Blog

Why Choose an HID® FARGO® ID Card Printer?

There are many factors to consider when choosing the right ID card printer. HID Global’s FARGO printers give you countless options that allow you to select the most efficient, economic, and secure ID card printer to meet your organization’s needs. FARGO solutions are designed and built inside IS0:9001-certified facilities and backed by global product warranties, ongoing printer health monitoring, and superb technical support. Additionally, HID FARGO HDP printers easily integrate with other products within the HID family of products, allowing you to utilize your existing HID technology investments.  

HID® FARGO® Printers can meet all your ID Card requirements with a wide range of features and functions.

One Size Does NOT Fit All

FARGO offers many different series and models of ID card printers that vary in capabilities and features. It is important to consider operational efficiency and select a printer that will match your volume and production demands to get the most from your printer life. Choosing the correct printer—suited for your production demand—is key when it comes to printer supplies and how frequently you will need to replace them. For larger volume demands, a model such as the HID® FARGO® HDP 8500 is a smart choice, whereas the HID® FARGO® DTC1250e model is better suited to smaller environments with lesser quantity ID card printing needs. Card design and presentation is another key factor in selecting an ID card printer. Resolution and print quality requirements should be determined, along with single- or dual-sided printing, and if cards will be laminated to add durability. You can also choose to employ smart solutions and added security to your ID cards with additional elements such as encoding, watermarks, and holographic overlaminates. The HDP5600 ID card printer and encoder is an excellent option both for design considerations with its high resolution 600 dpi printing option for crisp image and text quality, as well as for additional security and smart-card functionality with optional data encoding. For more information click here to view our FARGO ID Card Design Guide.

Key Considerations When Selecting an ID Card Printer

• Card volume – For low to standard volume (less than 1,000 up to 5,000 cards annually) choose from printers like the FARGO DTC1250e and DTC4250e. For high volume, large batch printing (more than 5,000 cards annually) models such as the FARGO DTC4500e will get the job done nicely.
• Operational Efficiency – What print volume can the card hopper handle? How quickly will you need to replace consumables? What is the rate of throughput? There are options at every price level to ensure you are printing efficiently and cost effectively.
• Presentation – Single- or dual-sided? Color or monochrome? Dye sublimation or reverse transfer printing? FARGO has a myriad of ID card printer options to achieve all your card appearance needs.
• Durability – Select a printer with a laminator module to extend the life of your ID cards such as the FARGO HDP5000 with optional single-sided or simultaneous dual-sided lamination.
• Security – Choose a FARGO printer that can add a visual element such as a holographic overlaminate or watermark or encoding options like barcodes or magnetic stripes to increase the security of your ID cards.