Choosing an ID Card Printer – Evolis or Magicard

Both Evolis and Magicard are well known manufacturers of ID card printers, but let’s take a more in depth at two of their models to compare what you get from a Evolis Pebble compared to a Magicard Pronto.



*Only with Professional Software

On First glance you may think the features of the Evolis Pebble 4 Colour ID Printer far outweigh the features of the Magicard Pronto but although these two card printers are close in the features they offer their speed and their connections. It is important to consider the difference in cost between the two printers.

The two printers both offer single side printing can be used to encode magnetic strips and smart cards with the right encoders. Print using Colour dye sublimation and monochrome thermal transfer. Produce Cards at a fairly high speed for a printer, allow for cards to be designed using free software.
The two card printers do have some differences. The Magicard Pronto is not quite as fast as the Evolis Pebble and doesn’t have the memory and feeder and hopper devices. It does offer Holokote Security Watermarking and allow for rewritable cards to be used.

If it comes down to cost then you do need to consider that the Magicard Pronto card printers are £995 each, but you will need to buy the professional software if you want to make cards with magnetic strips and smart cards you will need the extra software for £299, making a total of £1294

The Evolis Pebble is £1658.33 which is more expensive but all the software is included, the badges print in high definition at 300dpi, it’s faster and does have more add-ons to the actual machine.

It is always worth considering what you want out of an ID Card printer and making your selection based on what suits your organisation.

Uses of ID Card Printers

Getting an ID card printer could be one of the best decisions you make today. ID card printers
If you work in a secure environment or simply want an easy way to comply with health and safety legislation then buying an ID card printer could be the easy way to comply with these regulations. With a high number of staff, keeping track of staff for fire regulations can be a challenge. If you buy an ID card printer that produces a metal strip that stores information like the top of the range Evolis ID Card Printers. You can use the ID cards to track entry and exit from the office a way of adhering to fire safety regulations and keeping an eye on staff working hours.

If you have a badge that displays the information then staff can know each other’s names without having to ask, beneficial in a large organisation where everybody doesn’t necessary know each other.

In a large organisation you can restrict access using ID cards to only part of a building or only certain facilities, for example restrict access to photocopiers and printers.
As well as staff you can also produce ID cards for visitors, this once again complies with security and fire procedures and can be especially handy in meetings so you know all your visitors names with a clear easy to read printed badge rather than a someone’s handwritten badge.
There are a number of Evolis ID card printers in their range, offering a range of options from 3 colour options, the printer comes with free software to design your badge and they print at a high speed to produce a high quality encoded card within seconds. The Evolis 4 colour pebble ID card printer offers a similar product but with the option to print in 4 colours with an exchangeable machine cover making it an attractive office machine that will blend in with any enviroment. Both these machines have a detatchable 100 card feeder to save you having to put the cards into the machine manually.
If you want a simpler ID card printer then why not consider less colours and a card printer that allows you to print on a smaller scale like the Evolis Tattoo 2 colour printer, a perfect choice if you want to use barcodes on your id cards and have no need for magnetic strip encoding.
For an environment where you may be worried about people forging an id card, it may be worth considering Magicard Pronto Card Printers , this printer uses a sublimation process that allows a holographic film to be put on top of the card to discourage anyone from trying to create a forgery of the cards, the cards are also rewritable so can be used more than once

Whichever ID card printer is suitable for your company, make sure you come to Continua for all your Office Supplies.