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Argox iX4-250 Industrial Printer Review

This week we had the opportunity to test and review the newly released Argox iX4-250 Industrial Label Printer.

In The Box

The printer fits snugly and securely inside the box and won’t be damaged in normal transit. The box also contains the CD with the drivers, Bartender UL and Utilities for the Argox printers. A power cord and USB printer cable is also included.

Unpacking the printer is relatively easy and was ready to test in no time.

Loading the Media and Ribbon

We used wax ribbon 110mm wide by 360m on 25mm core for testing. The iX4-250 can accommodate ribbon up to 450m in length. Loading the ribbon into the printer is easy and no different from the previous X1000V, X2000 and X2300.

There is a diagram in the lid showing how the ribbon is to be loaded. One thing to remember is – the shiny side of the ribbon is to be against the Print Head and the dull side against the paper labels.

Loading the roll of label is also no problem and similar to the previous X series printers. Care should just be taken to make sure the label goes through the guides of the label sensor. There is a diagram showing the label path.

The printer can take a label roll with a Outer Diameter of 8.26 inch or 210mm.

Operating the iX4-250

We already have the driver (Argox_2017.1_M1) installed on our test pc together with the Bartender UL (Bartender_UL_2016) label design software. The software and driver is compatible with Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. Our test PC is running Windows 7.

The printer installed when we plugged in the USB cable between the Printer and the PC and switched on the iX4-250. After installation finished, we opened Bartender UL and designed a rather complex label with Text and QR Code barcodes.

The iX4-250 printed the first 10 labels perfectly at 203dpi and at a speed of 8ips.

We ran the next batch of 100 prints through the printer with the same perfect quality. Labels printed well and the alignment stayed true.

The printer runs smoothly with not much noise or vibration. We were quite impressed with the operation of the printer.

Interfaces of the iX4-250

The Argox iX4-250 comes standard with the following communication ports – Ethernet, USB Device, Dual USB Hosts and Serial (RS232). Making it ideal for most situations or applications. We tested the printer using the USB Device Port.

The iX4-250 can be further expanded with an optional WiFi module and GPIO card/Parallel port.

Conclusion 

The printer has lived up to the quality we have come to expect from Argox and does not disappoint at all. The build is solid and the quality of the frame and metal covers are good. 

We can really recommend this printer for a high volume, heavy duty application. Operation is easy and the iX4-250 label printer is not complicated at all.

View iX4-250 Product Brochure

View iX4-250 User Manual


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