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 Likes- Good quality prints
- Well designed and constructed paper tray
- Excellent dust protection
Dislikes
- Awkward placement of the socket for the LCD Controller’s cord
- Tight cord moves lightweight printer
- Exposed card slots
Conclusion
Hi-Touch imaging Technologies has produced a compact dye sublimation printer with a unique design that is capable of 403 x 403-dpi resolution. Users can print via PC, media card slots using the LCD Controller, or a PictBridge-enabled camera.
The S400 printer is easy to set up and operate. The ink ribbon cartridge simply plugs in behind the ribbon door, which is vented to release heat but shielded from dust by a filter. HiTi does a better job of dealing with dust than other manufacturers. The printer also has a dust cover that can be attached to the top of the printer to protect the output path there.
HiTi also excels at paper cassette design. Other manufacturers, such as Canon and Sony, have designed a less-than-perfect two-part tray that is awkward to assemble and load. The S400 features a sturdy cassette that hinges open and needs no assembly. Users can load paper with the cassette out of or in the printer, a huge plus. A separate output paper guide and holder atop the input tray keeps prints that exit the printer in place, whereas other printers rely only on the top of the output tray with no guides. Multiple prints fall all over the place.
The corded LCD Controller is kind of an oddity, a throwback to pre-remote control days. This design works fine if, like on HiTi’s souped-up model—the 731PS—the cord socket is on the same side of the printer that the Controller is mounted on. Alas, this isn’t the case with the S400, and the user ends up nearly pulling the printer off the tabletop when taking the Controller off of its mount.
The Controller menus provide printing from memory cards, and the basic options get the job done. Users can tweak color and brightness as well. We found switching from PC mode to memory card mode awkward, as we had no choice but to pull the USB plug to get the LCD Controller’s menu to display.
The driver controls were handy and full of helpful options, both for those who like simple automatic control and those who like to fiddle. Users can quickly tweak the color, contrast, brightness, etc., if they’re not using photo-editing software. Documentation, including the paper guides and electronic manuals, were meager and not very helpful. The translation was poor and only the most basic information was provided. The company’s website wasn’t much help either.
We were impressed with the S400’s print quality. It scored higher than in all other printers except one (Sony FP90) in all categories except for one (dmax). Images were richer, deeper, and more lifelike than other printers were capable of producing. Print speeds were average, at about 75 seconds.
The HiTi S400’s downside is that the ink and paper cost more than competing models. Price per print for small print packs runs 40 cents each. Users can drop that to 35 cents with the 200-sheet print pack, but this still places it above models such as the Canon Selphy ES1 and the Sony FP90.
The HiTi is on the high end of price as far as 4-by-6-inch dye sub printers go, but the better design and quality justify the cost. We hope the quirks with the LCD Controller will be worked out in future models. If price per print were more in line with the competition, we would have no problems giving a high recommendation to this printer. As it stands, we have to hold back on the accolades. All in all, the HiTi S400 Dazzle dye sublimation photo printer provides very good quality at a competitive base price. Just be prepared to spend a little more on "consumables."
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