# Would you purchase a white ink DTG printer again ??



## oldkush (Jun 25, 2007)

I have already decided to hold off on buying a white ink DTG printer until the technology improves but just out of curiousity, for those that do now own white ink DTG printers:

If you knew then what you know now, would you have bought your white ink DTG ?

If yes, would you purchase the same brand ?

Bob


----------



## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

I would say yes to both.
Although I would like to have the newer DTG HM-1 or Eclipse, the Kiosk does us just fine.


----------



## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

I am actually in the middle of refitting my shop. I am selling my four original machines (3 Tjets, 1 Kiosk), and buying new machines. 

I am setting up one for white ink printing, and two for cmyk only printing.


----------



## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Wow, loaded questions ...

I don't think we really had a choice in the matter ... we needed to start quickly, before someone else filled the screen printer void here. A lady had retired after 16 years of screen printing, so we needed to jump in. At that time, the T-Jet 3 seemed to be the only real option. We really didn't have time to research enough. I think deciding on a DTG for white ink jobs will get more and more difficult, as manufacturers continue to evolve their machines.


----------



## GRH (Apr 25, 2007)

oldkush said:


> I have already decided to hold off on buying a white ink DTG printer until the technology improves but just out of curiousity, for those that do now own white ink DTG printers:
> 
> If you knew then what you know now, would you have bought your white ink DTG ?
> 
> ...


If I were to buy a digital printer on todays market I would get a printer that could print white ink. I am no fan of white ink as the process stands today. IMHO the process for printing white ink is insanely inconsistent expensive and it is very difficult to print white ink at a profit. Most of these printers also do a great job of printing CMYK ink on light shirts so why limit yourself to a CMYK machine only. If you can sell one off's for $35 then white ink makes sense.

As far as the brand they are all about the same (based on Epson print engines and heads). I have owned a T-Jet for about a year and a half and contrary to what you hear on the boards the customer service has been great. 

To sum it up I would buy a printer that will print white ink but not base my business model on making a profit printing white ink. Manufacturers and distributors should pay attention the the previous sentence.

Regards,
GRH


----------



## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

GRH said:


> As far as the brand they are all about the same (based on Epson print engines and heads).
> Regards,
> GRH


I could not disagree more. I either own, have owned, or have worked on for over 12 hours 4 different manufacturers machines. Each manufacturer has positives and negatives. 

Just one example would be the ink feed system on the kiosk. The valve system and auto ink feed is far superior to the factory system on the tjet, even though both are epson 2200's.


----------



## GRH (Apr 25, 2007)

Printzilla said:


> Just one example would be the ink feed system on the kiosk. The valve system and auto ink feed is far superior to the factory system on the tjet, even though both are epson 2200's.


Hi Marc,

I have no experience with the Kiosk so I will take your word for it. Prospective buyers would do well to listen comments like yours and not base their decisions on white ink performance because in this they are all alike (Dupont ink, Dupont pretreatment, insanely inconsistent pretreatment procedures, pretreatment stains, cost!). 

Regards,
GRH


----------



## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

I would buy with white ink capabilities again - even though we print with dual CMYK. 

The flexibility is the main reason we selected our Flexi -jet. Based primarily on its flexibility- if we were buying today we'd probably choose it again, based soley on the construction of the printer, because we know it well now.

Printing with white ink is possible and can be profitable- even though it takes some work to get consistency- and some extra printer maintenance. If our market changed we could get back into white printing quickly and we really like that option.


----------

