Xerox Colopress 800 with a CREO?? Bad or good?

[Digital Insight]

Xerox is trying to push a Xerox Colorpress 800 with a CREO RIP on me

Not sure I love this idea....

Any users out there running this config?

Good, bad, ugly?

Better off with a Fiery or a FreeFlow?

Thx much

Rob

[Craig]

I passed on the 800/1000 and just signed to replace my 8000AP with an 8080. The cost to operate an 800/1000 was far greater than my current or what the 8080 will be. I would make sure you know the up-charge for the large sheet if you run anything over 14". When that was factored in my monthly charges were going to by +$2635.00 based on current volume. With the 8080 I am actually going to be -$845.00 over my current charges based on the same volume!

Xerox sales are hurting right now with production equipment, push them HARD!

[Hightower]

Up-charge? Over 14"... How is it calculated?

[M@CK]

I run a 700 with a CREO, and I would really like to use the CREO as a boat anchor. I was told that the one used on the 800 was different, but I cal bull shit.
As far as RIP goes I would look a the FreeFlow if i were in you shoes.

[macphenom]

We dumped FreeFlow on our iGen4 and went with the Fiery. Far superior RIP.

[jotterpinky]

I have no experience with the 800 but cut my teeth on Fiery's. One of our 700's has an attached Creo which is the first I've used, everything else being EFI products. I really like the Creo and the layout, functionality on the front end. However my main beef with Creo is that they NEVER update their software. There are a number of bugs that should have been addressed but never have. We're going on our third or fourth re-image of the RIP since it will periodically stop being able to send Black and white data to the printer. It will print fine if you change the output method to color but if you want black and white or if any of the pages only have black and white etc. it will not print...just sits in the queue. After speaking with Xerox about a year back they determined the only way to fix it was to re-image the machine which we do periodically everytime this problem arises. Despite liking the interface quite a bit I would discourage anyone from buying one due to the lack of support we've received on this one.

[Craig]

The large sheet counter, all machines have them but many companies don't use them. If you think about it, EVERY specification is based on 8.5 x 11 sheets INCLUDING maintenance. Makes a big difference if a drum is rated at 500,000 (8.5 x 11) and your complaining it is going bad after 300,000 but you run all 12 x 18 sheets. I essence your getting 600,000 out of the drum.

Well they took that counter one further on the 800/1000 and start adding another $0.015 or so for anything over 14 inches (might be 16" though).

[MailGuru]

As far as RIP's go, here's the way I look at it: If you're running multiple printers, you need a uniformity of function on each one. They all need to be the same RIP with the same user interface. Otherwise, you sacrifice production throughput. We once had a DC5000 running Xerox's DocuFlow Rip while having 2 other printers running EFI Fiery with Command Work Station. Hated it. My production staff hated it. "If you are sending to the 5000, you have to do it this way, but if your sending to the 8000's you had to do it another way......."

Xerox tried to get us in an iGen once, but when I looked at the click charges, it didn't make any since to me (extra charges on anything over 14"). But the 8.5 x 11 click charges were fairly reasonable. "Why would anyone buy an iGen to run 8.5 x 11's", I aked. They did not have a valid answer........

[Amer]

I have no experience with the 800 but cut my teeth on Fiery's. One of our 700's has an attached Creo which is the first I've used, everything else being EFI products. I really like the Creo and the layout, functionality on the front end. However my main beef with Creo is that they NEVER update their software. There are a number of bugs that should have been addressed but never have. We're going on our third or fourth re-image of the RIP since it will periodically stop being able to send Black and white data to the printer. It will print fine if you change the output method to color but if you want black and white or if any of the pages only have black and white etc. it will not print...just sits in the queue. After speaking with Xerox about a year back they determined the only way to fix it was to re-image the machine which we do periodically everytime this problem arises. Despite liking the interface quite a bit I would discourage anyone from buying one due to the lack of support we've received on this one.

That's funny, cause when I run the software update tool on the Creo for my 700, there are something like 105 patches for various problems that are fixed available for download.

[686shred]

We just installed a 1000 after initially considering the 8080. What was said earlier in the thread that you can push Xerox hard right now is very true – it worked to be cheaper for an 800 machine cost than the 8080 offers we received from Xerox and individual re-sellers, and the clicks can be driven down as well. We were then lucky to receive a 1000 right at the end of the deal. We got our 8.5x11 through 8.5x14 sized clicks lower than any of other our digital equipment, and it puts the oversize clicks in range with any other device. I can tell you that our oversize click charge for us is $.01 more than the 8.5x11 size. That was what we asked them for. You just have to name exactly what you want to Xerox, something that makes sense for your applications and your own analysis and they'll work with you.

I would recommend the FreeFlow over the Fiery – the newer version is fast and stable. No experience with the Creo however.