now, after talking to probably a hundred DTG shops using every brand imaginable, we are feeling more confident with having more machines instead of 1 fast one.

I would rather have 5 slow machines for $60,000 than 2 fast machines for $40,000. We're in Chicago, our labor is much higher than people would likely pay elsewhere. If a machine goes down, the cost in labor is very high. By having redundancies, we can keep the press moving.

One of our most profitable departments uses a 12 year old printer model (not garment printing). We have 5 of those 12 year old machines. I just bought 2 more a few weeks ago. If one goes down, we're still printing. I could have replaced all 5 with 1 really fast, really modern machine. But those go down, too, and then we'd be out a lot of cash until the tech visits.


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

treefox2118 said:


> Belquette dropped the ball with us -- contacted them twice about their bulk ink for Easy T, both times they said they'd get back to me and didn't.


I don't know who you spoke with, but this should be a "place the order" kind of situation without the need for a call-back.

I apologize that this is not how your experience went. Even if you choose to move onward, please give me a call directly (877-202-0886 x100) to find out what happened and to see if I can rectify this for you.


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

abmcdan said:


> Brian,
> 
> FYI Joe is running the Belquette bag system with dampers.
> 
> We ship our printers with cartridges and recommend the Belquette system if anyone wishes to use bulk.


I've asked several times for alternate options and no one has offered up a suggestion for the Belquette system. 

I'm using the bag bulk ink system that came with the printer...and have struggled to learn the nuances of the system.

I'm mainly upgrading to the XL to fix the bulk ink system issue.

Andy let's chat? PM me or email me. 

We do print White Ink; and overall the printer does print a great shirt! I have no issue with the quality and speed of the printer for the price. 

Every issue I've had with the printer relates to the bulk in system I'm using. I switched over to the 10ml refillable cartridges and didn't like having to fill the cartridges.


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## joedough (Jun 15, 2013)

Rob, we use the Belquette bagged system but have no white ink, we use dual channel CMYK. Having said that, the bags work great, zero issues and almost every last drop of ink is used. Good luck.


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

joedough said:


> Rob, we use the Belquette bagged system but have no white ink, we use dual channel CMYK. Having said that, the bags work great, zero issues and almost every last drop of ink is used. Good luck.


Be sure to leave a little bit of ink in the bag (maybe the size of a nickel), this way you do not cause reverse pressure in the system.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Kevrokr: Yea I am pretty steamed over hearing this. I nuked Belquette as an ink supplier once I realized I lost out on the freebies offer recently and invested another $120 in refillable carts.

I'll give you a ring so you can figure out who dropped the ball. Thanks for the response.

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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

Question on the PrintsRite System: Can the bags be refilled? I just bought a litter of each color and clearly wouldn't want that to go to waste.

-Rob


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

treefox2118 said:


> I realized I lost out on the freebies offer recently and invested another $120 in refillable carts.


The offer hasn't changed.


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

RobP614 said:


> Question on the PrintsRite System: Can the bags be refilled? I just bought a litter of each color and clearly wouldn't want that to go to waste.
> 
> -Rob


You can refill the bags for the color and not see much of a difference, but with the white, the beneficial qualities of the degassing process are lost.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

treefox2118 said:


> I'll give you a ring so you can figure out who dropped the ball. Thanks for the response.


I just want to reiterate what Kevin said, this is a simple call in and order scenario. There aren't any questions from our employees of what kind of kit would be needed, and wouldn't have warranted a call back response.

If you would like to send us your phone number, we can look up your call in our records to see who answered the phone so we can address it accordingly.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

I asked my IT guy to pull up the email or phone data. Will report back.

Was specifically told there wasn't a solution but that they would get back in touch with me. Unfortunately once I get rid of a supplier, I typically delete my email history and with gmail hosting, ponce you empty the trash folder, it's gone. But I'm sure I can track down when I called and from which phone.

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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

Just give me an area code, I should be able to find it then.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Downside is I have multiple shops and multiple cell phones across more than one state so it's hard to remember. 

I know I called from 773-257 on March 22 at 11:10am CST the first time. Trying to track down follow up contact from there.

Wouldn't have been before that because we placed our first order on the 24th after we were told there's no system for our printer. So I have it at least ranged down.

Feel free to PM me if easier.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

I should mention that I loved Belquette's ink and shipping speed. No issues once with fulfillment or product quality. Always arrived as expected.

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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Feeling certain the contact was on the 22nd. We had a new print head but no ink or ink system and wanted to pay for overnight Saturday delivery.

My DTG manager tells me we didn't hear back from our contact, so in desperation we ordered ink from you and ink cartridges from someone else to get going again.

Seems to ring a bell. I contacted once more after to look into ink supply but don't recall if I spoke with same guy, left him a message, or emailed. Working on that now.

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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

I'm looking and May 22nd was a Wednesday. I looked in our immediate history and there are no calls from that number. There was an order placed on the 24th, possibly from you. What is the company name?


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

March 22 not May ha

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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

My memory partially fails me. Order was placed on March 25 not 24, which was Monday since we were hoping to hear back about an ink delivery system but didn't, so we just bought the CMYK package. The total was $309 something. 12:32PM EST. Paid for rush shipping too due to needing to keep printing. Received it Wednesday the 27th on time and went to town.

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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

Either way, if we dropped the ball, I'll definitely get to the bottom of it. Sorry for any inconvenience or confusion this caused. I'll put it in to our IT guy, I don't have records back to March, but he would.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

It happens. I had no issue with the fulfillment end of things. All that happened is that I called, spoke with someone who knew my time crunch and committed to get back to me with an answer. I even told him I was willing to pay to be a guinea pig if there was no Easy T solution. Reiterated that time was of the essence, then nothing back. Ordered ink because I needed something, and dropped $120 on overnight refillable carts from Cali.

Had I known there was a solution, I'd have ordered it. Since my first order, I've tried other carts (Easy T's official ones). Once i heard the ball was dropped and that there was an ink delivery solution, I immediately sampled a few other Dupont suppliers to see who ships easiest and fastest. Doesn't make sense to waste my time figuring out why. I already blew $250+ on cartridges when it sounds like I could've had a working ink delivery system. And to see that I missed out on the freebie offer, that puts me out $400+ in cash and dozens of paid manhours of time filling carts and all that.

One can see my disdain for the issue at hand.

Appreciate your diligence in figuring out who dropped the ball. If my IT guy has time to dig deeper, I'll forward new information. I write everything down when I deal with the phone, but I definitely deleted my BQ folder when I changed suppliers -- that's my de facto action to keep clutter to a minimum.

I've only ordered a few grand in ink in the past 90 days, but now that we are printing white again, I know what my ink budget will likely be.

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