Very Good But Slow
Written: Sep 12 '00 (Updated Oct 01 '00)
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Pros: Very good quality prints. Photo like.
Cons: Painfully slow and not economical for text printing
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| Ricer_X's Full Review: Alps MD 1300 Dye Sublimation Printer |
I've owned this printer (MD1300) for about 2 years and it has it's fair share of ups and downs as with most products. I bought this for the quality of printing photographic pictures. Unlike ink jets that use ink, this printer uses ribbons. This process makes printing very slow but the quality of the prints easiliy make up for the lack of speed. Also unlike ink jets where you can actually see the little dots of ink, by using ribbons, you get solid images. If the quality of the digital photo is very good, this printer will print a copy that can sometimes be mistaken for a real photograph. The ribbon choices also make this a desirable printer for making amazing eye catching holiday cards, presentation pieces or just about anything you want others to notice. Here are the ribbons that may be used with this printer:
Standard Ribbons:
-Black, Blue, Magenta, Yellow.
Specialty Ribbons:
-Photo Blue, magenta, Yellow.
-White for transparencies or dark colored paper.
-Metallic Blue, Magenta, Gold, Silver.
-Multicolored Ribbon(Blue, Magenta, Yellow, all in one)
-Standard Finishing and Photo Finishing Ribbons
The finishing ribbons are used to protected the print. It's basically a clear coat that covers you print which also gives it a somewhat photo like shine when used with regular paper. Another feature is that the print comes out dry. You can get it wet and it still won't run. The price of the ribbons have gone up a bit. I used to pay 3-4 for standard ribbons and now its about 6-7 per ribbon. The other ribbons have gone up accordingly also. The price for photo paper has basically stayed the same, about $10 for 20 sheets.
As I stated earlier, there is a flip side to owning this printer. First and foremost is the speed or should I say, lack of it. It can easily take over 10 minutes for a photo quality color 8 1/2 x 11 print but the quality is great. The only other minuses are 1. It's a fairly noisy printer, especially when it changes ribbons. 2. If you're using it to print text, all i can say is DON'T! This printer goes through ribbons as if it were an endless supply. This is because, unlike printing images where most of the ribbon will be used, printing text will only use a third of the width of the ribbon. It will not rewind the ribbon and use the other 2/3 which basically will be wasted. However, the ribbons are very thin and do last a long time. I've had this printer for about 2 years and only changed 3 color ribbons and 2 black. Just invest in a cheap ink jet for text printing.
I'm giving it a fairly high rating because it's a great printer for my intended use (printing color images) and not text. Also the reason why my price is lower than retail is because I got lucky at an online auction.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 225.00
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
Ricer_X
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Member: Henry Hue
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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