Is the best DTG Printer for Screen Printers the DTG M4 or M2?

We talk to screen printers on a daily basis that want to expand their custom t-shirt business by being able to offer smaller quantities, more color options and faster turnaround time. The answer to “What is the best dtg printer?” depends on their business, their existing equipment and how they intend on using a DTG printer.

First the basics:

The “DTG” in DTG Printer stands for direct-to-garment. A direct to garment printer is one that prints directly onto a garment, usually a t-shirt, form a computer rather than producing an image on a screen or to a vinyl cutout. DTG Printer, by the way, is both type of printer and a BRAND. Here is that website: www.dtgprintermachine.com

DTG Printers have been around for years, but until recently the ones that are suitable for bigger shops, online custom t-shirt businesses or screen printers have been either too expensive, too slow, or the quality just wasn’t good enough.

If you are a screen printer reading this, you are probably motivated to consider DTG now because you’re losing customer to smaller DTG only shops or to those big online retailers because they can easily and profitably sell 2 shirts, 5 shirts or 25 shirts at a time and make a profit.

So that brings us back to what’s the best dtg printer!

The quick answer is, it depends. It depends on the following:

Demand – Not just demand now, but over the next 2-5 years.
1. Do you currently turn away short run jobs?
2. Are you outsourcing smaller, >50 piece jobs? If so, how much have you paid?
3. Screen Print Life – how old is your current screen printing equipment? Is it reasonable to expect your DTG Printer to take a larger and larger part of your workload over the years?
4. Your Business Model – You’re probably going after those larger jobs right now. What would happen if you also could profitably do jobs like; family reunions, charity team events, last minute jobs?
5. Your Budget – of course.

Best DTG Printer – M2

If short run, full color prints are important to offer, but you’re not planning on making it a core part of your business model, then the M2 might be the best dtg printer for you. With an MSRP of just under $28K and a lease option under $600/month, it won’t take many sales to make this t shirt printing machine pay for itself. It can print on 2 shirts at a time, and do 6×10 full color images images on 2 light t-shirts in under 1 ½ minutes. Printing on dark tees take longer, but the results are incredibly high quality.

Best DTG Printer – M4

The M4 is basically an M2, but with a larger platen system that will let you set up and print 4 full sized tees at a time instead of 2. With the included RipPro software, that means that you load 4 shirts and go do something productive while they print – like sell more shirts – and so make more shirts/money in less time.

This machine can easily grow into a cornerstone of any custom t-shirt business, so if your plans include doing away with the chemicals, mess, set up times, quantity restrictions and all those other disadvantages of screen printing, this is the best DTG Printer for you!