Best Sublimation Printer for Beginners 2023

To print your artwork and obtain the effects you want, sublimation printing is a big problem. It’s difficult to know what characteristics you want in a printer when you’re shopping for one. As there are many manufacturers on the market, sublimation printers come with a variety of features and are available in a variety of pricing ranges. It can be confusing for a newbie and making the wrong decision can put you in a lot of trouble because dye-sublimation printers are expensive.

For accomplishing this, a sublimation printer for beginners would be ideal. Beginners in this business must have some prior understanding of the best sublimation printer, which is why I’m here to help! Based on my extensive research on the subject, I have compared the seven best sublimation printers for beginners at a low price in this post. Every printer in this post is appropriate for those who are just getting started with sublimation printing. Let’s begin the hunt for the best sublimation printer for beginners right away!

7 Best Starter Sublimation Printers

IMAGE	PRODUCT	RATING	PRICE
	Epson WorkForce 7720 – Best Sublimation Printer for Beginners Stress-free control and navigation Beyond laser performance Ultimate wireless printing and networking Auto 2-sided print, copy, scan, and fax	9.7	Check on Amazon
	Canon PIXMA iX6820 – Best Sublimation Printer for Small Business 9600 x 2400 dpi print resolution 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Connectivity Print size of up to 13 x 19″ 4 x 6″ Photo in 36 sec borderless prints	9.5	Check on Amazon
	Epson ET 4700 – Best Starter Sublimation Printer Designed for business Designed for business Mobile printing and connectivity Ultra-low-cost per page	9.4	Check on Amazon
	Lexmark MC3224dwe – Sublimation Printer for Home Use Color Laser All-in-One Avg Monthly Page Volume: 250 – 1500 pages Duplex Automatic printing Print Speed: Up to 24 ppm	9.1	Check on Amazon
	Epson ET 2720 – Sublimation Printer for Beginners 1.44-inch color display 3-in-1 solution for printing 3-in-1 solution for printing Integrated scanner for common home use	8.9	Check on Amazon
	Brother HL L2320D – Best Entry Level Sublimation Printer Supports cloud connectivity Intuitive 1.8-inch color display Automatic double-sided printing Relatively fast printing speed – up to 30 pages per minute	8.8	Check on Amazon
	Epson WF 7820 – Best Sublimation Printer for Hobbys Complete duplex solution Convenient, seamless scanning High-speed wide-format printing Connectivity: WiFi, Ethernet, USB	8.5	Check on Amazon

1. 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.

Related: Best Sublimation Papers for Epson 7710, Inkjet vs laser printers for sticker printing

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.

2. 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 color 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 color 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.

3. 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.

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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.

4. 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.

5. Epson ET 2720 – Sublimation Printer for Beginners

One more excellent Epson sublimation printer. In order to receive outstanding prints on any dye items like mugs or shirts, this printer falls under the category of one of the best dye printers for home use. Moreover, it will also give your small business a boost since it has ink bottle replacements of around two years of time which would reduce the ink costs by 90%.  

For best results in terms of printing quality and performance, the printer could be used alongside PrecisionCore Technology as well as inks designed and designated by Epson Technology. With the usage of Wi-Fi Direct, the printer can be connected wirelessly to all devices such as iPhones, iPad, and any android devices. It provides a limited warranty of 2 years upon registration to assure outstanding service and product protection.

Filling sublimation ink tanks is simple, and the upfront cost and cost per printed page are also affordable. The ET-2720 is one of the best dye sublimation printers for beginners that you can start printing with right away as long as you have sublimation ink, and there aren’t any obvious drawbacks as a first-time sublimation printer, however print quality will be lower than the competitors.

On this list, it is the most economical printer in the sublimation category. A simple printer’s simple to convert to sublimation and doesn’t cost a fortune. The four ink feature qualifies it to be an ideal Epson printer, as it makes it able to produce great printing standards that rival its other costly versions.

In case you are searching for a sublimation printer that doesn’t compromise on its quality when giving you a cost-effective deal, then the Epson 2720 is a must-have.

The Epson EcoTank ET-27XX series printers are without a doubt the greatest affordable sublimation printers. It is usually the cheapest model because it lacks several of the more expensive models’ features that aren’t utilized for sublimation printing, and it’s the favored model because it has the same great print quality as the ET-2750 and ET-2760.

6. Brother HL L2320D – Best Entry Level Sublimation Printer

The Brother HL-L2300D monochrome printer is a dependable, fast, and efficient monochrome, the best starter sublimation printer for home or office use. I consider it to be the best home sublimation printer because of its simple profile and simple setup. It is not one of the more expensive high-tech devices, as the company kept it simple but functional at a reasonable price. To discover more about this diva, let’s get started!

The Brother HL -L2300D has a “compact and squat” layout, it’s 30 cm deep and wide, and finished in grey. As it shares the profile of pricey Brother professional printers, the detailing of this smart printer will enhance the overall aesthetics of your workplace. The appearance of a printer, in my opinion, is not a top priority when discussing the operation of equipment or tools. Even yet, for some purchasers who are conscious about their appearance, it is a great deal.

This model’s compact size does not detract from its capabilities, as it comes with a long list of specs that will fulfill all of your printing needs. It includes an 8MB built-in RAM that stores your material until you’re ready to print it. The paper tray holds 250 sheets, and you may manually extend it to load larger papers. Even for business people who cannot compromise on print quality, the printer’s highest resolution is 2400 x 600 dpi, which is more than enough.

Before you invest your money in a sublimation printer, you should think about its speed. Thankfully, the Brother HL-L2300D has given us an unbeatable option by offering to print twenty-six pages in under sixty seconds. This is extremely quick and exceeds expectations in terms of the services provided.

The next factor to consider is “print quality.” Owing to its excellent print quality, the Brother L2300D is the finest sublimation printer for small businesses. Texts, photos, font styles, graphics, and tones are all sharp and clear, with no banding or fadedness, providing you with a reliable and desirable printing experience.

Furthermore, after observing its quality, ease, and quiet operation, I found this model to be ideal for everyday printing. It is rather quiet in comparison to other models, which emit an obnoxious churning noise that disrupts my pleasant working environment. Furthermore, the printer’s energy-efficiency mode is impressive, as it has a self-power-saving capability that makes printing operations more profitable by lowering electricity expenses.

Read More: 15 Types of Printing Shirts, using sublimation papers for your sublimation projects

Ultimately, the Brother L2300D is the finest sublimation printer for beginners because it prints at an incredible speed and has good high resolution. Even novice users will find the UI simple to use. Because it is a monochromatic printer, it only uses black ink and has no other modern features, which is fine given its low cost. It also boasts a large loading area, an extensible tray, and wired connectivity ports, all of which contribute to a great printing experience.

7. Epson WF 7820 – Best Sublimation Printer for Hobby

Last, but certainly not least! The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-7820 is a far superior printer to the ET-27XX series in many aspects, with one notable exception: it prints with cartridges rather than ink tanks. The 4.3-inch color touchscreen is simple to operate, with a quick-access menu and buttons. It also has a duplexer, which allows you to print on both sides of a page.

The WF-7820 helps me increase my workflow by having a quick first-page-out time. It comes with a 50-sheet Additional Document Feeder (ADF), which comes in handy when printing multiple papers at once. It also has a 250-sheet paper capacity, so you won’t have to worry about running out of paper when printing drawings or decals.

According to my observations, Epson is the best sublimation printer for hobby as it was developed with mobile customers in mind. Hence, it includes a USB port. The WF-7820 also works with a wide range of media, including plain paper, card stock, labels, and envelopes, making it suitable for any sublimation business. It also has Wi-Fi capabilities, allowing you to connect it to the internet for online printing and scanning.

The best wide format sublimation printer is an Epson Workforce model, such as the WF-7820, which can print up to 13 inches wide and is also one of the most affordable Epson sublimation printers. A greater amount of effort is needed by this model to set up as it comes with cartridges while EcoTank reservoirs are much more efficient.

When considering the WF-7820 for sublimation, it offers a similar quality of print just like the ET-2720 as it has the identical four-ink process. However, you get the edge benefit of being able to generate wider 13-inch prints. This is really amazing since it is an economical choice within the range of Epson printers.

Read More: Best sublimation paper for t-shirts, different sublimation types, Softwares for sublimation printing

You’ll need a wide format sublimation printer like the WF-7820 if you’ll be printing t-shirts or other large products frequently. Overall, the WF-7820 is perfect if you want the best value for money printer and are ready to put up with the cartridge issue.

Final Words

If you’re seeking to purchase your first sublimation printer, there may appear to be an overwhelming number of options accessible to you. Most prefer to spend as little money as possible at first. In that scenario, the Epson series will require a little more effort from novices, but you’ll save money.

Summing up, in this article I have covered a great deal of information reached through a process of a thorough examination of several sublimation printers for beginners and small businesses, and a beginner can trust the above mentioned list. Starting with the basics and on to wide format printers. It is worth giving a special mention to:

• Epson ET-2720 is the ideal choice if you want to start sublimation printing for the lowest price feasible, albeit you will have to convert it for sublimation, voiding your warranty in the process.
• Epson ET-4700, on the other hand, is the best pick if you want the simplest guided setup process and the best print quality.

When you see the prints, you’ll agree that it’s well worth the money. I hope you found this guide useful!

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