G4 DTG Printer from ColDesi – USA Version
It’s been awhile since I took a look at Direct to Garment Printers.
Mostly because there hasn’t been too much exciting and different happening the garment printer world – for under $20K anyway.
That’s all changed now that ColDesi introduced the G4 DTG a few months ago!
G4 DTG Printer Differences
A lot of people that see the G4 notice how much it looks like the Ricoh Ri1000 printer – and there are some similarities. Just like there are similarities with Epson F2100 and Brother DTG Printers too.
Now that the DTG line has gone back to a single t-shirt design, unlike the M2, it was bound to be harder to see differences because the form factor is the same.
It’s kind of like looking at a Honda and an Acura, or a dress from Forever 21 vs White House Black Market – there’s a lot about that look the same on the outside, but there can be some big differences on the INSIDE. Or that you notice after you try it on.
The G4 has this one big difference you can kind of see on the outside, but you don’t appreciate until you’ve “tried it on”.
That’s the Vacuum Platen.
What’s the big deal about the Vacuum Platen?
It makes it so much easier to USE!
Have you ever tried to use a tuck lock platen that the M2 has, or what other printers like the omniprint dtg printers use?
It’s not “hard”, but it’s a pain. It’s a pain because every time you tuck, if you do it too much, you have to tuck the OTHER side the same.
Have you ever upholstered a chair before? That’s what it feels like.
This vacuum platen, which is not available on any other direct to garment printer other than G4 DTG in the USA, is just dumb simple.
Lay the shirt on the platen. The vacuum holds it down.
That’s it!
It’s so fast and so easy.
There are all kind of other technical things that the vacuum platen helps with, according to the G4 DTG website: https://dtgprintermachine.com
- It helps the ink drive deeper into the fabric of the shirt – that makes sense to me because there’s a vacuum holding the shirt in place, so when the ink sprays onto it will suck more ink down, farther into the t-shirt.
- It helps reduce maintenance – also makes sense because that’s what we’re talking about next. The G4 DTG has crazy low maintenance. Partly because the vacuum keeps ink from misting around the inside of the printer. That’s what gums up the internal parts and makes you need to clean it more.
G4 DTG Maintenance Requirements are Ridiculously low
Everyone that owns a direct to garment printer now basically has the same start up procedure every morning.
- Nozzle check – this is where you print out a test pattern onto a piece of transparency film [if you’re old enough, you’ll remember this is what went onto overhead projectors at school!]
- Head Cleaning – recommended twice a day. If you don’t get a “good” nozzle check in the morning, run the head cleaning and check again. If still not good – do it again.
This really doesn’t take too long if you know what you’re doing. 5-10 minutes maybe?
But then you do a similar procedure that evening.
And there’s weekly and monthly maintenance too.
The G4 DTG?
Shake the white ink cartridges 10 times in the morning.
Clean it when it tells you to.
Do a nozzle check if something looks funky in the print.
Sure – you will have to do some more maintenance every few months – but the beta tester for the printer that I talked to still hasn’t had to do that – after over 7,000 prints.
And he’s never had a bad nozzle check, so stopped doing those every day. (he was doing it out of habit because he has other direct to garment printers.)
This low maintenance is a BIG DEAL!
Did you know that there are direct to garment printers that are programmed to auto maintain AFTER EVERY 24 SHIRTS YOU PRINT?
That’s not in their brochure!
G4 DTG FEATURES I LOVE
Okay, a few more things:
Speed – it’s FAST! Prints a regular dark shirt in about 2 minutes.
Quality – I never thought anything would beat the M2 for quality, and the G4 DTG doesn’t. BUT it is just as good! That’s crazy because it’s twice as fast.
Wash-ability – According to ColDesi, they’ve done 30+ washes of a dark shirt with a complicated print on it and it still looks great. Pictures are posted on Facebook, but I’m sure they’ll send you those along with a sample you can test. So far the one that I have looks amazing. Especially the white ink.
Control Panel – you can just walk up to this thing, pull up one of the last 20 designs you printed, and print it again. Without touching your computer. Makes me want to rent a kiosk!
There aren’t as many platen options available as with the M2. You can get those annoying tuck lock platens for sleeves, etc.
There are 3 different sizes for the G4 platen tops, but really – just print t-shirts.
Dark poly printing. ColDesi said they’re working on it, but I’ll wait until they’re sending out samples before I say it does.
So, unless your thinking of going with a hybrid screen printing machine like the DailyJet, then the G4 DTG is a great printer for smaller shops.
Easy to use. Easy to maintain. Good price point.