Let’s start with the DTC1000. This is a nice little printer that provides an ideal card printing solution for very small businesses, small schools, and small local governments that need a simple, reliable, and affordable means of printing and encoding photo ID cards. Although the DTC1000 is a and reliable printer, it does not have a display screen to inform you what is wrong if anything were to happen to it. All it would have is an LED located in the power button which would blink when it would need service. Another reason to look into a higher model is that the DTC1000 does not offer a warranty that would send you a replacement in the case of its failure to work. The higher models offer a warranty that sends you a temporary printer while yours is being fixed so you are not left without one for a week or more.
This brings me to your next Fargo option which is only a few hundred dollars more (MSRP) and comes with many more options such as a beautiful display screen to help with troubleshooting.
This is the DTC4000 which offers field upgradability, so it can adapt to changes you need when you need them, and the options to add dual sided printing functionality, magnetic stripe encoding, HID Proximity encoding (125 kHz), iCLASS contactless encoding (13.56 MHz), contact chip encoding, Ethernet connectivity, and a high-capacity ID card hopper.
The next step up is the DTC4500 which offers professional quality, full color ID cards and security encoding--all in one pass. Also, operation and supply replacement are both intuitive, making extensive training unnecessary. This printer is only about $300 more than the previous model and, can print, encode, fluorescent print, and laminate security cards (single- or dual-sided) with a very fast print speed. Its superior performance makes it ideal for users who need the high volume print runs where quality and security are most important. Another great feature is that the Ethernet comes standard with this model.
The final printer in which I will be discussing is the HDP5000. It is backed with a lifetime print head warranty and two-year warranty on everything else. High reliability and durability lowers your total cost of ownership, and affordable pricing makes High Definition Printing available to practically any business. If the image of your company is high on your priority list, this is the printer for you. It offers dual-sided printing, single- or dual-sided lamination, and card encoding technologies which are all field-upgradeable features. It also offers as a standard that cards, ribbons, and overlaminates come in cartridges that load quickly and easily. This printer offers many other useful options that can be described to you through one of our sales associates. If you are at all interested, I highly advise you to contact one of our representatives, even if it is to just compare printers and prices.
-Doug
