Does anyone have feedback on the HP Designjet 130 printer?

[DianeH]

We are considering getting into the wide format arena, but after reading so many posts of "this is a piece of junk", I'm wondering how good it is. Does anyone have any experience with the HP Designjet 130? The price looks right where we'd like to be, but I'm hearing terrible feeding, cutting and print head problems. True?

[ryanprint]

Don't expect it to produce color-match (or really even close) proofs. Our customer base doesn't require colormatched proofs (like from an Epson 7000 or 9000 series) so after years of problems with those machines, we opted for this machine. Its strictly an internal use device -- Its really a glorified low-end inkjet with wide format capability. It gives our pressroom and bindery spreads to work with when they're producing jobs or making mockups, but again, the color is all over the place. Whats nice is that its operational cost is very inexpensive: it sips ink, and the cartridges are interchangable. What won us over, was that the print-heads are a commodity, meaning you just buy them like you would ink when they crap out, again, unlike the Epson 7800 we had that required a service call and several hundred dollar heads replaced by a tech regularly.

[idahodian]

Got the plain jane HP 130 for FREE using HP Purchase Edge points, in Oct 2008. I had to buy and install the paper cutter($35), have our Building Maintenance fabricate a roll holder(free) and it works pretty good. Sometimes very difficult for me to load paper, but only because of limited space and it's on a taller cabinet, and i have to get on a stool and lean over the back to feed the paper in. Sometimes I think it is a art, one day I can change the paper and get it to feed the first try, next time it could take 45 minutes. I don't have picky customers, they are happy to get a poster and don't care about perfect color, for the most part. I have 550 posters printed since most 24" x 36", even done a few banners. I have only replaced a couple of the print heads, and agree you order when you need them and they are easy to replace. The ink last alot longer than my HP desktop and is cheaper. My printer can sit for a month in between jobs and I don't have any problems. For my price it's a great printer. Would probably get another again, just don't print enough to pay the big prices for speed, ect.

[ZeeBees]

we have a hp130nr. was problematic with jams and streaking color, but way better than our older epson. the hp lasted several years before succumbing to age and breaking too much. it did nice large format photos at the expense of using lots of ink and printheads. for a little more, if you haven't already gotten something else, would recommend something more robust.