Canon 7010VP vs Nexpress 2500 reconditioned

[raminmd]

Hi All,

We have had a Canon 7000VP nearing the end of lease and for the most part it served us well. We print on predominantly heavy stock (12 pt gloss cover or higher) and on a large sheet size 12 x 18 or 13 x 19. Almost all our work is full color and we average around 125,000 to 150,000 full color clicks (on 12 x 18 sheet or larger)

The machine has started to break down in terms of color quality. The gradients are really bad and over the last 6 months or so, the grays/blacks have been absolutely terrible. The solids are not great either. Service is in almost every day but has not been able to fix it so far. The color was fantastic when we first got it. It is ok and not bad right now but it is not the same as when it was newer. We do have about 15 million impressions (what Canon calls impressions) and the machine is guaranteed upto 18 million. We do have some color consistency issues running light colors on this press.

We saw the 7010 VP and really liked it (and our service guy, who we really like and is great, assured us that is is a much different machine in terms of quality and reliability than the 7000)

So our choices are - either a 7010 VP with the 7,000 VP as a back up redundant machine (canon is offering us a good deal on a new machine with us keeping the existing one. They are also going to rebuild the existing machine to fix it) or we get the reconditioned Nexpress 2500. The Kodak guys came in and pretty much presented their machine as a completely different beast. They said we will have none of the issues with color or reliability with the Nexpress and said that it is pretty much a digital Heidelberg. I do like that fact that there is a 5th color station and I can offer new products that we don't offer right now. However, it is definitely more expensive than the 7000 for both clicks and lease. What do you guys think of the pluses and minuses of both machines. Is the Nexpress 2500 that much better with colors and color consistency in general?

I personally am not sure that the much higher cost is worth it but I want to make sure I make an informed decision here. Another point is service. I am very comfortable with the guy we have right now and he is very knowledgeable and does a great job keeping us running. I am a little wary of moving to a brand new manufacturer/service organization (even though Kodak claims that we probably will see service once a month or less with their machine)

Thanks.

 

[JustinB]

The specs say the standard max image width is 12.4" even though the machine handles 14" wide paper. The specs also say it can be customized to print 13.4" wide on the 14" paper. If the machine doesn't have the customization, are you ok with the idea of only being able to print 12 x 18, and not 13x19?

My other question is why is canon 'not' rebuilding the machine to get it back running to spec now? Are they withholding that service as leverage to get you to upgrade to the 7010?

 

[raminmd]

Justin,

They are going to rebuild it. They are not withholding that service. We just have to come up with a date/time. They said the machine will be down an extended period of time. We are trying to coordinate a time.

Honestly, on the Kodak, we will be running 12 x 18 or 13 x 19. The larger sheet does not really help except for business cards, which we don't do a lot of, anyway. The biggest plus on the Kodak for me would be the 5th station and color consistency.

Thanks.

 

[JustinB]

Why not have them rebuild your machine, use their demo machine to handle your printing while they take down your machine, then, after rebuild, continue on with your 7000vp but without a payment? If you're at 15 million clicks, and it's guaranteed to 18 million clicks and you put about 150k a month on the machine, that's the potential of 20 months without a machine payment.

Am I missing something?

What can the 5th color station do that you can't get from an offline machine?

 

[BarbaraBlackwell]

Canon 7010vp supports motor speed paying little mind to media weight (LTR, 11x17, 12x18, 13x19, 13x19.2). A letter measured sheet will print at 70ppm on media up to 110lb. spread (300gsm). You can additionally stack media and toner and unfilled the waste toner jug while the press is running.