ROLAND,MIMAKI,MUTOH,ARTISJET?

[colormaster]

hi guys, hope someone can help me here .

looking for a medium sized uv led printer for my biz expansion.
i just got confused when I was contacting the suppliers, roland, mimaki, Mutoh,artisJet,DCS, Logojet and govividusa.
For a3 printers, the prices are too much different ranging from 12,000$to 36,000$, but it looks like all the printers can do the same thing!! What r the differences among them ?

Anyone has any experience with the above mentioned printers? Or any reseller for any brand? I need to take my decision in one month after the vacation.

 

[Joe House]

Get yourself down to a dealer in your area that sells one (or hopefully more) of these printers and ask for demonstrations or at least print samples from these machines. Having local support is a big plus on them, so find out what response time would be and if parts are stocked locally. As these are kind of specialized printers, they may not have a demo unit available, but may be able to find a local user that you could go ask questions of and find out some of your answers.
One question you should really answer before looking at any of them is what do you want to do with the new printer - Biz expansion is too vague for a good answer here. I don't know all of the brands mentioned above, and they can probably all put out the same output, but I do know that there are strengths and weaknesses to every machine. Some will undoubtedly do what you want to do easier or faster or better than others.

 

[colormaster]

Get yourself down to a dealer in your area that sells one (or hopefully more) of these printers and ask for demonstrations or at least print samples from these machines. Having local support is a big plus on them, so find out what response time would be and if parts are stocked locally. As these are kind of specialized printers, they may not have a demo unit available, but may be able to find a local user that you could go ask questions of and find out some of your answers.
One question you should really answer before looking at any of them is what do you want to do with the new printer - Biz expansion is too vague for a good answer here. I don't know all of the brands mentioned above, and they can probably all put out the same output, but I do know that there are strengths and weaknesses to every machine. Some will undoubtedly do what you want to do easier or faster or better than others.

Get yourself down to a dealer in your area that sells one (or hopefully more) of these printers and ask for demonstrations or at least print samples from these machines. Having local support is a big plus on them, so find out what response time would be and if parts are stocked locally. As these are kind of specialized printers, they may not have a demo unit available, but may be able to find a local user that you could go ask questions of and find out some of your answers.
One question you should really answer before looking at any of them is what do you want to do with the new printer - Biz expansion is too vague for a good answer here. I don't know all of the brands mentioned above, and they can probably all put out the same output, but I do know that there are strengths and weaknesses to every machine. Some will undoubtedly do what you want to do easier or faster or better than others.

thanks Joe for the advise. I have asked the samples from Mimaki,Roland,artisJet with my artwork.

Regarding the busines expansion,actually it is about adding customization print services as the technology that I am applying now does not allow me for small qty print.

 

[ams]

Each of these printers does something different. I would stay away from Artisjet as it's from China and you cannot get ink, parts or supplies in the US. For Roland if you mean the LEJ-640FT it's expensive but an amazing machine. Mimaki has terrible tech support but apparently their flatbed is decent. Mutoh is on the low end, but getting more popular as they grow. DCS is a specialty printer, it's small and limited on size, but can do some amazing stuff.

 

[colormaster]

Each of these printers does something different. I would stay away from Artisjet as it's from China and you cannot get ink, parts or supplies in the US. For Roland if you mean the LEJ-640FT it's expensive but an amazing machine. Mimaki has terrible tech support but apparently their flatbed is decent. Mutoh is on the low end, but getting more popular as they grow. DCS is a specialty printer, it's small and limited on size, but can do some amazing stuff.

Thank you for your advise@ams, really appreciate your comments.
I agree with you I should stay away from artisjet as if they do not provide local supplies.
Roland LEF-200 is the model that I've been looking at actually, LEJ-640FT is our of my budget.
Mimaki ,they've been offering me a 2 years warranty ,attracting me a lot . Do you have any experience about why they are terrible in support?
Mutoh might be out of my selection.
DCS is a good machine for textured print as I studied from their profile but their price is even higher Roland so far.


It looks you have deep insight of the printers, which printer u r playing with now?

well, about my selections. I am not in a hurry,I will get my samples done first and see the print quality.

 

[ams]

Thank you for your advise@ams, really appreciate your comments.
I agree with you I should stay away from artisjet as if they do not provide local supplies.
Roland LEF-200 is the model that I've been looking at actually, LEJ-640FT is our of my budget.
Mimaki ,they've been offering me a 2 years warranty ,attracting me a lot . Do you have any experience about why they are terrible in support?
Mutoh might be out of my selection.
DCS is a good machine for textured print as I studied from their profile but their price is even higher Roland so far.


It looks you have deep insight of the printers, which printer u r playing with now?

well, about my selections. I am not in a hurry,I will get my samples done first and see the print quality.

I know a few sign shops with Mimaki and they are unhappy about tech support, because apparently they can never get in touch with anyone to help them with issues and it takes a couple weeks for them to get someone to come out to your location for repairs. If it were just one person, I wouldn't be too sure, but multiple people makes me concerned.

I've seen DCS at sign shows, the attractive part is the braille signs. The hard part is the setup, cleaning and digital prep. It's been getting bad reviews lately because people say it doesn't work or it breaks down often. It's quite a complex machine so I believe they probably aren't using it correctly.

I don't know anything about the Roland LEF-200. Roland's tend to be slower for printing than other brands, but generally Roland has higher quality and self cleaning.

I prefer my VP540i, it's an older printer but it's never let me down all these years, I am about to upgrade and get probably a Soljet or XR in a month or two.

 

[colormaster]

I know a few sign shops with Mimaki and they are unhappy about tech support, because apparently they can never get in touch with anyone to help them with issues and it takes a couple weeks for them to get someone to come out to your location for repairs. If it were just one person, I wouldn't be too sure, but multiple people makes me concerned.

I've seen DCS at sign shows, the attractive part is the braille signs. The hard part is the setup, cleaning and digital prep. It's been getting bad reviews lately because people say it doesn't work or it breaks down often. It's quite a complex machine so I believe they probably aren't using it correctly.

I don't know anything about the Roland LEF-200. Roland's tend to be slower for printing than other brands, but generally Roland has higher quality and self cleaning.

I prefer my VP540i, it's an older printer but it's never let me down all these years, I am about to upgrade and get probably a Soljet or XR in a month or two.

Much appreciate your share ams.

Probably Mimaki then will be out of my options,actually i heard some bad stories about their service too.

DCS highlight for braille is really amazing and they announced they have special software for that ,they have patent protection in the nation as I studied about it ,they have been outstanding in the braille. However, my job is not about braille only but about several products, I will need smooth, smooth varnish, and flat printing mostly . And I figured out in the recent study that the raised print result actually can be delivered from any of the brands in this discussion,they say it is from layering of the white ink or varnish ink..

Roland printer LEF-200. I know that fact from their explanation that they are using the Epson older model heads ,the speed is not that fast, but I focus on the print quality also,I will see their print quality first.

What is VP540? I looked at it ,it is a roll to roll printer?

 

[ams]

Yes DCS is truly amazing indeed. Their braille is top notch, clear coat, reverse printing, texturing, etc. The tradeshow guy gave me a screwdriver and told me to pry off the braille, needless to say, I couldn't. If I had the capital, I would get one.

Yes it's a roll to roll printer, an older model but a work horse.

 

[colormaster]

Yes DCS is truly amazing indeed. Their braille is top notch, clear coat, reverse printing, texturing, etc. The tradeshow guy gave me a screwdriver and told me to pry off the braille, needless to say, I couldn't. If I had the capital, I would get one.

Yes it's a roll to roll printer, an older model but a work horse.

thanks ams.
The durability of DCS print is amazing if what you said is true. I believe they apply some treatment? As their sales explained to me they need to apply the primer for most of the materials. Actually my materials to be printed will be something simple and I do not need actually too much about the embossed prints.

 

[ams]

Yes it's a chemical primer that is added, but the machine does all the work. You can print 1/8" raised graphics/letters on nearly anything and it's just ink but hard as cement.

 

[colormaster]

Yes it's a chemical primer that is added, but the machine does all the work. You can print 1/8" raised graphics/letters on nearly anything and it's just ink but hard as cement.

Thanks. It looks like you prefer DCS printer a lot, I will put them into my list.
Do you have any connection with any of them to proceed a sample testing?

 

[ams]

It is a specialty printer, so I would check it out at a trade show first, let them print you a couple samples so you can see. It's not great for every day signage, just for the more high end stuff.
I don't, but they will mail you a free sample if you ask.