Zebra ZXP Series 9 ID Card Printers

The Zebra ZXP Series 9 card printer is designed to produce high-quality, edge-to-edge cards with photo quality images at industry-leading speeds. Key to this is Zebra's Color Predictive Technology which monitors printing and automatically adjusts settings based on tested, patented image-processing algorithms. This 2nd generation retransfer card printer is the successor to the ZXP Series 8 card printer.

The ZXP 9 card printer can handle single-sided or dual-sided printing requirements with print speeds up to 190 cards per hour single-sided and 170 cards per hour dual-sided. Optional features include a laminator, magnetic stripe encoder, smart card encoder, 802.11b/g wireless interface and lockable security enclosure. This printer also features a user-selectable print quality mode which lets the user optimize for speed or print quality.

Retransfer card printers are significantly different than card printers which use dye-sublimation technology. Rather than using a printhead to print directly on to a card (through a ribbon), a re-transfer printer first prints onto a flexible, transparent film and then transfers the image by thermally bonding it to a card. The main advantages of re-transfer technology include:

• Higher image quality and print resolution
• Ability to print on uneven card surface (e.g. smart cards) since the printhead does NOT need to come in direct contact with the card
• True edge-to-edge printing without the white border commonly seen on dye-sublimation card printers (printing to the edge would damage the printhead)

Finally, the ZXP 9 is very cost-effective with a low cost-per-card operation. It also produces 50% less waste compared to its competitors with its patented waste-free laminate design.