Zebra is one of the leading manufacturers of ID card printing solutions that can meet the needs of any environment from low volume, print only to high security, high volume applications. Their printers offer options for color or monochromatic, single or dual-sided printing, and even lamination options for the highest quality cards possible. Zebra’s printers also offer a full range of encoding features for magnetic stripe, smartcard, MIFARE, and RFID to ensure your cards are secure and reliable to meet the most demanding access control and government requirements.

With so many capabilities and options available, it can be a challenge to find which Zebra ID card printer is the best fit for your specific needs. The feature chart below quickly and easily breaks down each of the four main models currently available from Zebra by their key attributes. For further assistance selecting the right ID card printer, contact us at Barcodes, Inc.

Model	ZXP Series 8	ZXP Series 7	ZXP Series 3	ZXP Series 1
Print Method	Retransfer card printer	Direct-to-card printer	Direct-to-card printer	Direct-to-card printer
Print Sides	Single or dual-sided color and mono-to-retransfer film	Single or dual-sided color and monochrome	Single or dual-sided color and monochrome	Single or dual-sided color and monochrome
Print Speed	Single-sided: Color: 190 CPHDouble-sided: Color: 180 CPH	Single-sided: Color: 300 CPH Mono: 1,375 CPHDouble-sided: Color: 225 CPH	Single-sided: Color: 195 CPH Mono: 700 CPHDouble-sided: Color: 140 CPH	Single-sided: Color: 130 CPH Mono: 545 CPH
Images per Ribbon	Color (YMCKO): 625 Mono (Black): 2,500	Color (YMCKO): 750 Mono (Black): 5,000	Color (YMCKO): 280 Mono (Black): 2,000	Color (YMCKO): 100 Mono (Black): 1,000
Security	High security	High security	Locking features	None
Interfaces	Standard: USB, Ethernet Optional: Wi-Fi (802.11)	Standard: USB, Ethernet Optional: W-Fi (802.11)	Standard: USB Optional: Ethernet	Standard: USB Optional: Ethernet
Edge-to-Edge Printing	Over-the-edge	Yes	Yes	Yes
UHF Gen 2 RFID	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A
Magnetic Stripe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Smart-card Contact	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A
MIFARE Contactless	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A
Smart-card Contact Station	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A
Card Thicknesses	30-40 mil, 30 mil laminated	10-50 mil, 30 mil laminated	10-40 mil	10-40 mil
Input Feeder Capacity	150 cards	200 cards	100 cards	100 cards
Output Hopper Capacity	100 cards	100 cards	Integrated Hopper: 45 Cards External Hopper: 50 cards	Integrated Hopper: 45 Cards
Laminator	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A