Alps MD 5000 Thermal Printer

Alot of people thing bigger is better, in this case it's not . If you purchase this printer for printing photo's .You've made the right choose . Alps MD-5000 can be upgraded to a dye sublimation mode/printer, using an upgrade kit and photographic ribbon-style cartridges, in which ink dyes are vaporized (the colors are turned into a gas), and then sublimated into special paper-------- ( 5000 md (P))
Great for photo's . but most people purchase these's for making decals . Although, you can use seven ink cartridges at a time . it's no big deal . I guess it depends on you reason for purchasing , if you want to make decals I recomend the 1000 md .
Follow the steps below to perform the print head check.

This test applies to the Micro Dry series MD-1000/1300/5000(P)only.

Turn the printer off.
Load a sheet of white laser paper.
Press and hold the "Power" & "Ready/FF" buttons at the same time.
Release the "Power" button, and keep pressing the Ready/FF" button.
Right after you release the "Power" button, count 4 seconds, and release the Ready/FF" button.
Immediately, press and release the "Ready/FF" button one last time.
The printer should start printing a series of letters, numbers, horizontal lines and a black solid bar at the bottom of the sheet.
Once this test page is completed, turn the printer off to stop the test.

Now I have done my research... and discovered that if you want a vibrant color, cool metallics, and white. This is the printer! You can put an undercoat of white and apply this to any color paper, EVEN BLACK AND TRANSPARENT! Then print color over it and get an OUTSTANDING COLOR! I printed on black most of the time, and always got good results. Installing the printer was not fun though, but after a half an hour, I ahd it workign fine, and even after my research the quality of the print outs amazed me. Yes I see that some may depressed with this printers quality in the actual print outs, but you see many colors all close together, for example, for light blue, you will see white undercoat, with blue lines through it. It is like magazine prints and comix book prints. That is what they remind me of. VERY perffessional, and very good color quality! This printer also does good text as well as color. So if you want a really rare printer, that prints crazy colors, this is it!

THe printer ripped three ribbons in succession and failed to print anything at all. I have opened a disute and I am returning the printer for a refund. It is costing me $50 just to screw around with a broken printer..

This review is not about the printer. It is the shipping issue. If this is not packaged correctly, you will have a broken printhead which may cost $350 to repair. The correct way to ship these printers is on a pink sheet of paper called Quick start and application guide. it states Reinstall Carriage Packing Material Before Shipping. Failure to follow these instructions will result in expensive damage to your printer. I just received my printer broken. I am so dissapointed.

If anyone out there knows how to repair the printhead, please reply to hiteverdugo@comcast.net

Epson C88 is a inkjet, if that printout gets wet the ink runs! And dont hand a photo from one of these to anyone under 5 years of age or chances are they will be wearing the ink! Even my grandparents used to end up wearing ink all over their fingers!

ALPS MD 5000 print out a very thin waterproof continuous tone layer using a heat process called dye sublimation. You can even compare this to a inkjet. You might get better resolution from some cheap inkjet but there are also better dye sublimation printers out there. For the average enthusiast this printer is too versatile to ignore. You can even transfer these photos to other items such as mugs. There should be no scores below average for this printer. One of the main downsides is they are delicate, have too many moving parts and have some slight banding effects (in 2 directions) that I did not notice with my Primera Pro Elite Dye Sub Printer. This printer is compatible with XP and has decent color rendition.

What I love about this printer is that it prints in white and the ink dries instantly and does not fade. No other printer in its price range can do what the ALPS printers can do. Yes, it is slow, but worth the wait. The colors are perfectly registered. I have one brand new printer, but have bought two used printers from eBay to fall back on. It's too bad that the Japanese factory was closed because it would have cost them too much to bring everything up to EPA standards. If you have a need to print in white and can get your hands on one of these unique printers, do not hesitate. You will not be sorry. As far as the supplies, there is another company planning to produce the wax transfer ribbons and refill old ALPS cartridges--so SAVE YOUR EMPTY CARTRIDGES!

EBAY is a perfect place for fraud!
EBAY is aid fraud!
EBAY only cares about their percentage,dont you?
EBAY could have been a perfect trading domain if EBAY police its traders.
EBAY could have been ideal place to buy and sell if EBAY has'nt been ignorant about enforcing it's rules pertaining to fraudulent sellers and buyers.
EBAY is a comlete joke!i have read before at several forums that makes mockery of EBAY for not enforcing it's rules against buyers that perpetrates fraud.

read this feedback:

Terrible seller. I cannot get my package from FEDEX Buyer:
texas_boy_ut_ee ( 21 [Feedback score is 10 to 49] )
Feb-29-08 10:07
-- (#320219857524)
Ebay THIEF! Seller disappeared after payment was made. All Buyers stay away!!! Buyer:
04z71 ( 69 [Feedback score is 50 to 99] )
Jan-28-08 17:03


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Reply by rootchie2007 (Feb-20-08 04:59):#320208255282

EBAY will not stamp out registered members with multiple accounts.
EBAY did nothing about my complain.
pls,pls pls do not send me one of those stupid response telling to contact buyer or refer me to paypal and dont be lazy not to read all proofs i have posted.nothing has come out of this.
convince me by enforcing your rules

What a printer. With 2400 DPI resolution, this desktop printer well do things you can only dream of. With the dye sub feature, you can use the blue dye sub cartridges,( heat transfer is at a higher temp.), and your photos will be like ones you bought at the store. Greeting cards, iron on transfers, decals, this printer does it all, at a price reserved for more expensive devices.

The alps printer is one of the best you will ever find it dose much more than a ink jet or laser you can print in gold silver metalics white and much more the ink wont run fade crack it is just a real great printer it dose come with some down falls it is slow loud very temperate but once you got it dialed in then there is no stoping what you can make so if you ever get a chance to work with one go for it and you will just be amazed with it i own two as of now and there is not a day that goes by that i dont make some kind of neat art work iron on for tee shrits stickers decals o just too much to list so keep your eyes open if you luck up on one for under 500.00 bucks and prints with no trubbles get it and let yourself be amazed

The printer did not work, and I had no options available to tell anyone until this Review . I used the Alps Printer that I had purchased for many years, until it failed, and thats the reason I wanted another.

All The Alps Printers Are A Thing Of The Pass. You Can Not Get Them Fixed Anylonger Or You Can Not Buy The Inks For Them As Of Dec. 2006. Better Keep All The Supplies Because You Will Not Get Them Anymore!!!!

This is a specialty printer and not made for your average person printing out home pictures. If you are that guy, go with an HP or Epson. On the other hand, if you know the importance of dye sublimation and metallic, foil, and white inks than you also probably know you need one of these because there is no other printer in the consumer market anywhere in the world that has all those features.

This printer prints the most beautiful photos and enables you to use gold and silver foil for enhancements. I use it to print decals for t-shirts and it works perfectly. Get 1 before they're all gone!