Which wide format to buy

[buckeyewta]

I am looking at new wide format printers. So far the ones we have looked at are HP, Epson, Canon and Oce. The Canon seems to be most reasonable priced. Anybody have any do's or don'ts on any of these before we buy?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I am looking at new wide format printers. So far the ones we have looked at are HP, Epson, Canon and Oce. The Canon seems to be most reasonable priced. Anybody have any do's or don'ts on any of these before we buy?

What is your main product you are printing? By wide format, I assume you mean posters, banners, etc - not blueprints/architectural drawings.

 

[David Milisock]

We just bought a Mimaki CJV150-130 a 54" cutter ink jet with the ES ink set in CMYK. The Rasterlink 6.6 RIP ships with it and it seems fine. Color is great and print speed is improved over our old Roland

 

[buckeyewta]

What is your main product you are printing? By wide format, I assume you mean posters, banners, etc - not blueprints/architectural drawings.

Mostly vinyl banners, outdoor signage etc.

 

[Keith]

If you are printing mostly outdoor signage, don't get the Canon. It's aqueous ink NEEDS to be laminated if you want it to last longer than 3 months. From what I understand, even solvent printers laminate everything except banners. I run a Canon. It's great for the posters and trade show displays I mostly print but it does do nice for the occasional banner or sign. They are cheap but the ink is expensive.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

HP Latex machines seem to be top notch for your use.

 

[slush11]

We run the OCE 350GT (dead technology now, I know) and we do everything from styrene to coroplast to banners and posters. And everything in between. We do a ton of lawn signs and real estate stuff and the like. Never had a complaint. Only real complaint I have is the inks are expensive and expire in a year but by the time we get them, there's usually only 3-6 months left on them. We don't use aqueous inks as mentioned above. We use UV inks as do all OCE machines as far as I know.

 

[Castek]

HP Latex machines seem to be top notch for your use.

+ 1 .

 

[jaed]

I'm running an HP Latex 360, and it's a very easy machine to use with very good quality. Not sure about costs, but definitely my favorite machine.

 

[buckeyewta]

Right now I am leaning towards the HP Latex 310. Anyone have one of these? I have 2 different venders quoting it for me. They are both the same price for the printer but one says it comes with a built in Rip and the other says I need to buy an external server for $1500 to run the Rip. That guy also wants over $3000 to install the printer and do training. The other guys says he can ship the thing in a crate and we can self install with no training.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Right now I am leaning towards the HP Latex 310. Anyone have one of these? I have 2 different venders quoting it for me. They are both the same price for the printer but one says it comes with a built in Rip and the other says I need to buy an external server for $1500 to run the Rip. That guy also wants over $3000 to install the printer and do training. The other guys says he can ship the thing in a crate and we can self install with no training.

You definitely will want an external rip, training all depends upon your knowledge of wide format. If you have none, then it may be worth every penny.

 

[Baldbug]

We have used an Epson 9880 for the last 6 years and its still going strong. We purchased it new with no support from anyone, no one knew how or what to do to fix or how to operate it. So steep learning curve later it still runs with no servicing, no head replacement and no problems. I suppose I could say Epson build quality at its best. We print colour prints, canvas prints, posters, colour architectural plans and all our Pullup or Roll up Banners on the 9880.

We added to our equipment in November last year with a Roland Versacamm 540i VS. This has given us the ability to produce: All shapes of stickers and decals printed and contour cut, Bumper Stickers with a Contour Cut and a Perf Cut, All Outdoor signage including window signage, vehicle signage, all outdoor and indoor banners. We use monomeric, polimeric and cast vinyls, heavy duty outdoor vinyl for banners, Special Media for T-shirt and clothing decals. The Versacamm VS series I think is still the current series. We also print an SIHL 200gsm gloss paper product for large posters on the Versacamm.

Have a really good look at what your requirements are as to whether you need indoor signage and posters or you want to cover all gamuts of Wide Format printing both indoor and outdoor.

I think comes down to the Servicing of the Equipment which we have learnt to accept with all the other print gear we have to maintain in perfect running order.

The Epson 9880 is a solid build and we treat it well and it rewards us with quality prints on any media with no servicing etc.

The Roland Versacamm is a great printer and prints everything we send to it. We service this machine 6 monthly because we want it to keep producing all the printed media we give it, as it will be progressively taking over from the Epson 9880.

 

[buckeyewta]

So we signed a deal today for the HP Latex 110 with external RIP.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Is there a reason why you signed for a 110 instead of a 310? Just wondering as we are in the market and are awaiting quotes on the 360 and 370, possibly interested in those other products.

 

[buckeyewta]

I was told that the 110 is the same box as the 310. HP took the 310 and made it user installable and labelled it the 110. The other difference is the 110 uses 400 ml ink cartridges where the 310 uses 770 ml so the ink cost will be slightly higher. We are doing pretty low volume to start out with so it would took a long time to offset the $6000 extra for the 310 in ink costs. I will report back after we get the machine installed.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

That's good to know. I keep getting the feeling that going to a 360 or 370 would be too much for us. I will wait until we get quotes on them both and then ask for some on the 110 and 310. The big difference seems to be the ILS on the 370.

 

[buckeyewta]

Most of our work will not be that color critical and I don't have a major problem with assembling the printer and installing the rip on my own. I will probably end up forking out the money for the extended service plan though.

 

[buckeyewta]

We have the Latex printer installed for about a week now. The printer itself seems to be pretty solid with the limited jobs we ran so far. The Flexi Print rip does seem to be somewhat clunky and does not have a lot of preprint options.