DNP QW410 Compact Dye Sub Photo Printer

Great printer

I bought this from Imaging Spectrum in September 2021 (just over 3 years ago). During that time, it's been nothing but trouble.

I bought it to complement my DS620 and DS820 printers that I use at events. I intended to load 4x6 paper in this printer, 5x7 in the DS620, and 8x10 in the DS820.

Ultimately, this QW410 is a failure.

The first issue I had was with printer routing in HotFolder. With this and either the DS620 and DS820 connected and turned on at the same time, HotFolder REFUSED to send 4x6 prints to the QW410, despite the fact that it was the only printer loaded with 4x6 paper. Instead, I'd end up with 4x6 prints on 5x7 or 8x10 paper on either the DS620 or DS820 printers, which would require manual cutting. I spent hours on the phone with DNP tech support, wasted enormous amounts of paper trying to resolve the issue, and it just kept happening. DNP had no solution for me. I did update to the latest version of HotFolder and the latest 1.10 firmware, but this problem continues to exist to this day. I was never compensated for the 5x7 or 8x10 paper that I wasted trying to resolve this, despite expressing concern about the waste every time the DNP tech support agent requested I "try again". Ultimately, this printer ended up being useless in a multi-printer setup.

I kept it anyways because there's plenty of events where I print only 4x6, but even in that environment, this printer is a dud. I frequently had issues with white edges on prints, like the paper wasn't aligned properly in the printer. Firmware version 1.10 is supposed to resolve that, but it still happens. I have to re-align the paper in the printer frequently and hope the white edge goes away. Sometimes I just give up and cut the edge off manually for the remainder of that roll.

Then there's the number of times that this printer has torn the dye sub ribbon min-print. I can count on this happening at least once for every 2-3 rolls that I run through the printer, and when it happens, the remainder of that roll is pretty much wasted. If I'm lucky, it'll happen near the end of a roll to minimize waste. The cause appears to be either too much heat from the sublimator, or a dye dub roll that's too flimsy. Whichever it is, the result is a dye sub ribbon that's melted to the paper about halfway along the print, and the rest of the dye sub ribbon torn right off. This is infuriating and has ruined multiple events when I didn't have a backup roll with me.

The final insult is the cost of supplies for this printer. A box of 4x6 paper for this printer is $75 for 300 prints, for a cost of $0.25 per print, plus the time wasted changing rolls more than 2x as often as the DS620. Even Imaging Spectrum's 3-box deal (which saves $10) still ends up being $0.24 per print. Meanwhile, a box of 4x6 paper for the DS620 is $128 for 800 prints, for a cost of $0.16 per print. That means the QW410 is almost TWICE AS EXPENSIVE to print from, for garbage reliability and frustrating results. That's not even counting the waste from ruined rolls.

The ONLY benefit I've been able to find to the QW410 is its de-curling feature, which does work pretty well. But in every other way, the DS620 is a better investment for 4x6 prints. The QW410 has turned out to be a complete waste of money. I'm afraid to turn it on anymore, it costs me too much money to use between the higher cost of supplies, the bad printer routing from HotFolder, and the frequent failures.

Maybe I got a defective one, who knows? But it's WAY out of warranty now, and there's no way I'll try buying another one to try again in the hopes that these issues are caused by some manufacturing defect(s). I'd rather buy another DS620, but my experience with DNP over these issues have left a sour taste in my mouth, so maybe I'll just keep swapping print size in my existing DS620 (which has never given me any issues), or maybe I'll look into a different brand for my 4x6 print needs.