ID PRINTER, PERSONA C30E SINGLE SIDE
T**H
Build a Badge and Other Glitches Can Be Overcome
Fargo is one of the top three plastic card ID companies, and the c30e is their low cost leader. We sell thousands of ID's and ID systems to police departments, colleges and associations at lawbadge dot com, and of the top systems, Fargo comes out on top. They don't sell direct, so you can see the line at Fargo dot com then come back to Amazon to buy-- note that the c30e is in the 300 family, and many items are the same for both units. You'll find several stores selling on Amazon, but Discount ID dominates Amazon. Even through Amazon, Discount ID will give you a good price on this unit IF you tell them you found the best price. Generally this item goes for between 1200 and 1500, with a list over $2,000 depending on features. CDW sells them for $1,100 when they can get them, but they never stock them, so you'll have to wait a couple weeks compared to Amazon/ DID, but you can use that with Discount ID as a benchmark for their "low price guarantee." Important note: if you start seeing the same exact printer over and over, even here on Amazon, and it seems to be going for $3,000 to $5,000 with wild price differences, you're looking at different features. The basic unit prints in COLOR ONE SIDE, and higher prices MIGHT be stepping you up to two sided, mag striped, bar code/mag stripe embedded and other features. The good news is that these can be added later if you need them. If you see a VERY low price, be sure you're not just looking at the PRINT HEAD (the most expensive part), which are sold separately as replacements (you do get one with the unit).Speaking of, you DO NOT get a ribbon when you buy this unit anywhere! These range from $50 on CDW and sometimes on Discount ID/ Amazon, up to over $100-- for the 250 card ribbon/ cartridge. Be SURE you're using the right ribbon-- YMCKO, and be sure it's color ("pre loaded full color"). Black is NOT called black, it's called "resin", and to confuse you, color ads often say "color resin" meaning the black component is named resin. Ads also have two incorrect/ out of date promises: 1. They say you get 100 cards with the unit. NOPE, NO cards come with the unit. 2. They say you get (as a single user), the "convenient" Build a Badge or Build-a-Badge software FREE from Fargo. Build a Badge has been discountinued and is NOT available from Fargo on anyone else-- see below for the trick around this to save $600 on software.You can get cards here on Amazon, but be sure you get the right ones, or the c30e will self destruct, tear up it's very delicately thin ribbon, or not print bleeds due to poor registration. A paper jam in an HP is one thing, a card jam is another nightmare altogether! All the ads say the c30e takes CR-80 cards, which is true, but there also is a CR-79 toggle switch on the unit, which really only works well with FARGO's OWN cards. Unfortunately Fargo only sells through VARS (approved integrators like us, but we're not blowing our horn here, they are cheaper at Discount ID here on Amazon if you search on plastic ID cards, or CDW, although they are often out of stock at CDW), so you'll have to get a clone, which is FINE AS LONG AS YOU STICK TO CR-80 with the non-Fargo card brands here on Amazon. Some don't say CR-80, but CR-80 is 3.37 x 2.13 by definition, and you'll want an "030" or .030", otherwise known as "30 mil." Be careful, the key is CR-80, and 79 also comes in 30 mil, which is thickness, NOT dimension.On to "build a badge". Don't bother putting build a badge in keyword searches on Amazon or Google-- you'll end up in a five hour waste of time, or worse yet, buy the wrong software. If you go to Fargo dot com, you'll find they are just as confused, and give PR releases about Build a badge, make you fill out a form for one of their VARs locally, then you get harrassing sales calls trying to sell you a $1,500 "Assure" suite software.The secret is: Build a Badge has been replaced with another free product on Fargo's site, which is like a maze, called Asure ID SOLO. It's really Build a Badge by another name! Note it's Asure, NOT ASSURE-- if you spell it wrong, you'll find a totally unrelated software program that's about internal PC ID's, not plastic cards, and if you pay $99 for it, you'll find it totally unrelated to your c30e! Since Amazon doesn't allow links, if you Google "Fargo Asure Solo" you will be taken to a link we also posted on lawbadge dot come, which is Fargo dot come slash ad hoc dot cfm question mark oid=7015 (Fargo's generic Google ID for searches). This will take you to an even longer cfm file, offering to "download" Asure ID (the $600 to $2,000 version). The download says it's a free trial, and you'll have to "buy" it from one of their VARS within 14 days.This is all untrue. Here's how you get it free: 1. Click on download Asure ID (don't go to the direct download link, it will work, but you won't get a product activation serial and it will be worthless). 2. AFTER you click, you'll see TWO Asures-- and indeed one is the FREE Solo. 3. Click download and SAVE (do NOT click OPEN, or you'll wait an hour for a zip file that takes three seconds to save). Put the saved file on your desktop, as it's got a self extractor so you won't have to install Winzip if you don't have it. 4. Create an "Asure" folder on your desktop to extract to. When you click the "Asure 205.6.1" file, it will extract to that folder. 5. You're still not done. When you first clicked download, you had to fill out a "VAR request" form, which asked for your email DO GIVE a valid email, as while you're downloading, Fargo's server is sending you the product serial, and the download won't work without it. 6. Now you'll find the folder you created filled with files on your desktop. Ignore the separate Asure ID 5.6.1 file, it's the compressed file and is now worthless. Do NOT click on Asure ID in the new folder, it will give you error messages, or blow up windows if you don't have XP (NONE OF THIS WORKS ON VISTA). Instead, click the icon with the little arrows that reads "setup setup launcher." This will step you through the install. But wait. Once you're done, you will NOT find Asure ID anywhere on your desktop, as there is no icon! If you try to click the Asure ID logo in the folder, it will give you an error message or blow up. You need to go to your start menu, look at the very bottom, and open the program with the start menu ("all programs" in XP or 2000). We did get this to run on Vista, but the tricks are beyond this review, email us at mail at lawbadge dot com if you want specifics free about Vista.Another stupid glitch about the c30e-- there is NO owner's manual! The quick start CD basically says to run the machine install. If you do it in the wrong order it blows up. The right order is: first install the drivers, then plug in the USB and power the unit. Then install the "Fargo workbench" (for troubleshooting only, does nothing to design cards). Finally, after you're all done (including putting a ribbon in the unit), you can view the install file, which gives you this same info and nothing else! Luckily, this little unit is simple and reliable once you get used to it. Be sure to remove the plastic roller cap from the ribbon AND the tape from the cleaning roller, but do NOT remove the "sticky" roll tape, which IS the cleaner. This is confusing, as the online directions say to remove the sticky tape-- and there are TWO, one which stays. If you screw this up, the very tiny film will tear, and you're out 50 bucks.Usint Asure ID Solo is a pain. You first have to design and save a template, THEN click enter data to actually populate it. Important features like transparency are missing (so you can't put a big logo screened to a percent in the background like you can with Asure Express or other clone software). You can approach this with the gamma setting, but it comes out less than pretty. Even changing fonts or making them color is tricky-- DO read the .pdf that came with the download.Speaking of, you need to REGISTER the software immediately, or your "14 day trial" (yes, even the freeware has a damn trial) will expire. When you install (you'll need the serial number from Fargo's email), you will then get a second number once you register it, and it's then free and good to go. You will get a pesky VAR based on your zip code, but they won't do squat for you about the freeware.All in all, this is an awesome little machine which will give you many years of service with many features like database entry of names and 100 cards in the hopper at a time with no DBMS skills needed, IF you can get around the terrible Fargo VAR system, which you must do to get a good price and buy on Amazon.
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