If you don’t have time to read this article, then the best sublimation printer for beginners is the Epson WorkForce 7720.
When you are just starting out with sublimation printing, it can be confusing as to what you need in a printer, and how to convert your printer for sublimation printing.
The best sublimation printers for beginners should be easy to use and easy to convert (if not using a native sublimation printer), providing excellent print quality with the minimum of fuss.
I have used my extensive research in this area to compare only the best sublimation printers for Cricut, t-shirts, mugs and whatever other objects you want to transfer your designs to.
You can be assured that every printer listed in this article is suitable for those starting out with sublimation printing, but there are a few questions that you need to ask yourself before deciding on a final model and the best printer for sublimation for you.
5 Best Sublimation Printers for Beginners
01-Epson WorkForce 7720 – Best Sublimation Printer for Beginners
Our top recommendation is the Epson 7720, which accomplishes everything you need it to do at a price that most people can actually afford. Many small business owners sell sublimated things with Epson 7720 sublimation printers and have no plans to upgrade because they are so outstanding and can print up to 13 x 19 inches, which is very rare!
The Epson 7720, features two paper trays, one for sub-paper and the other for standard copy paper. Since this WF-7720 is an office machine, it can perform a variety of tasks including copying, scanning, faxing, and color printing. One can expect this inkjet sublimation printer to print on cardstock along with glossy and matte sheets.
Usually, the Epson 7720 sublimation printer is known for its great printing speed and capacity. Through this printer’s holding capacity of 500, one can easily realize that it is a great investment as it will reduce the printing and waiting to almost half. I witnessed the printout coming out within a blink of an eye!
Despite having a maximum printing size of 13 x 19 inches, it is considered to be one of the best all-rounder sublimation printers that continues to work on a few timely ink refills. It offers a duplex printing facility that gradually regulates the second side of the paper path, which I really appreciate. Moreover, it has an easy-to-use touchscreen, and the paper tray is large enough to load quickly.
Photo paper, plain paper, transparencies, cardboard, and postcards are among the media types supported by this printer. As a result, you can print on a range of media in addition to sublimation paper. To see what media type is currently in process, you can see that on your screen’s left corner. You can feed numerous sheets at once with the auto document feeder.
Its USP is wireless printing, which makes it a prevalent option in case of environments like workplaces. You don’t need to connect this printer to a network because it has Wi-Fi Direct and NFC technologies. You can utilize the NFC feature to use it as a card reader, as well as to exchange files and send messages.
It’s a beast (quite large), but it gets the job done without the latency or ‘paper stuck’ problems that concern other printers. I recommend this printer since it prints wider and consumes less ink than the 2000 Eco Tank series. It offers a massive print area and excellent connectivity being a large-format printer. It could easily print photographs, drawings, and decals with no borders.
02- Epson EcoTank ET-2720
Without a doubt, the Epson EcoTank ET-27XX series printers are the best cheap printers for sublimation. The ET-2720 is usually the cheapest, as it lacks some of the features of the more expensive models which are not used for sublimation printing, and is, therefore, the preferred model as it has exactly the same excellent print quality as the ET-2750 and ET-2760.
It is very easy to fill with sublimation ink (no more difficult really than filling with the included Epson ink) into the ink tanks, and has a very low upfront cost and cost per printed page.
The ET-2720 is a printer that you can get printing with right away, as long as you get sublimation ink alongside it, and overall there is really no major negatives as a starter sublimation printer, although note that print quality will not be as high as with the Sawgrass models.
03- Canon CNMIX6820 – Best Sublimation Printer for Small Business
Everyone can comprehend that when we say Canon, we are referring to the best sublimation printer for small businesses. On a whole, the Pixma iX6820 is a model of quality and reliability. Let us go through some of this sublimation printer’s many remarkable features.
Pixma iX6820 is a high-quality, dependable tool for printing everything from simple business cards to large-scale portraits. It is an essential device for both the household and a small business. The device produces high-quality business printed cards, layouts, and other materials using thick paper.
Dimensions of this black inkjet are 23 x 12.3 x 6.3 inches, comparatively bigger than its competitors, and difficult to be labeled as a portable device. It has a feeder (back paper), which is why it requires wall space. Plus, the front tray (paper tray) protrudes, so thirteen inches of room on the front side of the printer is required, but it is still a practical size.
The colour resolution of this printer is approximately 9600 x 2400 dpi. I always assumed that professional printers can normally only print 300 dpi. So for professional users, this printer is a go-to device. It also features a 600 x 600 resolution for black. Its high-resolution image has great colour depth and creates realistic, flawless results.
This sublimation printer wowed me with its superior fine printing technology. It includes fine printing head technology, which is comprehensive photolithography based on inkjet nozzle engineering. In addition, I received five tank systems for filling various inks. These tanks perform admirably. A 150-sheet motorized feeder is also available. Wireless, Ethernet, and Hi-Speed USB connectivity are all available.
To ensure optimal performance, this canon device comes with large variations in programs as well as Software. My Image Garden is one of these often-used programs. It combines high-quality photo tools and provides many design features for printing accessories such as cards.
“It is not an all-in-one printer,” as per the statement in the product’s description. “It does not copy or scan.” This means that this printer can’t work at fast speeds like other competitors, and it can’t do scanning, faxing, or copying. So, if you don’t need these functions in your printer and just need a single-function printer for heavy printing, this is a great option.
The Pixma iX6820 will assist you in growing your business because it is one of the best sublimation printers for small businesses available for workplace use.
04- Epson ET 4700 – Best Starter Sublimation Printer
Upon doing a lot of research and testing, I can highly suggest the Epson EcoTank brand of conversion printers. After using the Epson Eco-Tank ET-4700, I concluded that it has extremely low running expenses for a multifunction inkjet with a monthly output of 400 to 800 pages, which is amazing.
The wireless ET-4700 is a compact all-rounder printer that offers cartridge-free printing through convenient filling tanks. It is specialized with 30-sheet ADF accompanied by both the networks (wireless and wired) along with a registered warranty of 2 years. Moreover, replacement ink bottles are around 80% more cost-effective than ink cartridges. This translates to reduced waste.
The stripped-down ET-4700 should fit easily on most desks, measuring 10 by 14 by 22 inches (HWD) and weighing only 11 pounds. While the Epson is comparable in size to rivals like the Canon CNMIX6820 and Brother HL-L2320D, it is several pounds lighter. It comes with both automatic as well as manual duplexing feeders. This denotes that the user has to flip the originals by themselves in order to scan the other side of it.
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, ethernet, as well as a single PC connection through USB 2.0 all, come under the general interfaces of the ET-4700. To connect a portable device with the printer, Wi-Fi Direct, a peer-to-peer network is used. It allows the user to scan along with printing without the necessity of being included in the network.
Speech-activated printing is supported by the ET-4700, as it is by most other Epson and Canon consumer inkjets, via Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices, as well as any other voice technology that employs IFTTT scripting. When I tested this printer, ET-4700 could print 10 monochrome pages per minute(ppm), which was as per the claim of Epson.
I assessed the ethernet connection by using it on the typical Windows 10 Pro that comes with Intel Core i5 technology. As compared to the rest of the models, only the version of Brother was half as fast while the speed of ET-4700 was approximately 28 seconds. The range of speed of all the models was within range of one or two seconds. I printed text samples that showed well-shaped, highly legible letters, which is more than adequate for most sublimation printing at home and small office uses.
Although the Epson EcoTank ET-4700 and Epson EcoTank ET-2720 are quite comparable, the ET-4700 performs somewhat better in most situations. The ET-2720 does not have a sheetfed scanner or an Ethernet port. The ET-2720, on the other hand, prints more pages before needing to replace the ink tanks and it is one of the best epson sublimation printer for beginners.
05-Lexmark MC3224dwe – Sublimation Printer for Home Use
The Lexmark MC3224dwe is next in line—the greatest sublimation printer for enthusiasts! It’s an all-in-one printer suited for small businesses and home offices. It is a laser printer with many advantages over standard inkjet printers, including faster printing, more precise printing, and lower costs.
For its tiny size and lightweight, the MC3224dwe is simple to set up and move. It has a built-in web gateway that allows users to access numerous elements and options, making it highly compatible. Color printing has reached new heights thanks to laser technology!
The vibrancy and distortion-free clarity of these top-notch printers’ photos and graphics have impressed me greatly. If you do sublimation printing at home for a business, then MC2535ADWE is the best sublimation printer for business and it will definitely meet your expectations.
When discussing printing quality, it needs to be noted that it is a laser printer that offers colored variations. Because it prints at 600 x 600 dpi resolution, colors and printed papers now have a better level of clarity. Unison toner cartridges are used, resulting in high-quality output. Moreover, the colored prints turn out to be even as well as crisp in general.
The colored multipurpose laser printer offers both dual-sided as well as duplex automated prints. Lexmark MC3224DWE offers a capacity of 250 pages that can be printed in one go without any disturbance. Duplex printing makes it simple to complete tasks quickly.
Positioning a printing machine within your range, in my opinion, is really beneficial; otherwise, you will have to relocate frequently. The Lexmark MC3224DWE is comparatively more compact than its competitors, with dimensions of 12.1 x 16.2 x 15.5 and weighing roughly 40.1 pounds. This makes it a preferable option for the desktop.
Around 22 pages can be printed in black and color per minute with the Lexmark MC3224DWE. It prints the first page in 11 seconds, which is quite fast. This device can also handle a large monthly volume of 30000 pages. With a RAM of 512MB and a 1 GHz Dual Core Processor, the printer easily keeps up with this printing pace.
The Lexmark MC3224DWE has conventional USB, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, and wifi-direct connectivity. It includes smart connectivity capabilities such as Lexmark’s Android and iOS Mobile Printing & Cloud Connector apps. Additionally, it is compatible with Mopria as well as Mac AirPrint.
Lexmark comes with a security check that helps provide a safe working environment for the data. All the information being printed is secure during this whole process. A document’s PIN can only be printed by those who know it. Among other security issues, users, groups, and IP addresses can control or limit access to specific functions.
Finally, because of its ease, efficient performance, and affordability, Lexmark’s MC3224DWE stands out as the best beginner sublimation printer. Yet it is only ideal for low-volume situations due to an absence of an efficient AD feeder and expensive toner. However, owing to its lesser job volume and workgroup size, this printer doesn’t fit the criteria for an all-rounder printer.
Key Features of the Best Sublimation Printers for Beginners
There are a number of questions that you should keep in mind when researching the best beginner sublimation printers. These are what I have used to separate the reviewed printers, and you are welcome to use them for your own research:
- How easy is the printer to convert to sublimation?
- What is the maximum print size?
- Is the printer easy to use?
- Is the printer color accurate?
- Is it value for money?
Ease of Conversion to Sublimation
Unless you choose a specialist sublimation printer like the Sawgrass models, you will need to convert your printer to use sublimation ink.
Luckily this is very easy for Epson EcoTank printers, putting them into the realm of beginner options. They are also inexpensive and easy to use, and have a visual display to see the ink levels.
The process of adding sublimation ink to these printers is no different from adding regular ink, but just make sure that you buy this ink alongside the printer.
Cartridge printers are not recommended for beginners, as they require more work to setup and may display incorrect ink levels in the printer software, making it difficult to know when the cartridge is about to run out.
Maximum Print Size
If you go with one of the basic EcoTank printers, then you will be limited to a max print width of 8.5 inches. This is suitable for mugs, tote bags and smaller designs on t-shirts, and is generally excellent as a starting point.
But if you want to print anything larger, or expect to within a short period of time, then it might be better to go for a wide format sublimation printer, like those in the Epson WorkForce series.
These are very cheap and have massive max print sizes, but are cartridge printers, so it is a good idea to be confident of the setup before purchase.
A comparable EcoTank wide format printer is significantly more expensive than a WorkForce that prints at the same size.
Ease of Using the Printer
Not only should the ideal beginner printer be easy to setup, but it should also be easy to use, with a straightforward menu system, and software that integrates well with your computer.
All of the Epson printers have well-designed interfaces, and you shouldn’t have any difficulties using any.
The Sawgrass models are noticeably better from an interface perspective, with large, backlit displays and well-designed button positions.
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