HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Press Review

Read our honest HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press review and learn everything you need to know about this new auto tumbler press for sublimation!

This post may contain affiliate links. I will receive a small commission from these sales at no additional cost to you!

If you are a sublimation crafter, there’s a good chance that you have been hearing a lot about the new HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press lately. Today, I’m excited to share with you a detailed review of the HTVRONT Tumbler Press and let you know all of the things that we loved as well as the things that we didn’t like quite as much.

Want all of the buzz about the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press? Read on!

HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Press Features and Specs

The HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press is available in white and light aqua colors and retails for $239, though it can often be found for less on Amazon and HTVRONT.com.

Sturdy Design, User-Friendly Interface

Our very first out-of-the-box impression of the HTVRONT tumbler press is that the build quality is really impressive. The heat press machine feels solid and durable, yet it’s compact enough not to hog all your workspace.

The HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press includes an LCD display screen with simple and intuitive button settings for time and temperature as well as a memory function that can be programmed for your most-used settings. A one-touch start/stop button allows you to easily open and close the press as needed.

Key Specifications at a Glance

• Heat Press Dimensions: Measures approximately 13 x 11 x 6.3 inches
• Weight: 9.5 lbs
• Tumbler/Mug Size Compatability: Accommodates tumblers and mugs from 10 to 30oz, with a diameter of 7.5 to 8.5cm (2.95-3.35in)
• Heat Control: The temperature range is broad, giving you plenty of room to experiment with different materials up to a maximum temperature of 390°F / 200°C
• Timer Function: The built-in timer is a godsend for precision and avoiding those ‘oops’ moments!
• Auto Shut-Off: This machine intelligently shuts down after 15 minutes of inactivity, ensuring user safety

Real Talk: User Experience

Listening to the Community’s Voice

When we first received our HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press, we went online to seek out other users’ opinions and reviews (which are usually the very best places to find helpful tips and tricks, too!)

Most users give the heat press a big thumbs up for simplicity and ease of use, but many also mentioned that there is a bit of a learning curve, which seems to be pretty typical when learning a new machine. There were also some reviewer concerns about uneven pressure and slight ghosting, so we wanted to thoroughly test all aspects related to those issues.

Our Experience with the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Press

For our initial experiments, we pressed seven straight-sided 20 oz tumblers (in both plain white and sparkle finishes) and four ceramic mugs in various sizes.

Pressing Tumblers in the Auto Tumbler Heat Press

As you can see above, the 20-ounce tumblers fit easily inside the Auto Tumbler Press, even once they are wrapped with your sublimation design and protective paper. This makes it SUPER easy to use the press – simply set the time and temperature, slide the tumbler into the machine, and push the button to begin heat pressing for the specified time.

You can also see, however, that once the press has automatically closed around the tumbler, there is a slight gap where the press closes that doesn’t actually touch the surface of the tumbler. This means that this area is not going to heat evenly and the design in this section will likely not transfer correctly.

This situation is easily remedied, though! Simply press your tumbler one time, then rotate the tumbler 180 degrees inside the machine and press it a second time to ensure that the entire surface area has been well pressed.

The colors on the first sparkle tumbler that we pressed came out really bold and vibrant! We did notice just a little bit of faint ghosting at the top edge of the tumbler like some of the other reviewers had noted, but we chalked that up to the initial learning curve of the machine.

As we continued to test additional full-wrap tumbler designs, however, we continued to have issues with ghosting at the very top and bottom edges of the tumbler. We experimented with leaving a small amount of white space at the bottom edge of the tumblers to determine the limits of the ghosting area, and our area of ghosting seems to be approximately 1/2″ from either end of the tumbler.

I should note that we have pressed MANY tumblers in our manual tumbler heat press and sublimation oven without issue, so we are well-versed in how to properly wrap and tape tumblers for this application.

In the interest of experimentation, however, we did attempt to use several different wrapping and taping techniques as well as different time/temperature combinations in the press, and we were met with the same results regardless of the methods used. This leads us to believe that there may be uneven pressure being applied to the ends of the tumbler in our press.

Fortunately, there are many, MANY design options for tumblers that aren’t solid top-to-bottom full-wrap designs! For example, this cheery lemon design includes ample white space at the top and bottom of the pattern, so any potential ghosting will blend in without being noticeable.

Pressing Mugs in the Auto Tumbler Heat Press

Next, we tested several types of mugs (ranging from 10 oz to 15 oz) in the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Press. We did not experience any ghosting issues when pressing these mugs.

I do want to note, however, that unlike the tumblers which slid into the press quite easily, mugs were much more challenging depending on the brand/size used. 11-ounce mugs fit inside of the press rather easily, but larger 15-ounce mugs were VERY tight, especially once wrapped with the sublimation design and protective paper, and it took some effort to get it placed inside of the press. Two brands of 15-oz. sublimation mugs that we have in our studio did not fit inside the press at all.

One of the features of the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press is that you can press two mugs at once, but you must ensure that the mugs have the same diameter to avoid any uneven pressing issues.

Pro Tips for Best Results

Though we did experience some of the minor ghosting issues with our tumblers that others had reported, there were still a lot of positives about the HTVRONT Auto Heat Press as well.

Overall, we were very impressed with the build quality of the machine, how easy it was to use, how quickly it heats up, and the vibrancy of our transfers. The colors turned out SO good!

I always recommend testing and experimenting using your own heat press since results may vary between different machines. We had some minor ghosting issues with our press, so if yours is performing similarly, we would recommend that you avoid using dark-colored full-wrap designs unless they are approximately 1/2″ away from the top and bottom edges.

You may also opt to use a design with white space around the edges so that any ghosting will blend in and not be noticeable. For best results, use designs that fit inside the non-ghosting area such as the lemon and cat designs shown above.

Performance Comparison

In our extensive testing, when making tumblers, the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press performed similarly to our manual tumbler heat press when working with centered images and scattered-pattern designs; full-wrap designs (especially those with dark-colored backgrounds) did not perform quite as well. When pressing mugs, the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press performed similarly to our other auto mug press machine and worked well; however, not all of the mugs in our studio would fit into the Auto Tumbler Heat Press.

Auto Tumbler Heat Press FAQs

1. Is it beginner-friendly? Sure! While there’s a bit of a learning curve, it’s nothing you can’t handle, but do be aware that you will certainly need to do some initial testing to dial in your specific settings.
2. Does it work with different materials? Yes, the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Press is quite versatile and works with many different cylindrical objects between Just ensure you use materials compatible with sublimation.
3. What about the warranty? HTVRONT usually offers a standard warranty, but do check the specifics when you buy.
4. Where can I get one? It’s available online, both on HTVRONT’s website and other major retail platforms.

My advice for anyone wanting to start using the HTVRONT Auto Tumbler Heat Press? Play around with the settings and try different taping methods and wrapping techniques. Experimentation is key to mastering this machine, so be prepared to run a few tests and sample projects in the beginning. And don’t shy away from trying different materials – that’s where the real fun begins!