Best PVC Card Printers with Buying Guide and Reviews

• Better image quality– Plastic cards printed on a PVC card printer have a good image quality. The cards printed digitally are sharper in quality and also have the option for color printing. Along with crisp images, the text is far more legible and clear.
• Protection– the cards printed digitally have layers of the hologram on them. These cards are also tamper-resistant and can’t be altered easily. PVC printed cards thus can’t be reproduced easily.
• Durability– The ID cards printed digitally are not prone or less prone to getting destroyed under heat exposure or when coming in contact with any liquid chemical. The lamination provided on these cards is also resistant to UV rays and water, making it last longer.

Buying Guide for PVC Card Printers

The use of ID cards is not confined to just the corporate sector. ID cards are used in educational institutions, the government sector, even in transits and more. Therefore, it is important to know how much and what quality ID cards you need to print so that you can pick the correct printer as per your usage. Here is a list of things you must consider:

• Technology the printer uses 

PVC ID card printers have two technologies, one being DTC or Direct to Card, the other being reverse transfer (retransfer). Direct to Card technology includes dye-sublimation, where the print head gives heat to every ribbon’s panel so that the ink is converted into vapor.

The vapor diffuses on the card’s surface. The Direct to Card method is effectively fast and gives the best results with monochrome or color images. The resolution obtained in this method goes up to 300 dots per inch (DPI). This printing method leaves a white border around the printed card.

Coming to the retransfer or reverse transfer method, it also uses a technology similar to the Direct to Card printing process. With the retransfer printing method, printing over the edges is possible. It does not leave any white spaces on the printed cards. Retransfer method allows one to print on uneven surfaces too (proximity or smart cards). In comparison to DTC methods, the retransfer method is slower and gives a resolution up to 600 dots per inch.

• Hologram layers and lamination

A few PVC card printers come with the lamination feature along with encoding. Lamination provides a protective layer making the card long-lasting. While few printers provide a thin film, some might also give a thick layer. Naturally, the thicker lamination coating is better and stays for long. In addition to these features, the hologram layers provide additional security to the cards and maintain confidentiality.

• Connectivity

While the standard PVC printers come with USB 2.0 interface, other models support Ethernet connections that allow direct printing. The Ethernet connectivity gives multiple users the liberty to work on the same printer from different corners of the office. Besides connectivity, reliable software is also an important aspect. Compatible software can be installed and made available for the users.

Concluding Words

As discussed earlier in this article, PVC ID Card printers are important in nearly every sector of work. Along with that, it is important to keep the quality of the ID cards up to the mark, which will hold an image for the organization or an institution. Thus, this guide is put together to help you with buying the right PVC card printer for your needs.