11 Best Sublimation Printer For Beginners and Experts To Choose in 2024

Printing on different materials, including ceramic, cloth, and fabric, can be fun and is a new trend, and many people are attracted to it. You can print any design of your choice on your mug, t-shirt, or any material using a sublimation printer. In sublimation printing, the design is printed on the object through the sublimation paper and printer. Then, the object is put on the material. Using heat transfer, you can imprint designs on materials.

There are many sublimation printers available on the market, and it has become hard to choose what printers can be used for sublimation?

Dye sublimation printers are costly, and not everyone can afford them, so choosing the optimal one requires some knowledge. Sawgrass is the only brand that manufactures separate printers for sublimation. However, even Epson and HP need to be converted by washing the nozzle heads and replacing the ink cartridges with sublimation ink.

Either you need an economy sublimation printer like  Epson EcoTank ET-4760 or a best overall printer like WF-7720; we have listed the best sublimation printer for you in the following section.

Best Sublimation Printers For Beginners 

1. Epson WorkForce WF-7720 Printer-Best overall

Specifications

The Epson WF-7720, powered by Precision Core that prints stunning graphical images and documents with superior quality. It has a capacity of 500 sheets with a dual tray and an output tray of 125 sheets. Furthermore, it supports auto 2-sided printing that reduces the overall time to print documents. In addition, the printer offers an automatic document feeder having a capacity of 35 sheets. The sublimation printer has a moderate speed of 8 ppm black and six ppm for color prints, while it takes around 14 seconds to output its first print.

It offers vibrant colors with a dynamic range that ensures better photo quality with detailed frames. This sublime printer has a high resolution of 4800 DPI for printing and 1200 DPI for scanning with 24-bit color depth. It might not provide the best quality images but is capable of printing dye sublimation of great quality. Using Wi-Fi, you can easily connect the printer with your favorite device, including laptops and mobile phones. Additionally, you can connect the printer over the network using Ethernet. The WF-7720 offers a 4.3 inches touchscreen that allows you to navigate through the printer’s controls with a user-friendly interface. It uses efficient ink cartridges and makes printing cost relatively cheaper while retaining the quality of prints.

The printer for sublimation comes in a package that contains all the accessories to start printing right out of the box without requiring any extra tools. In short, the printer can print sublimations of superior quality in less time, making it best for medium-sized businesses and personal use.

Final Words

In the final analysis, The Epson WF-7720 proves to be the best sublimation printer as it is not only highly compatible. Still, it provides high-quality prints enough to sublimate them on any fabric easily. In addition, it takes little to no time to set up the printer in the best suitable settings for sublimation, and it accepts print sheets of various sizes. There may be some other printers that are better than WF-7720, but overall the composition of features makes this printer the top-notch choice for printing sublimations.

2. Sawgrass SG500-Best Sublimation Printer for professional use

Specifications

Most Epson or HP inkjet printers use ink cartridges and need to be maintained for sublimation printers. However, Sawgrass SG500 is specifically made for sublimation prints without requiring any maintenance or conversion, making printing costs low and quality high. The overall look of this device is simple, with a panel that contains an LED display, keys, and a few indicators. You can easily connect the printer using a USB cable, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet, giving you a wide variety of connections. Setting the device up requires no drivers and installation as you need to insert ink cartridges, provide a power source, and start using the printer.

This sublimation printing machine provides a high resolution of 4800 x 1200 DPI for printing and 1200 x 1200 DPI for scanning while printing at an exceptional speed. Furthermore, it comes with Sawgrass creative studio software that allows you to design your custom sublimation prints. The only downside to SG500 is that the ink cartridges it uses are costly, making the printing cost a bit high, so not everybody can afford it. Although the print’s quality is top-notch, you should opt for Epson or HP printers if you can’t afford the ink.

Final Words

To conclude, The Sawgrass SG500 is a professional sublimation printer that not only looks great but performs exceptionally well. It can imprint high-quality designs on different materials and accepts up to 8.5 x 51 inches of media. However, the cost of impressions of this printer is a bit higher, which makes this printer a bit expensive.

3. Epson Expression XP-15000 Printer-Best Sublimation printer for photo printing

Specifications

When you talk about the top-quality printer that can print sublimation images of the highest quality, there are no better printers than the Epson XP-15000. This printer has a resolution of 5760 x 1440 DPI that allows it to print photos of exceptional quality that outranks every other printer in terms of quality. It has a 2.4 inches LCD that will enable you to navigate through the controls and menus of the printer. Furthermore, it is a highly versatile printer as it supports multiple paper sizes, inks, and connectivity options, allowing users to freely print the document of their choice.

It doesn’t make any sound even when printing photos with clear pixels or frames. Since it is used to print exceptional quality photos on pages up to A6 size, the printing speed is slower. However, you won’t find any other printer better than this one in terms of quality and performance. You can connect the printer using Wi-Fi, USB, Wireless Direct, and Ethernet, and it is compatible with most modern devices, including smartphones and laptops. The ADF functionality of the printer makes larger printing jobs easier and simpler.

Moreover, the crisp and vibrant colors of exceptionally detailed and sharp prints make this printer stand on top in terms of quality. It requires no extra steps or tools to set up this printer as by just providing a power source and turning the printer on, you can start using it.

The only drawback is the cost of this printer, and if you have enough budget to buy ink cartridges as it uses 6 individual ink cartridges, you won’t find anything better than this.

Final Words

To summarize, the Epson XP-15000 is an extremely versatile printer whose printing quality outranks all other printers. The printer’s work allows you to print detailed designs and adhere them to fabric with sharp and vivid colors while making no sound. It uses 6 individual ink cartridges that are expensive, but if you can afford it, the prints you perform would last up to 10 years on any material.

4. Canon SELPHY CP1300-Best Compact Dye Sublimation Printer

Specifications

The Canon CP1300 prints photos of excellent quality on postcards, labels and stickers despite being in a compact size. You can create images up to 4 x 6 inches with or without borders depending upon your needs. The printer’s compact size makes carrying it around easy and allows you to take it anywhere you want with ease. It comes with an AC to DC converter inside the adapter and doesn’t require any drivers or tools to start working.

Furthermore, you can connect this printer with a PC, laptop, or mobile phone using a USB cable and wireless connection. It can produce prints with sharp, rich colors, and the accuracy of prints is outstanding. Although it may seem it can’t produce high-quality prints by the size of the printer, it is enough to produce sublimation prints on par with Epson or HP printers.

It offers a 3.2 inches LCD that shows the printer’s status and has a user-friendly interface that makes using this printer easy and simple. Furthermore, it uses dye-sublimation to print, which can produce high-quality prints, but the speed of prints is a bit low compared to other printers.

The downsides to this printer are the limitation of photo size as it can’t print more than 4 x 6 inches media size and the printer’s speed.

Final Words

In conclusion, the Canon CP1300 is a printer that uses dye sublimation inks without requiring conversion. As a result, it can produce high-quality prints at a fast speed and has a compact size that allows you to store and move them around with ease. However, you can’t print all types of media as it supports only up to 4 x 6 inches of media. Therefore, it will be the best choice for you to print 4 x 6 or fewer inches of media.

5. Brother MFC-J995DW Inkjet Printer-Best budget sublimation printer

Specifications

The Brother MFC-J995DW is the most affordable printer for sublimation due to its high-resolution prints and wide range of support of paper sizes. It comes with all the things required to start the printers, and all things, including power cord and ink cartridges, come in the box with the printer. Therefore, this printer can be easily set up without installing drivers or tools; all you need is to provide a power source and connect the printer to start printing. The printer offers a speed of 12 ppm for black prints and 10 ppm for color prints without compromising on the quality as it prints with a high resolution of 1200 x 600 DPI. Furthermore, it has a paper tray that can accommodate 150 sheets, and the printer features an auto-document feeder of 20 sheets which makes performing a load of prints within less time.

It has a 2.6 inches LCD touchscreen that helps you navigate through the controls and use the printer directly. You can connect the printer with any device of your choice, including PC, laptops, and smartphones, using Wi-Fi, Ethernet and a USB cable. It supports a wide range of paper sizes, starting from letters, small photos, and stickers to A4, A5, and A6 papers.

The printer is the ideal choice for economical printing or medium-sized workplaces as it prints high-quality photos and documents by efficiently utilizing ink, reducing the operating cost while printing at a fast speed. Overall, this printer might not be the best one but is the most budget-friendly choice for those looking for medium scale productions.

Final Words

In our experience, the Brother J995DW would be the ideal printer for medium-sized businesses that print sublimation designs in bulk. This printer’s cost per impression is quite lower while it prints high-quality designs, making it the best affordable printer. However, you need to first convert this printer by cleaning nozzle heads, getting rid of ink, and replacing it with sublimation ink. After that, you can use this printer to sublimate high-quality designs on different materials.

6. Epson Stylus C88+-Best Sublimation Printer For T-Shirts

Specifications

The Epson C88+ is an excellent color printer that prints exceptional quality images and photos at a speed of 14ppm and can print on any type of paper. This allows it to print stunning designs on any t-shirt with less effort. You can also use this printer to black documents when needed at extraordinary speed. Furthermore, it comes with ArcSoft Photo Impression that lets you edit and design images and photographs. It also allows you to scan photos to edit them even if you hadn’t printed them from this printer. The resolution it uses is 5760 x 1440 DPI that produces vibrant and vivid colors with the help of ink. You can connect this printer to your PC or laptop using a USB cable and start using it. It is compatible with both Apple and Windows, so you don’t have to worry about installing drivers when switching from one device to another.

This printer has an input tray of 120 sheets that can support up to 8 x 10 inches of the sheet, and it accepts all types of sheets, including plain paper, maple sheets, photo paper, glossy paper, sublimation paper and many more. Moreover, with DURAbrite ink cartridges, you can get the color prints of your choice with superior quality.

Final Words

To summarize, the Epson Stylus C88+ proves to be the best sublimation printer for t-shirts due to its high-quality ink cartridges and support of almost all types of sheets, including sublimation paper. To print design or stickers on a t-shirt, all the sheets required, either by size or type, is supported by this printer. The quality it provides is top-notch, and its print is detailed and sharp. Therefore, it would be the ideal choice when used for printing designs on t-shirts. The only drawback is that it can’t be used to print or sublimate on ceramic or hard surfaces.

7. HP OfficeJet Pro 9025-Best for all sublimation printer

Specifications

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 is an all-in-one printing machine that can print high-quality photos and is widely used for printing documents. It has an automatic document organizer that saves a lot of workload and helps you print documents in bulk with ease. Furthermore, it has an exceptional speed of 24 ppm for black prints and 20 ppm for color prints making it the best choice for getting rid of large scale workload. It also offers automatic 2-sided printing, which saves a lot of time when it comes to printing in bulk.

This hp sublimation printer offers an input tray of 500 sheets and an output tray of 100 sheets while providing an automatic document feeder of 35 sheets, making all of the printer’s work automatic. It allows smooth and easy connection with your most preferable device using a USB cable, Wi-Fi, Ethernet. It requires no drivers or tools to set up as it automatically installs all the dependencies required on connection.

This printer has a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 DPI that allows you to print detailed and sharp photos. With ADF trays, you can just sit back and start printing documents in bulks without any manual work for each print.

Although it is inkjet printing, it might need conversion to a sublimation printer by changing the ink cartridges. It can still be used to print all types of documents and photos without compromising the quality of prints. After the conversion, you can easily use this printer for sublimation prints of the highest quality.

The only drawback of this printer is its price and the cost of conversion to sublimation for sublimation prints, which makes this printer not affordable to everybody.

Final Words

To conclude, The HP OfficeJet 9025 is a printer that accepts a wide range of paper sizes that can accommodate almost all types of designs. It can be used to print sublimations in bulk amounts without compromising on the quality, but the overall cost of the printer would be a bit costly. However, if you will print from time to time and use the printer for personal use, then this one would be a great choice.

8.  Epson EcoTank ET-4760-Best economical sublimation printer

Specifications

The Epson ET-4760 provides great quality prints with a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 DPI and can reduce heavy workloads by using its fast and accurate printing. It comes with a 2.3 inches color touchscreen for easier navigation of menus. Furthermore, it uses a 4-ink cartridge system including cyan, magenta, yellow and black for vibrant and vivid colors. You can save up to 90% cost with low-cost replacement ink bottles. The ink that comes with the box can print up to 7500 pages of black prints or 5000 color pages before requiring a refill. It supports a wide range of paper sizes from 3.5 inches, 5 inches to letters, A5, A6, A3 and A3+ papers.

You can do all of your work in less time due to the paper tray of 250 sheets with 30 sheets auto document feeder with auto 2-sided printing. It can be connected to PC, laptops, smartphones using Wi-Fi, a USB cable, Ethernet or Wi-Fi Direct.

The downsides of this printer are that the quality of prints can be better, and the printer is overpriced compared to other printers on our list.

Final Words

In summary, the Epson ET series is known for printing high-quality photos that are detailed and produce vibrant colors. In addition, it can save up to 90% cost by using low-cost replacement inks that produce the same result as ink cartridges. We have tried using this printer for sublimation, and it proves to be capable of printing large and complex designs with high quality. However, better options are available, and the quality could have been better; it would be a great choice if it was your first time sublimating designs.

You can also purchase this item from eBay.

9. Epson Artisan 1430 Color Printer-Best sublimation printer for heat transfer

Specifications

The Epson Artisan prints borderless photos of high-resolution up to 13 x 19 inches and has a sleek, modern design giving an aesthetic look to the printer. It uses 6-ink Claria ink that produces the best results with detailed graphics in every photo you print. Furthermore, the prints last longer up to 4 times when compared to standard prints due to the ink it uses. By using modern printing technology, it can print with a resolution of up to 5760 x 1440 DPI. The details of print are quite high as ink droplets as small as 1.5 Pico liters are printed. You can connect this printer with PC, laptops and smartphones using a USB cable, LAN cable, and wireless connections such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi-Direct.

It has an automatic document feeder that feeds papers for printing without any manual work. This heat transfer sublimation printer has a speed of 9.5 ppm for black prints and 9 ppm for color prints and supports auto 2-sided printing reducing the time to print documents and photos. It has a color touchscreen of 4.3 inches that helps you navigate through menus and even allows gesture navigation. You can directly print photos of your choice on the CDs/DVDs as it has a CD/DVD tray.

The only drawback of this printer is that it takes a lot of space and is quite heavy when compared to other printers.

Final Words

In the final analysis, the Epson Artisan 1430 prints the best designs at a fast speed and by using heat transfer, you can imprint designs on t-shirts, mugs or other materials with ease. It even allows you to directly print the photos on CDs/DVDs without requiring heat transfer. However, the printer takes a lot of space and is quite heavy, and if you don’t have the printer around too much, you can opt for this one.

Check out the sublimation ink and other sublimation products compatible with Epson Artisan from HeatPressNation.

10. WorkForce WF-7710 Printer-Best wide format sublimation printer

Specifications

The Epson WF-7710 is an older version of WF-7720 and almost has all the same features except for some minor changes like this one has only one tray while 7720 has two trays. You can choose either one according to your preference. Both need to be converted by cleaning nozzle heads and injecting the sublimation ink in cartridges to make them the best sublimation printers. Once this process is done, you can’t go back to inkjet printing, and the printer’s warranty will become void.

Other than that, the printer offers an ADF and comes with a 250 sheet paper tray. It is powered by Precision Core that can easily print borderless images up to 13 x 19 inches without compromising on the quality. Furthermore, it allows easy and smooth connectivity with PC, smartphones and laptops using a USB cable, Ethernet and wireless communication. You can use this printer for both office and personal use, and it is the cheapest way to print sublimations. It has a 4.3 inches touchscreen display and uses 80 per cent less power to minimize the operating cost.

The only downside is that once you convert the inkjet printer into a sublimation printer, you can’t go back, and the warranty becomes void.

Final Words

In short, the WF-7710 is an older version of 7720, and the main difference between them is that this one contains only one ADF tray. There is not much difference in terms of quality and speed between these two printers. However, you need to convert it to a sublimation printer that will not only make the warranty void, but you can’t also turn the printer back into an inkjet printer.

11. Canon PIXMA TS3520 Printer- Best sublimation printer for square photo printing

Specifications

With PIXMA TS3520, you can print crisp, sharp documents and vibrant, vivid borderless photos up to 8.5 x 14 inches. It is easy to set up the printer and takes little to no time before starting using the printer. You can print from your computer, phone or laptop after connecting the printer via Wi-Fi, a USB cable, Ethernet. It comes with the Canon app that lets you customize your designs and print directly from the software. Furthermore, a button panel is available that is simple and has a 1.5 inches LCD that helps you walk through the process of printing.

It takes less space, and you can place and move it anywhere you want as it is lightweight and made up of sturdy material. The rear paper tray lets you load plain or photo paper into the printer and automatically feeds the paper if it’s available. It uses a FINE HYBRID ink system that utilizes the ink efficiently and accurately to print the photos with vibrant colors.

The only drawback is that it can’t accept large papers, which is quite reasonable because of the printer’s cost as it is cheaper than most of the printers.

Final Words

To summarize, the Canon PIXMA series produces high-quality prints that can be used to adhere to fabrics using heat transfer. Due to its compact size, moving the printer around isn’t much of a hassle. However, the printer doesn’t support large designs as you can’t print using large sublimation papers. It can print a maximum of up to 14 inches of media and accepts 8.5 x 14 inches sublimation paper.

Buyer’s Guide – Best Sublimation Printers

Sublimation printing is a method of printing or copying a design, photo on fabric, cloth using ink and heat transfer. For this, the design is first printed on a sublimation paper using a sublimation printer, and then with heat transfer, the design on paper is transferred onto fabric or any given material. The sublimation ink used in this process turns into a gas and adheres to the fabric making the design printed on the fabric.

Normal printers can’t be used for this process as you need sublimation inks, and inkjet printers like Sawgrass or HP can’t be used. To perform sublimation prints, they need to be converted first by cleaning the nozzle heads and then adding the sublimation inks into cartridges. After this, you can’t convert your printer back, and your printer warranty becomes void.

It is a cheaper way of printing sublimation prints, and there are printers available that are made to be used for sublimation printing. Here are the factors that you should know in a printer for sublimation prints.

Cost Per Impression

The cost of ink usage and prints when printing a single design can vary from printer to printer, and you need to charge accordingly. Choosing a printer that can efficiently utilize the ink and uses the heat transfer at the right pace can help you reduce the cost of printing a design on fabric. If you are looking to go into business, you should carefully select as if the ink isn’t utilized efficiently, you would suffer a loss. The more economical a printer is, the less operating cost it will be. That is why many users opt for an inkjet printer, as after converting into a sublimation printer, the operation cost of the printer is comparatively less than other printers while the quality remains the same.

Print Size

This is a crucial part when choosing a sublimation printer as if you only need to print text with graphics on the fabric, then you won’t need a large sheet size, but when talking about large design, you would need a large sheet size. The printer you choose should accept sheet sizes up to A3+ paper when talking about complex and large designs. You can choose according to your requirements, as the printer specifies the sheet size it accepts. It not only eases your work but also helps in transferring the design accurately onto fabric or any material.

Resolution

The resolution is the print aspect that describes the print’s quality, and it is measured in DPI (dot per inch). You must choose the printer with optimal resolution as the quality of prints may vary. For sublimation printing, the minimum resolution is 700 x 700 DPI, and you can choose the printer that supports up to 1200 DPI or greater to print designs of the highest quality. If you choose a low-resolution printer, the quality of prints after transferring on the fabric, the material would be poor.

Connectivity

When it comes to connectivity, you should have a wide range of options to connect the printer, as it can be annoying if your printer has only one way to connect. The smoothness and ease of connection are important whether printing, scanning, heat transferring, or copying. You should be able to connect the printer with your favorite devices using a USB cable, Ethernet, or wireless connections such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, etc.

Using A Sublimation Printer

After choosing the best sublimation print that meets all your needs and requirements, you need to know how to use a sublimation printer. You must keep all the factors in your mind as they may change depending upon your printer. It is recommended that you tend to the instruction manual of the printer you bought and use it accordingly. Follow these simple steps to start using the printer:

1. Turn on the Printer.
2. Go to settings and check them.
3. Adjust the settings accordingly from the printer panel to make sure they are the best for sublimation prints.
4. Place the sublimation printer for print.
5. Get your first test.

You can adjust the settings after getting the test design and adjusting them according to your preferences. Now, follow these steps to sublimate successfully on fabric or material of your choice:

1. Select The Image: This is done on the device; after editing and finalizing the design, you want to imprint on shirts, cloth or fabric and select it.
2. Start Printing: Once you have selected the image, print it on the desired sheet, such as sublimation paper.
3. Adjust Paper And Object: The paper should be fixed so that the design falls perfectly on the sublimation paper. You should fix it with tape or paste to ensure that it doesn’t move.
4. Placing the Object: The object should be placed on the sublimation plate with a fixed blade so that heat transfer can accurately transfer the ink to the fabric.

Comparison of Sawgrass, HP, and Epson Sublimation Printers

The major difference between Sawgrass, HP, and Epson sublimation printers is that the sawgrass printers are designed for sublimation printing while Epson printers can be converted into sublimation printers. The HP printers are expensive but produce quality prints.

During the heat transfer process in sublimation printing, you need either a wide format to print on large-size paper or high-resolution printing with fine details. Usually, three types of printers are most common in sublimation printing, and HP, Epson, and Sawgrass are the top-rated sublimation printers.

But what if you need to know which one is specific for what kind of use?

Here is a quick comparison for your better understanding and the differences that you may feel while having one of them.

• Sawgrass Printers
  In sublimation printing, the only sublimation printers are Sawgrass printers. These printers have only been developed for sublimation printing, and they are specially designed for the heat transfer process. The two models of saw grass printers are SG400 and SG800, with the only difference in print size and bypass tray. The former can print 8.5X14 size while the latter has printability for 11X17 and 13X19 by using a bypass tray that you have to buy separately.
  Also, the sawgrass cartridges are the most expensive ones among all other sublimation inks, and only professionals use these printers.
• Epson printers
  Conversely, Epson printers are not sublimation printers, but we convert them into sublimation printers by using sublimation inks. They are further categorized into two types: either they use ink cartridges or have large ink tanks where the ink is just added for bulk printing. But one thing that is important to understand is that when you convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer, you void the warranty, and you can only avail the support from a sublimation ink provider.
• HP printers
  Hp printers are initially economical but come up with expensive inks and running costs that you may feel over the years. Also, the running cost is high, and so is the maintenance. Further, the hp printers use heat during the process as Sawgrass printers, while the Epson printers use a piezo head to spray the ink on the area to be printed. The conversion cost is high and not everyone can afford an HP printer, these are mostly used for dye sublimation printing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can any printer do sublimations?

No, not all printers are suitable for sublimation; even inkjet printers need to be converted into sublimation printers before you can start printing sublimations.

What materials can I sublimate on?

You can sublimate designs on PVC, polyester fabrics, poly-cotton, ceramic and aluminium.

How long does sublimations last on T-shirts?

The sublimation can last up to 10 years when a high-quality printer and ink is used.

What is the best sublimation printer to get?

By research and experience, Epson 7720 is the topmost sublimation printer that comes with 80% of ink saving and eases of use and economy with efficiency.

Can I convert any Epson printer to a sublimation printer?

No, you can only convert tank based printers into sublimation printers when they are brand new and have not been used before.

Conclusion

In the end, sublimation printers are used to transfer the design onto fabric, cloth, wood, or any material using heat transfer. The quality of the prints and the ability to print using sublimation ink is important, and you have to choose the printer that can do that. All the reviewed products are the best choice for sublimation prints, and you can compare your needs and choose accordingly. In our experience:

• Best overall-Epson WF-7720 is the best printer that prints high-quality prints and can be used as a sublimation printer due to its smooth connection and supports sheet sizes of a wide range.
• Best Budget- Brother MFC-J995DW is the most affordable printer that can be used as a sublimation printer that delivers high-quality prints at a fast speed and has less operating cost.
• Best Compact Sublimation Printer- Canon SELPHY CP1300 is the best compact sublimation printer that uses dye sublimation directly without conversion, unlike Epson and HP printers.