Anyone looking for a specific kind of electronic office implement, such as an ID card printer, will necessarily look for the "best", the most "affordable", or the newest one being sold.
These qualifiers, however, are from the marketers working for the brand, and not necessarily what the product may be for you. This is why when picking out any kind of ID card printer, or anything else, for that matter, you must consider qualifiers that appeal and work for you, and not simply subscribe to what marketers are using to describe their brand.
Price points
A common thought is that the best on the market is also usually the most expensive. While this may be true in most cases, people should still try to look at the price from more than one angle. Even if the product has a rather high price point, try to see if there are other features that give anything that can be deemed as a return on investment, such as affordable printer ink refills, high output volume, and other such things which, when taken into consideration, make the initial cost of the item quite reasonable.
Flexibility
This is the age of technologies and innovations which do more than just one thing. This means that any new machinery you purchase should be able to do something more for you than just one thing. Granted that ID badge printers cannot really be expected to also print out documents, they should also be at least able to incorporate some other function related to creating ID badges, such as encoding on magnetic stripes, ID lamination, and other such features that make the product an even bigger help to your operations.
Reliability
The poor performance of some brands has led some people to believe that products that do more than one task, such as printers that scan, print, and even photocopy, are prone to frequent breakdowns and malfunctions. What many fail to consider are the other factors that contribute to the breakdown and malfunction of the product, such as nonstop use, wear and tear, and improper maintenance. There are manufacturers, however, that consider all of these factors when building their product, making them much more reliable than the rest. Try to check if the item you are eyeing was made with such considerations.
Overall performance
Some brands believe that with all things considered, such as cost, effort to make, and marketability, sacrifices have to be made. These sacrifices, sadly, are reflected in the performance of these brands. There are printers with astonishing rates of output, but with negligible print quality. Other ID printers can produce excellent image quality, but at a snail's pace. Others still are able to incorporate both speed and good quality, but tend to suffer frequent breakdowns and then require costly repairs.
Wondering how to pick out an ID card printer that suits you best? Call 1-800-667-1772 now to talk to one of our professionals, or if you prefer, you may also reach us via e-mail.
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