Starting out - EPSON L1800 or SC-P600 mainly for Socks

[Vankata]

Hello,
I am going to start a sock sublimation business and I've spent the whole day trying to decide which printer to buy, what ink to use, what is a CISS etc.

I've read a lot of good comments on the P600 but then I saw some great ones for the EcoTank line and how much easier it is without having to worry about Ink Errors, setting up a CISS system and firmware issues. The only option for my country (Bulgaria) is L1800.

Both the P600 and L1800 are priced pretty similarly and I can't decide with which one should I go with. Do you think that as a complete beginner the EcoTank line will be a better fit as I've never dealt with Sublimation printing and do you think that the P600 will perform better by having more colors on Socks or the difference can be only seen on mugs and other harder objects?


Not sure if this will also help the decision but I will be using a South Korea sublimation paper that actually has no brand but I've been told it's a good quality one. As for inks I was planning to import Sublinova Inks from the UK as I can't find a reliable distributor here. What Sublinova ink would the P600 and L1800 use and would the L1800 be cheaper to run than a P600 with a CISS.

Thank you!

[pw66]

If you are lucky enough to be in an region that sells the L1800 then that is your obvious choice ( we can't get the L1800 in Western Europe - if we could it would probably be the main choice). It is based on the old ( pre eco tank ) Epson 1500w, so is a proven reliable option. Not having to mess around with a ciss is worth its weight in gold.

Fabric is far to 'low res' to benefit from the extra colours - arguably four colours are enough.

The L1800 is probably no cheaper or dearer to run than the P600, but you are only buying 6 inks at a time. When using non oem ink like sublinova then the cost per print is so small that it makes very little difference from one printer to the next.

Ink Experts, who post on this site, stock the necesary Inktec Sublinova Smart, which is the correct ink for both models.