Sub £200 presses? New (unbranded) or second-hand (branded)

[LVS]

Afternoon all,

Have been searching the web high & low for the past few days but with no luck.
Im looking to get a flat heat press to do vinyl onto garments and also sublimation printing; have decided I'll go for an A4 Ricoh printer setup (probably in a bundle deal with a mug press) but it still means I'll need to source a flat bed heat press.

Many of the presses from recommended suppliers are £400+ and as this is going to start as a hobby/weekend thing and see where it goes, don't feel comfortable investing in such expensive equipment outlays to start with.

I have seen on ebay secondhand branded heat presses (George Knight etc.) popping up for under £200, would the rule of thumb be something like this would be better than an 'ebay' unbranded new heat press for £100 to £150 from shops on there ?
Or are some of the ebay presses from the likes of signzworld and pixmax of an okay and useable quality to get started with ? I have read some reviews suggesting they're great for the first month & then fail, while others seem to be happy with their purchases after several months

Any help or opinions would be appreciated, as itching to get going

thanks,
Luke

[logobear]

you pays your money .....
My hunch is that the branded press will last you longer, and SHOULD retain its value if it doesn't work out for you.
Buy cheap, buy twice!

[viccar]

I think it depends a lot on how often you are going to use it. I use my press nearly every day for 1-5 items, and have a cheap £160 one (Chinese red one) its lasted nearly 2 years so far. But if I was going to be pressing all day everyday then I would be going for a better one. I might be lucky but mine doesn't vary in temp much even at the corners (less than 5c) and is nice and level.

[smo]

Personally i'd buy a second hand Adkins (usually Xpres or TMT branded) or George Knight - much much better quality presses than the cheapy ones.

[Dave271069]

If your testing the water. Then the cheap chinese press for under 200 are fine imho but if your hobby turns into a business then you will want something a little more solid like adkins etc . Ive had my chinese press for over a year and its going fine. Just need a infa red heat tester to get excat temps. But its ok for now

[Justin]

Approx. £100 will get you a small A4 press from Coral graph, these are fine to get you started and I often use mine for smaller jobs to save firing up the Adkins

You can't expect the same build quality but I'm pleased with mine.

[LVS]

Thanks everyone for the replies, really helpful.
To start with it would only be used a few times a week, I would only be using it around my existing job (usually out of the house 12 hours a day) so would only be light usage to begin with until I get the hang of it more & decide what I want to do. While I read alot into it (such as the varying 'actual' temps from the chinese presses), I was very wary of gonig that route but on the other hand - didnt want to buy secondhand as a 'noobie' and risk getting a faulty press (and not realise as I didnt know what to expect/look for)

Justin, hadn't ever heard of Coralgraph until you mentioned them, but a huge thanks! They do a 230 x 300 mm press for £130 on their site (possibly slightly cheaper on their ebay) which looks like it could be perfect to get started with - and then move up to a better brand/ bigger press later in the year. The only decision to make now is whether to buy the 230x300 or invest slightly more on a 380x380 for £200 (realising I would only be able to sublimate upto A4 size, but could do bigger vinyl graphic designs from tte start off - so a slightly larger press could be useful)

Thanks,
Luke

[New Horizons]

I can put my hand up and say I have only ever used 'Chinese' heat presses and apart from a voltage regulator blowing on a cap press, I have had no real problems with them. My own personal preference is for swingaway presses, which seriously limits my potential for purchasing European 'brand name' presses as many of those tend to be clams. in the case of one European manufacturer (Aadkins), on two seperate occasions they haven't even bothered to respond to pre sales enquiries, so they don't get my business - or my money.

The cheap Chinese presses do tend to be 'throwaway items' if you are unfortunate enough to have the main heater element go in them, but having said that, the cost of spares for the 'brand name' presses can often work out more than the press is worth. That especially so for the American presses, where you would also have the international shipping costs and the import duties added onto the overall costs.