Is the I3200 faster than the XP600?

In the 2026 catalog the two are not listed against each other directly, but one pair of models isolates the variable: the two-head 300 mm H3030-X5S on XP600 heads is listed at 4.5 m2/h at 4-pass, while the two-head 300 mm H3030-3S on I3200 heads is listed at 7 m2/h at the same pass count.

What do the A1, E1 and U1 suffixes mean?

In this catalog they track the ink chemistry the head is configured for. A1 appears on the garment DTF machines and aqueous options, E1 on the eco-solvent machines, and U1 on the UV machines including UV DTF and roll-to-roll UV.

Can I upgrade an XP600 machine to I3200 heads later?

Head series and their supporting ink system, board and firmware are a configuration decision, not a field upgrade. Ask the supplier what is involved for the specific model rather than assuming a swap is possible.

Which head series should I choose?

Match the series to the ink chemistry you need, then compare throughput only between machines with the same head count and the same pass setting. Confirm the exact head series in writing on the quotation.

Epson I3200 vs XP600 printheads: what the catalog shows

The short answer

Head count and head model are two separate levers, and buyers often conflate them. In the 2026 catalog the I3200 series appears on the higher-throughput configurations and the XP600 series on the entry ones, and there is one pair of models where the difference can be read off directly without any other variable changing.

The one clean comparison in the catalog

The H3030-X5S and the H3030-3S are both 300 mm garment DTF machines with two printheads. They differ in head series: the X5S runs two Epson XP600 (F1080-A1) heads and the 3S runs two Epson I3200-A1 heads.

The catalog lists the XP600 machine at 4.5 m2/h at 4-pass and the I3200 machine at 7 m2/h at the same pass count. Same working width, same number of heads, same process, same stated conditions: the head series alone accounts for roughly a 1.6x difference in listed throughput.

This is why head count alone is a poor way to compare two machines. A two-head I3200 machine and a two-head XP600 machine are both "two-head machines" and they are not the same class of equipment.

What the suffix tells you

The catalog uses I3200 heads with several suffixes, and they track the ink chemistry the head is configured for. Reading them tells you what a model is built to print without opening a specification sheet.

The A1 suffix appears on the garment DTF machines and on the aqueous options of multi-chemistry models. The E1 suffix appears on the eco-solvent machines. The U1 suffix appears on the UV machines, including the UV DTF and roll-to-roll UV ranges. A U1HD variant appears on the compact A3 UV machine.

Counted across the catalog, A1 is the most widely used, followed by U1 and then E1. Where a model lists several options, such as the H3 or the 9194-3, that means the same chassis is offered with more than one head chemistry, and the configuration you receive is fixed by the quotation.

Where the XP600 series still appears

The XP600 (F1080-A1) heads are not legacy parts in this catalog; they appear on four current models. They are used on the entry 300 mm garment DTF machine, on the 300 mm and 600 mm-class UV DTF machines, and on the UV9060 flatbed.

The pattern is consistent: XP600 heads appear where the priority is a lower entry price or a compact format, and I3200 heads appear where the priority is throughput.

A separate case: the Ricoh G6

One model sits outside the Epson families entirely. The 2513 UV flatbed is listed with four to eight Ricoh G6 heads, which is a different head platform rather than a step within the same series. If you are comparing the 2513 against the other flatbeds, compare it as a different class of machine, not as one more option in the same ladder.

How to decide

Decide the head count first from the daily volume you can sell and finish, then decide the head series from the throughput you need at that head count. Comparing a two-head XP600 machine against a two-head I3200 machine on price alone ignores the throughput difference the catalog states at identical conditions.

When a model offers a choice of head chemistry, the choice is driven by what you print rather than by speed: A1 for garment DTF work, E1 for eco-solvent graphics, U1 for UV-curable applications. Confirm the head series in writing on the quotation, because it is the single line item that most changes what the machine can produce.