Procolored F13X Launched: A Dual-Head DTF Printer That Checks Its Own Nozzles

Brief News Summary

Procolored started selling the F13X on October 15, 2026, after showing it at PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas. The 13-inch A3 direct-to-film printer uses two Epson XP600 heads and is rated at 27 A4 transfers per hour. Launch pricing is $2,999 against a $3,399 MSRP, with early-bird tiers down to $2,799 for existing Procolored owners.

Key Upgrades & Highlights

AI nozzle camera: catch the clog before the shirt

A built-in camera photographs the nozzle check strip after test prints and flags clogged or deflected nozzles automatically. Standby moisturizing keeps the printheads sealed between jobs, and a self-diagnosis routine plus one-click ink extraction round out the maintenance kit.

Clogged nozzles are the number one money loser in DTF. The failure mode is quiet: a head dries out over a weekend, Monday’s first ten shirts come out striped, and a replacement XP600 head plus wasted film erases the week’s margin. Until now, spotting it meant squinting at a test print and guessing. Automated detection plus automatic moisturizing attacks the exact failure that kills cheap DTF machines, and Procolored backs it with film-flatness detection and real-time ink monitoring. This is maintenance automation that industrial printers charged five figures for, now standard on a $2,999 desktop unit.

Dual XP600 heads: 27 transfers an hour

Two Epson XP600 printheads run in parallel at 720 x 1440 or 1440 x 1440 dpi. Procolored rates the F13X at 27 A4/Letter transfers per hour at 16-pass settings. The single-head F13 manages 6 per hour, and the dual-head F13 Pro 13 per hour.

Throughput decides whether a DTF printer pays rent. At 27 per hour, a four-hour evening session yields over a hundred shirts, which covers a real Etsy order queue rather than a hobby trickle. The comparison ladder inside Procolored’s own catalog makes the jump clear: the F13X is 4.5x the single-head F13 at about 1.4x the price. Real output depends on white coverage and pass count, so treat 27 per hour as a best case. But the direction is right: dual heads at an A3 price point were a $4,500-plus proposition a year ago.

Mac support with no dongle

The bundled Procolored Studio RIP runs on both Windows and macOS, with no USB dongle. Earlier Procolored A3 machines were Windows-only and dongle-locked.

A lot of design work happens on Macs, and until now those users kept a Windows laptop chained to the printer just to drive the RIP. Dropping the dongle also removes the classic support ticket: lost key, dead license, printer bricked. G7 color calibration is included, which aims to keep the printed transfer matching the approved proof across long runs. For studios already designing on Apple hardware, this quietly deletes an entire workaround from the daily workflow.

White ink circulation and automated care

White ink circulates continuously to prevent settling. The system adds automatic printhead moisturizing during standby, built-in self-diagnosis, and one-click ink extraction for service or storage.

White ink is heavier than color pigment and settles within hours, which is why neglected DTF printers clog in the white channel first. Continuous circulation is table stakes on $10,000 production machines; on desktop units it was often an expensive option. Combined with the AI nozzle camera, the F13X is built for a part-time operator who prints in bursts and cannot babysit maintenance schedules. The $1,030 consumables bonus Procolored includes at launch softens the first-month supply bill, which is when most new DTF shops overspend.

Specifications

Editor’s Take

Based on Procolored’s product pages, PRINTING United Expo coverage, and DTF Database’s spec tracking as of October 22, 2026. No review unit tested; speed ratings are manufacturer figures.

The F13X is for print-on-demand sellers, garment decorators, and studios moving from one-off custom jobs to repeatable batch production. It sits above hobby A4 machines and below wide-format production DTF, which is exactly where most small apparel businesses live. The macOS support signals Procolored is chasing design studios, not just print operators.

The dual-head-at-$2,999 combination resets the price floor. Procolored’s own F13 Pro dual-head costs significantly more for 13 prints per hour; the F13X doubles that for less money. The competitive set is the InkSonic Spark F13 at $1,899 (single L1800 head, 8 shirts per hour) and the XtraMaker M1 Series. Against InkSonic, the F13X buys 3x the throughput and Mac support for $1,100 more. Automated nozzle inspection is the feature neither rival matches at this price.

The honest gaps. XP600 heads are consumer-grade; a shop pushing full production volume will still want industrial heads, and head replacements remain the highest long-term cost. And the 27-per-hour figure assumes ideal conditions. For shops under about fifty shirts a day, the F13X is the strongest value we have tracked this year. Above that, budget for a wider machine.

Learn More at Procolored’s official website: Procolored F13X DTF Printer