Comparing Different Heat Presses for Heat Transfer Vinyl
Are you ready to upgrade your heat transfer vinyl products from an iron to something more sleek and easy? You might be ready to invest in a heat press. There are heat presses at all different price points that are useful for different purposes, and at different price points. In this article, I will go through the different heat press styles and the popular brands. In the interest of full disclosure, I have not had the opportunity to use many of these machines, but I will share my experience and thoughts that I went through while researching and choosing one for my own use. I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate program, and do earn a small commission from qualified purchases. I am not sponsored by Cricut/HTVront or the other specific products highlighted in the article.
Size Matters
If you know what type of projects you plan to primarily complete, one size/type of press may work better than another. The mini presses are nice for small projects or if you don’t have a lot of money to start out. I have used both of the HTVRont brand presses and prefer them. I also have another brand that I do not like (I did not include it in this analysis, because I was unhappy with them). I included the Cricut brand options more for price comparison. I have not used the Cricut brand presses, but the price point being so much higher made this not worth it for me.
HTVRont Products:
HTVRont 10” by 10” Heat Press:
This nifty product is 10” by 10”. This is about the average size that you’ll use for a T-shirt for adding designs. It does a good job, and can help guide how much pressure you are applying as well. It comes in several different colors, and price often varies by color, though for comparison purposes the mint green color is shown here. I chose this size for my first heat press, and it definitely helped for the projects I wanted to do. I did choose a different brand initially, but eventually ordered this one and LOVE it! It comes in blue, light green, mint green (pictured here), purple, raspberry, and yellow.
HTVRont Small Heat Press:
The 2.6”x4.4” Mini Heat press machine price often varies by color as well. This product is great for smaller projects, or projects where you are layering different colors, and don’t want the whole area exposed to heat each time you press. I initially thought I didn’t need it, since the bigger one can do the job (I mostly started with T-shirts and canvas bags). The amount of satisfaction I felt when I did my first project with this one was palpable. It’s also nice and light, and can be moved into my living room to quickly do a small project. It comes in dark green, mint green (pictured here), orange, and raspberry red.
HTVRont Auto Heat Press Machine 15” by 15”
This is a product that came out relatively recently and seems to be designed to counter other large heavy duty presses. The arm of this one appears to lift, rather than having a hinge opening like some of the other T shirt presses I’ve seen at this price point. The bottom plate slides out, so that the placement can be made and adjusted. For my style and use, I don’t know that this one would be super useful to me, so I have not purchased it as of yet. It comes in white (pictured here), and light blue.
Cricut Products:
For me, the Cricut heat presses come at too high of a price point, and I’ve had no issues with my HTVront heat presses. They seem to have good temperature control, which is one of the big things that Cricut emphasizes. I’ve included them in this list primarily for comparison sake.
Cricut EasyPress 3:
This machine boasts Bluetooth Connectivity with their app as a way to sent precise heat settings to the device and provides a helpful guide. The instructions recommend lightly pressing until you hear the beep. It appears to only come in this powder blue color. It is 12” by 10” and as a 9” by 9”.
Cricut EasyPress 2:
This machine is the previous generation, but still comes at a higher price point. It does not have the bluetooth connectivity that the new one does. It also comes as a 12” by 10”and as a 9” by 9” in each color. It appears to come in Raspberry, Mint and Purple. It does appear that some of these may be out of stock, and I am not sure if Cricut is still making them. I suspect they may be phased out in the near future as some of the older machines have been phased out as well.
Cricut Autopress:
This is a 15” by 12” heat press with hinge rather than the slide function of the HTVront. This is the fancy, commercial grade one from Cricut. I’ve only seen it in this white color, there does not appear to be any other colors. I do like the hinge function, but when I’m ready to venture into a bigger heat press, I will plan to research other commercial grade options, possibly with additional functions (hat/mug options).
The Takeaway
In this post, we looked at and compared 2 good brands of heat presses. There are other brands including Vevor which also come at a much lower price point than Cricut brand; however, I recommend reading the reviews as the one I purchased does not have very accurate temperature control, and I have had a couple of HTV projects that ended up being pressed at the wrong temperature and it affected how the final product turned out. If you have another product you love or hate, please share in the comments. Which machines do you use?
