Prinergy or RAMpage

[pajdzn]

I am looking into a new RIP solution and am asking for opinions on which is best. I have been using Prinergy EVO 3.1.6.6 for years and it is outdated and now I have approval to look into newer solutions. I have gotten a demo on RAMpage and like some of it but am also considering just upgrading our Prinergy. Any honest opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

 

[RKS]

We had been a Creo/Prinergy house for over 10 years. When you look at the total cost of ownership, you will find that Rampage is much less expensive and actually does as good or better than Prinergy you'll be amazed. We wanted to go to Version 3 to Version 4, Kodak wanted $34,000 for the upgrade, because we would also have to replace the Prinergy boxes. At the same time our 5 year service contract was up supporting both Prinergy and our Trendsetter Sprectrum, they then wanted $48,000 per year for support. We ended up buying a new faster Screen Platesetter and Rampage and saved over $100,000 for a 5 year period. Rampage support is only $1,750 per year, that includes all telephone support, bug fixes and point updates. And if you have a problem, you talk to real people who have experience. We are now considering upgrading to Version 12 with their new Fire-Core Rip Server and the retail price is only $14,500, including installation and training on the new features. With Rampage you're more than just a number, they take care of you and you matter.

 

[mattbeals]

I love Prinergy, but it's a hefty premium. The one thing everyone always says about Rampage is "Service". Everyone that I have spoken to who owns a Rampage system *LOVES* their support. Both are excellent products. It would be a disservice to not closely evaluate Rampage. It very well may satisfy all your needs AND come in at a lower price. Sorry Kodak, I love you but I can't always afford you...

 

[buckeye]

pajdzn,

I can't compare the two but CAN say that I'd 100% recommend Rampage to anyone. Been using Rampage since version 6 which was DOS based then. Their product, support and price have to be hard to beat. I've not had to call support in quite some time, but when I did, there was never a time that the person on the other line didn't know what was going on. They're very knowledgeable about their product. I do have one question though. What imposition program will you be using if you do go the Rampage route? I've been using Preps for just about as long as I've been using Rampage and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Would love to have Metrix but money's tight.

Erik

 

[swcook6]

Depends On Your Type of Work

Depends On Your Type of Work

We are a Rampage shop and would give my left arm for a Prinergy system. One reason being is we need a viable softproof solution and Rampage doesn't have it for our workflow. The other is speed. We happen to print books with large page counts.
We tested Prinergy and I did time studies and Prinergy blew Rampage away as far as speed in ripping/normalizing large book files. One huge file was 10 minutes vs 1 plus hours. And Kodak Insite just plain rocks. It does cost a lot which is a big deal in today's economy, (that is why we do not have it) but after 22 years in prepress and seeing all kinds of workflows, Prinergy is at the top of my list.
To be fair, after lots of headaches and trial and error of plugging in environment variables in the RIP setup, we have gotten it to a point where Rampage is reliable. Support is decent for the most part. Jeremy is a great guy to work with.
I hear Rampage works well for packaging, maybe so. But if you print books I would not recommend it.

 

[buckeye]

swcook6,

Was that speed test apples to apples? Newest version against newest version? Ten minutes as opposed to 1 hour? Not to step on your toes but I'd like to see that test. There's no bottleneck with our rip and we do manual and book work that contains 100 to 200 plus pages. Also, Rampage does have softproofing capabilities, it's called Rampage Remote.

Erik

 

[pajdzn]

Thank you for the input

Thank you for the input

Had a WebEx Demo of RAMpage yesterday and liked most of what it had to offer. We use Preps for our imposition and had an issue there that the techs are looking into. Mainly, I get a lot of files for books and catalogs that need to be adjusted for page size, drill holes, wire binding, etc. I currently make those adjustments in Preps, reducing and moving pages as needed. The RAMpage workflow doesn't seem to allow that. As for the Soft proofing I think RAMpage has a very nice setup while the Prinergy we have uses VPS which is not an acceptable proof for clients. We usually have to create pdfs and then reduce them to send or place them on an ftp site. Not very elegant. I am hoping that the latest version of Prinergy has more to offer. Still waiting to find out.

 

[couriergraphics]

Look at Esko Nexus also we love it!

 

[pajdzn]

Any opinions on Apogee?

Any opinions on Apogee?

I was also told to look at Apogee, I have never used it so would appreciate any input.

Thank you

 

[tmiller_iluvprinting]

We are a RAMPage shop and I really can't think of anything negative the workflow. All our operators(me included, love it.)
Regards,
Todd

 

[pajdzn]

One issue I am having with RAMpage is that I have to make adjustments to pages regarding size and position and that seems to be a problem with RAMpage. Many jobs I have to run come in too large, no allowance for drilling, copy too close to trim, etc. We usually adjust for this in PREPs as needed. If we have to readjust we just do it in PREPs so the file never has to be re-ripped. But we lose that option with RAMpage.

Are we the only shop that gets these bad files? Trying to catch it all on the frontend is an option but I am looking to make my job easier, not more complicated.

 

[DCurry]

I was also told to look at Apogee, I have never used it so would appreciate any input.

Apogee likes to think that it is Prinergy, but IMO it is not nearly as elegant, flexible or as easy to use and learn as Prinergy is. I've been using it just over a year after using Prinergy for a year and Apogee still confuses me with a lot of things that seemed intuitive in Prinergy. I remember coming home from Prinergy training with a thorough understanding of how it worked and what I could do with it, and with Apogee I never got that feeling.

Apogee is very reliable - I don't really worry about how it is interpreting files. It hasn't let me down in that regard.

I should also note that the guy who replaced me at my old job came from an Apogee shop, and he still prefers it over Prinergy, but he didn't get the training on it that I did

 

[Joe]

Prinergy is a great system, the best in my opinion, but there is a huge premium to pay for the privilege. And I would rather chew off my own leg then deal with Kodak the company.

 

[akalaray]

Don't forget Heidelberg, Metadimension and Signastation + PrintReady P

 

[katjt]

Prinergy is a great system, in my view, it is very user friendly, but as said by Joe above, back up is not brilliant. Here in NZ we only have one technician. Poor boy He has to cover the whole country. In Australia they have six tech backups. Unfortunately I have only got the manuals for ver6 - plant closed before we had a chance to upgrade, but I will very shortly be looking at it. I offered to teach the newbies when the agent installs a new system - they accepted, so I will sooner or later be teaching.Children or adults - I wonder... It's one way of keeping up with the play! It's a very easy system to adjust sizes and coordinates in. Don't know Apogee, but used Preps/Prinergy for 10 years.

 

[Suzy]

Prinergy is easy to use but Preps is not. Prinergy support is pricey but not quick to solve problems - too many long term unresolved problems for months.

I have never used Rampage but I've talked to other users that say its also easy to use and support is excellent at a fraction of the $$$ of most rips!

I would also look at integration into your MIS. Some rips integration seemlessly into many popular MIS these days - Prinergy uses a generic jdf. With websites that not only integrate with MIS but accept files, then create a high res pdf that can be ripped actually costs less $$ than insite.

Good luck in your decision!