I mostly do mugs and beer Steins, but I use a couple of Epson WF1100 printers with cobra ink. The ink is I guess you can say 3rd party and it will sadly clog up if not used almost daily.
That's more related to the printer then it is to the ink themselves. The Ricoh printers don't have the clogging issues, like I said, but the ability to use third party either in bags or in cartridges seems to be very limited. Most are out with Epson compatibility. If you can find a way to deal with the clogging (hopefully with enough demand for sublimation) then that route has more options. In my opinion.
I also use mug wraps and a convection oven instead of the mug press. In my opinion I get better quality
I think so too, but it also depends on the press as well and how the operator uses the equipment as well. You can get really good quality with a mug press versus a wrap and oven.
Tons of heat presses out there but I really like my k20s Geo Knight swing away. Very consistent heat on the platen and has never caused my any issues in the last two years.
I like the Geo Knights. Very good presses. If you are doing the smaller low quantity stuff, might even consider some of their combo presses, but it just depends on how big products you plan on using.
I would not suggest, however, to get regular products and try to treat them in order to make them receptive to sublimation inks. Results tend to be inconsistent. Just go ahead and get the products that are prepped for sublimation inks.