Buying a new printer...Which one?

[klemgraphics]

The time has come to make a move on a new printer, my old Mutoh Falcon 62 has served its purpose but I need something that is more reliable and faster.

Just for a little background, I am primarily a one man show and my Falcon currently runs on average 4 days a week. Some days it will run 10-12 hrs at a time and others maybe only a small job or two. I do everything from banners, print & cut decals, wraps, and backlits on it.

I have been looking at 4 different printers and wanted to get some opinions from you fine folks....

Printers I'm considering:

Mimaki JV33 160
Epson 30670
Mutoh 1624
HP 26500

I'm leaning toward the JV33 right now just because of the fact that it has been around so long and has a proven track record of being rock solid. The outgassing time of solvent vs. latex really isn't a big concern of mine at the moment either.

I'd like to be able to keep this machine running for at least 5 years unless something drastic changes in my business.

Just looking for opinions, pros & cons, or anything anyone would like to share.

I'm also open to other suggestions if there is something that I may be overlooking.

Thanks in advance!

 

[chafro]

Pros of L26500 for a small shop:

You can leave it weeks without printing and no problem when using it again. This is usually useful for small shops.
Flexibility of materials you can print on. You never know where he business moves to.
No cleaning or maintenance,, Also very good for a one man shop.
Has been out only a couple of years but it has been reliable.

 

[klemgraphics]

Pros of L26500 for a small shop:

You can leave it weeks without printing and no problem when using it again. This is usually useful for small shops.
Flexibility of materials you can print on. You never know where he business moves to.
No cleaning or maintenance,, Also very good for a one man shop.
Has been out only a couple of years but it has been reliable.

I've heard others say that they would expect to replace them in 2-3 years because they are not built as heavy, maybe that isn't necessarily correct?

A few concerns that I have for the HP....

Electrical(not a huge deal, but added cost)
Heat in the summer(will be in a 1200sf air conditioned room)
Problems printing on some materials because of heat required??

I would consider the latex technology to be in it's infancy and I'm not sure I want to jump on board just yet, but I haven't ruled it out.

 

[WYLDGFI]

Latex is good and bad.
IMO an eco solv can still be better as you can run More media thru it than you can the latex. Lesser grade vinyl banner and such do not work on the latex. Lately even ultraflexx banner has been sub-par on my latex as evidenced when printing items with a fair amount of reds in it.
Positives are the quality latex prints at and the fast drying...beats eco hands down.

 

[klemgraphics]

Latex is good and bad.
IMO an eco solv can still be better as you can run More media thru it than you can the latex. Lesser grade vinyl banner and such do not work on the latex. Lately even ultraflexx banner has been sub-par on my latex as evidenced when printing items with a fair amount of reds in it.
Positives are the quality latex prints at and the fast drying...beats eco hands down.

I have yet to see side by side comparisons of latex vs Eco solv prints, would you say the latex has better quality, better gamut, both?

 

[ThinkRight]

You did not mention Roland....
The Mimaki out of those sounds like it would be the most versatile.
Not sure about maint tho.
Good luck

 

[WYLDGFI]

I like the gamut and quality of the latex over my roland. With the roland though, I can put cheap banner or PS Vinyl thru it and it prints all day if I need it to. The latex I utilize for my higher end work where the quality really counts for my clients.

 

[klemgraphics]

You did not mention Roland....
The Mimaki out of those sounds like it would be the most versatile.
Not sure about maint tho.
Good luck

To be honest I'm not real familiar with the Roland's, I do have some info on them and plan to demo one sometime in the near future.

 

[rjssigns]

Here is the answer you are looking for: Buy the printer from the dealer that is closest to your shop and has certified techs. Do this even if you have to pay more.

I learned an ugly expensive lesson ignoring this principle.

You can thank me the first time your new printer quits in the middle of a deadline job and the repair tech is just across town.

 

[Vital Designs]

You can't go wrong with the JV33. It is solid , simple to use, will print on just about anything, and good quality. I find The l26500 prints slightly sharper images but the JV33 images pop a little more.

If you are printing lots of smaller jobs (stop and start) the JV33 will be faster. I use the latex more for wraps and longer runs.

I have had Rolands in the past and they make a great product too.

A quick story...
My shop was about a quarter of a mile from an f3 tornado last year and we were lucky it didn't hit us. We had power surges and long periods without power. Our shop went up well over 120 degrees inside and we got limited power to run the printers. The roland had thermal'd out but I was able to run the mimaki at that temp for a couple of days to get work out. Needless to say I was impressed. The power interruptions fried the roland but had no effect on the Mimaki. We had surge protectors and still lost a summa cutter, the Roland, and list of computers and other electronics.

 

[Carl Crabtree]

I'm on my 3rd Mutoh. Recently bought a 1324 and I'm real pleased with it. It would also be less learning curve for u since you're using a Mutoh now.

 

[wunder]

latex is not a good choice ! there many things vs eco-solvent !!!
any Latex User often tell there is a great machine/technic but still solvent Printer can you bring the right profit for your business. If you will to make HP and her latex lie (latex are green a.s.o) the only winner in business is HP !!!

1st the Printheads are the greates ****...you need many PH in the year.
ok.....they looks cheap...is it cheap for sh..? garbage mountain of PH not even the 3-4-6ltr. worked be very very Big..... ohhyeaahhh is very green.
2. Inks are to expensive
3. Printing Media to small and to expensive
4. Energie cost very very expensive (Germany a big Position ~0,25€ per Kwh) ohhhyeahhhh a very good advice for Green !
5. startup time 30mins for preheating....5000-6000 Watt, very green too!!!
6. electricity consumption of the print is very high !!! usable green electric to make it light green ;-)
AND the WINNER are.......HP ;-)

ok sorry for my quote.....but still is eco-solvent the best choice this time.

The EPSON SURECOLOR is the favorit and a real alternativ to Latex(HP)...
1. The Printquality is better then Latex(HP)
2. Mediahandling better, cheaper and many many Medias they work Good.
3. you need no aircleaner a.s.o
4. Very Cheap Ink-Cost
5. Very Cheap electrical cost
6. Faster Print in same and better Quality
7.8.9.100.........
and many many more things they make the surecolor to the favorit !!!

regards
wunder

 

[particleman]

If you were a really light work load shop I would say the 26500. It really isn't meant to be a high volume machine, although a lot of shops really run them hard. My experience personally with them they aren't as reliable as the JV33. The JV33 is more than proven these days as I don't think you can go wrong with one at this point.

 

[chrisphilipps]

I would take a very good look at the 1624. It is a newer printer than the JV33 and has better features. We have sold a lot of them and haven't had any repair related calls on then other than user error. The oldest ones we installed will be turning 2 years old this June. These printers are installed in shops that run 8 hours a day 5 days a week and ones that only print two to three hours a week.

It has a newer print head that has more modes and speed options than the JV33.

It has Mutoh's I2 wave pattern that does remove most if not all banding without a media feed being performed. (Should still be done to make sure job length is accurate)

It has the optional 1 Litter Bags that save you about 17% on ink over the 440ml cartridges.

Has the option for the Mutoh Spectrovue to make custom profiles.

Has remote monitoring tools through Mutoh's VSM and their Android and IPhone app.

I personally feel the menu structure is easier to learn than the Mimaki.

 

[KevSign]

Go for HP Latex. We had L25500 and L28500 8ft - ink cheaper than Epson Sure, or Eco-Solvent OEM.

Our L25500 still print strong, bough when 1st came out, in Feb 2013 we burn 7 rolls 100', 3 rolls 150 ft. IJ180c for big wall mural, I thought had to change all print heads before print these rolls, but print fine and still keep going.

L28500 we can print on fabric for backdrop 8'x8, 8'x10' and couple 8'x20' no problem.

Yes, we are small shop but HP Latex help a lot to print the rush project due same day, recently 8'x20' fabric print and ship out in 4hr.

 

[CropMarks]

I got a JV33-160 using ss21 full solvent ink in the CMYKCMYK configuration about 5 months ago (???) and I LOVE IT! For a double cmyk machine I am amazed at the colors it can hit. Great blues and finally some deep reds that I couldn't get with my old Roland SJ540. The ink actually dries by the time it gets down to the takeup reel. It can also hit really small text that would cause me to loose jobs on my old machine. I checked out a HP L26500 that was using the latex ink and an epson 30670 the same day as the Mimaki and the JV33 did the best out of all of them. The ss21 ink seems to handle tiny dust particles way better than my old Roland did. I don't think I could ever go back to ecosol ink after this.

 

[rjssigns]

Local sales, but more importantly local service.
I don't car who the manufacturer is. They all break down, usually at the worst possible time.
And if you don't have a back-up printer you have a boat anchor until help arrives. What will that cost you in revenue and lost client base?

Clients want product on time and if you can't deliver they find someone who can. Once they've done that they are not coming back.

Yes I sound like a broken record, but I have lived the nightmare and will never recover some of my clients.

 

[JoeBoomer]

+1 for HP 26500. It's a great workhorse. No stinky solvents, very low maintenance. I'm never going back to solvent again. Print quality is very consistent and looks great.

Solvent printers are more sensitive to your environment too. Need a well controlled environment to print consistently. I've spent more time trying to fix print quality issues (banding mostly) on my solvent printers than you can imagine.

I really love the HP latex printers and would highly recommend them to someone like you. Solvent isn't worth the hassel.

 

[JoeBoomer]

Materials

Forgot to mention that, with the exception of banner material; I use all the same medias on my Latex printer that I did with my Solvent printers.

3M Control Tac 180,380,162, etc.
Oracal 3640, 3651, etc.

You will need to buy nicer banner material because of the heat, but your prob. talking about going from 15¢ to 18¢ / sq. ft.

 

[Robert M]

Mutoh

Your old falcon is worth 4500.00 towards the Value Jet 1624. That puts you into it for $14,500.00 plus inks and shipping. Fastest printer in the price range, 2 year warranty and very little learning curve.